Nicholson Hall (photo by Gina Kennedy)

The request, if fully funded, would be matched by $53.2 million in University money for a total of $239.8 million in projects. Below are brief outlines of the major projects that would affect the Twin Cities campus.

Systemwide Higher Education Asset Preservation and Replacement $80 million
This broad category includes funds for about 85 projects on the four campuses. It would accomplish smaller but needed tasks such as renewing and updating infrastructure, addressing safety and accessibility issues, and doing major maintenance, including replacing roofs and windows.

Nicholson Hall $24 million
The 110-year-old former student union was once slated for closing and possible demolition. Under this proposal, the main portion of the historical building would be renovated into a freshman learning center with up-to-date classrooms, computer labs, advising and counseling space, a Student Writing Center, and the College of Liberal Arts Language Center. A wing and auditorium that were built on to Nicholson would be demolished and the building returned to its original shape and exterior. The University would fund $8 million of the total cost.

Plant Growth Facilities, Phase II $18.7 million
This request for St. Paul campus facilities follows up on a 2000 appropriation that created a new Containment and Quarantine Facility. Phase II would renovate several existing greenhouses and create a new "headhouse" facility for the plant-growth area. Hundreds of researchers and up to 1,500 students in agriculture, biology, and natural resources would use the energy-efficient facilities. Greenhouses would become "laboratories under glass" for research on crops, plant genetics, and pest control. The University would fund $6.23 million of the total cost.

Mineral Resources Research Center $18.4 million
This historical but little-used campus building, tucked in the far northwest corner of the Minneapolis campus along the Mississippi River, would become home to several related College of Education and Human Development programs and add meeting space. The University would issue bonds for more than $4.1 million and raise an additional $2 million from other sources.

Translational Research Facility $37 million
This facility would combine Medical School and College of Pharmacy researchers and create space for 33 new scientists in areas where the University is already showing

Mineral Resources Research Center (photo by Gina Kennedy)

strong results, such as Alzheimer's, diabetes, and cancer research. It would be built as an addition to the Lions Research Building on the northeastern edge of the Minneapolis campus. Fund-raising and University sources would cover $12.3 million of the cost.

Other projects
The University will request a total of $5 million for preliminary design work on renovating Northrop Auditorium and building a new Institute of Technology classroom and lab facility north of the Washington Avenue Ramp. Installing better technology in high-priority classrooms systemwide would cost another $4 million, and $3 million has been requested to update and expand research and outreach centers statewide.

Major projects requested for other campuses include a $33 million lab science building in Duluth, $7.7 million to replace Bede Hall in Crookston, and $9 million for updating and expanding the Social Sciences building and installing sprinkler systems in three dormitories on the Morris campus. The University would issue bonds for or otherwise raise one-third of the cost of each of those projects.

How You Can Help the U
As the University presents its 2002 capital bonding request, it comes armed with a formidable ally the 3,500-plus volunteers of the University of Minnesota Legislative Network. The UMAA-sponsored grassroots group helps alumni and friends learn how easy and effective it is to support University legislative requests. In 2001, some 15,000 calls, letters, and visits initiated by network members helped the University receive about twice what Governor Jesse Ventura had recommended.

A new challenge this year is Minnesota's projected two-year budget shortfall of almost $2 billion by mid-2003. The extraordinarily large deficit will put everything on the table for possible cuts, including those budgets already approved. Members of the Legislative Network will not only be advocating for the capital bonding request, which is not part of the state's general fund, but will be asked to remind their legislators how important state support is to the University's current momentum.

Rising graduation and student-satisfaction rates, growing endowments and research awards, and a ranking by the University of Florida of the University of Minnesota as one of the three best public research universities in the country, have been made possible by the vision expressed by University President Mark Yudof. In addition to the U's internal reallocations and administrative streamlining, legislative support for the University over the last four years has been critical to building the momentum. That support came after two decades in which University funding declined as a percentage of state spending.

The Legislative Network helps alumni and friends to communicate to legislators about that momentum and why it is vital to the state, now and in the future. Network publications offer tips on how to express support and add personal stories or opinions to make that support even more meaningful.