REGENTS APPROVE MORE SPACE FOR CLASSROOMS

The Southeast Missouri State University Board of Regents Tuesday approved plans to renovate the Parker Building and add onto a proposed business building.

Both moves would provide added space for classrooms and faculty offices.

At the regents meeting, held in the Show Me Center, the board voted to hire The Christner Partnership Inc. of St. Louis to provide concept development, design and construction drawings for renovating the main center area of the Parker Building. Architectural and engineering fees are estimated at $54,000, university officials said.

The Parker project calls for removing showers and lockers no longer in use in the physical education building and replacing them with classrooms and faculty offices. The area to be renovated comprises about 7,500 square feet, said Ken Dobbins, Southeast's executive vice president.

Dobbins said the university plans to seek a supplemental appropriation early next year to fund the $600,000 Parker project. If funding is secured, the project could be completed in time for the fall 1994 semester, he said.

"That's a doable project," said Dobbins. "It's fairly straightforward demolition inside and renovation."

The university is also requesting an additional $1.3 million in construction funding for the proposed building for the College of Business Administration, bringing the total request for state funding for the project to nearly $14 million.

University officials want to add a bay of four classrooms, two on each floor.

The need for added classrooms is even more acute now because Southeast has scrapped immediate plans for remodeling the social science building due to high costs.

University officials want to do more planning on what improvements to make to the social science building. In the meantime, the structure remains closed.

Southeast intends to seek $269,700 next year for initial planning regarding future use and improvements to the social science building. Built in 1902, the social science building is the oldest structure on campus.

Renovation of the masonry structure was originally projected to cost $300,000 to $400,000. The projection subsequently rose to about $1 million, said Dobbins.

The building's classes, faculty and staff were relocated to other facilities, principally Kent Library, over the summer in preparation for the renovation work.

But in seeking architectural and engineering proposals, university officials discovered that the project would end up costing an estimated $4 to $5 million -- funding that could prove difficult to secure from the state in tight budget times.

Dobbins said it was discovered that the aging building basically would have to be gutted in order to modernize the facility.

Regent Ann Dombrowski said the problem with the social science building did not result from a lack of maintenance. "It's just to the point we can no longer renovate it and maintain it economically."

Dobbins agreed. "It really has been used very, very hard," he said. But he stressed that the university wants to make use of the structure, not demolish it.

Regent Mark Pelts voiced concern that the university was side stepping the real issue: The need for not only a business building but also a new social science building.

"What we are doing is a temporary solution to a permanent (space) problem," he said.

University President Kala Stroup said that ideally Southeast needs two new academic buildings. But she said the likelihood of state funding for two new buildings is slim.

The university so far has been unsuccessful in efforts to secure state funding for construction of the already planned business building.

If Southeast doesn't get funding soon "we will move on the critical list" in terms of building needs, Stroup told the regents.

Dobbins said the Parker renovation would provide some classrooms for the social sciences and allow one of the social science departments -- political science, history or sociology -- to be moved out of temporary quarters in the campus library.

Originally, the university had hoped to renovate Parker for use by the ROTC units and College of Health and Human Services classes. But the social science needs changed all that, Dobbins said.

The business building would free up space in other structures now used by the business college. Those spaces would, in turn, be renovated and used for other academic needs, he said.

In other action, the regents accepted the annual financial report for the fiscal year that ended June 30.

Auditors said the university's finances are in good shape, but recommended the school set up an internal audit system.

Dobbins said the university plans to do so by reallocating positions in the finance division.

"We want that position to be doing operational audits rather than just totally financial audits," said Dobbins.

Southeast previously had an internal auditor, but the position became vacant about two years ago as a result of reorganizational moves within the finance area, Dobbins said.

Of the $53 million in university operating funds, 74.1 percent goes to benefits and wages for Southeast personnel, the financial report shows.

In other business, the regents established an Institute for Children and Families.