Arizona Board of Regents Holds Special Meeting at Arizona State University

Feb. 11, 2020
Government Relations
A digital rendering of the Boyer Company building at the Bridges as presented by the Arizona Board of Regents

 

 

The Arizona Board of Regents (ABOR) held several committee meetings and a special board meeting on Thursday, January 30th at ASU where several big UArizona items were covered. The February ABOR meeting will be held at ASU on February 13-14.

ABOR’s Finance, Capital & Resources (FCR) Committee met recently and forwarded to the full board, three proposed UArizona leases. The Boyer Company, a real estate development company based in Salt Lake City, is developing the first building at the UA Tech Park at The Bridges (more info on The Bridges can be found: here) and UArizona is seeking to lease half of the new building space for UArizona initiatives. The university intends to establish this building as the epicenter of its innovation enterprise, with offices for Tech Launch AZ, specialized office space for research and cyber security educational and research activities, and space for the UA Applied Research Corporation (UA-ARC).

In addition to the leases at The Bridges, the FCR Committee forwarded to the full board, a UArizona request to lease just under five acres of land at the UArizona Maricopa Agricultural Center to the AZ Cotton Research & Protection Council. The Council has a long history of working with UArizona on research related to cotton production and protection and will install necessary infrastructure and a facility to house and conduct cotton research. The board is expected to approve this lease and the two Boyer leases at their February board meeting.

The three university presidents will join regents for the February board meeting at ASU on February 13th and 14th to discuss system-wide issues, including ASU’s annual comprehensive operational and financial review (OFR). In addition to ASU’s OFR, ABOR will lead a discussion with leaders from all three universities on metrics and goals the board sets to measure each university’s performance. The current ABOR targets measure against the year 2025, however the board is beginning the process to update the metrics and goals for the year 2030. UArizona will also bring forward the following new degree programs for ABOR approval:

  • BS in Precision Nutrition & Wellness
  • BAS in Human Services
  • BAS in Intelligence and Information Operations
  • Bachelor of Landscape Architecture
  • PhD in Teaching, Learning & Sociocultural Studies