SHSU Asks TX Legislature For $60 million

The Houstonian reports (Jan. 29) that a state bill to give the university funding for a new biology building was deferred to the Committee on Higher Education:

SHSU Requests Money from Legislature for $60 million Biology Building

The Huntsville Item (Nov. 29) includes an article about SHSU, the impending Legislative session, and the long-rumoured new biology building:

Master Plan Phase 1 To Be Completed In 2014

The Jan. 21 edition of the Houstonian notes that phase one of the 2020 campus master plan for the campus is supposed to be completed later this year:

Houstonian: SHSU Denied Legislative Bonds For New Buildings

Several SHSU departments will be re-evaluating growth plans, the Houstonian reported on September 10, because the Texas Legislature failure to pass tuition revenue bonds:

May 2013 Regents Report

Today@Sam has their report on the quarterly meeting of the Texas State University System Board of Regents:

[T]he regents authorized SHSU to add a College of Health Sciences; rename the Department of Nursing to the School of Nursing; move the School of Nursing in the College of Science to the College of Health Sciences; and move the Department of Health and Kinesiology from the College of Education to the College of Health Sciences.

"Full implementation of the Affordable Care Act in 2014 will drive the need for an expanded health professions workforce," Gibson said. "One estimate indicates a need for 400,000 new health professional in Texas during this decade in addition to replacing a rapidly aging health professions workforce that accounts for at least 10 percent of Texas jobs.

"Furthermore, recent data from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation shows that adjacent counties east and northeast of Sam Houston State University are considered the least healthiest in Texas," she said.

"SHSU currently offers only a small number of health sciences degree programs, yet there are currently 1,348 students actively enrolled in pre-nursing or other pre-professional programs, most of whom will be denied admission to the Bachelor of Science Nursing program or other programs due to limited capacity," Gibson said.

"New degree programs in the College of Health Sciences will provide expanded access to health sciences education and careers for SHSU students, especially those from adjacent counties east and northeast of Huntsville," she said.

In other business, SHSU was granted permission to add a swimming pool to the University Camp Phase 2 Project.

February 2013 Regents Report

Today@Sam reports on the updated Master Plan approved by the Texas State University System Board of Regents during their recent meeting:

The regents approved a 2013-2020 master plan update and authorized SHSU to file the update with the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.

The most recent SHSU campus master plan for the period of 2009-2020 was approved in 2008. However, new enrollment and academic trends began emerging after the implementation and as a result, the university’s space utilization analysis did not show the improvement expected, SHSU President Dana Gibson told the regents.

“The campus infrastructure needed a comprehensive review focusing on the renewal of existing systems and expansion to serve new facilities,” she said. “A conscious effort has been made to update the master plan and build on the efforts of the 2008 plan as a planning tool to give the university the flexibility to address changing demographics and teaching approaches,” she said.

Among the proposed construction projects, some of which were previously identified, are south district residence facilities, a south dining facility, new academic buildings for nursing and biology, and an agricultural and engineering technology building.

2011 State of the University Address

President Dana Gibson addressed the faculty and staff during the annual State of the University address on Wednesday [Aug. 31]; Today@Sam has some of the highlights, including the recent opening of both Old Main Market and Lone Star Hall, the construction of the Woodlands campus, and ongoing upgrades to University Camp:

Campus planning includes an agricultural complex to be located at the Gibbs Ranch, a new biology, nursing and allied health building to be located where Academic Building 3 is, and an event center, which will feature a ballroom approximately 40 percent larger than the one currently housed in the Lowman Student Center.

November 2010 Regents Report

Today@Sam reports on the recent Texas Sate University System Board of Regents meeting held November 19:

A revision of plans for a proposed building near Bowers Stadium was among the items approved by the...Board of Regents....

The building was originally designated as an alumni center. However, upon programming phase completion in October, it was changed to an event center when the need for an on-campus facility to accommodate university events, athletics sales and marketing, learning enhancement, and alumni relations was documented. The project will now go into the design phase.

The regents also approved adding a new Continuing Education and Small Business Center to the list of projects in SHSU’s capital improvements program. The facility will be located on university property at 13th Street in Huntsville.

Tuition will increase from $163 to $171 per semester credit hour, effective fall 2011. The increase was proposed to provide funds for the increasing costs of salaries and benefits for faculty promotion and tenure adjustments. In addition, the increase will help fund new nursing and allied health program costs, criminal justice growth, the new College of Fine Arts and Mass Communication, and general engineering initiatives.

Sam Houston State University Distinguished Alumnus Charlie Amato of San Antonio was named chairman of the TSUS Board of Regents. Amato has served as vice chairman of the board during the past year. He replaces Ron Blatchley of Bryan, also an SHSU graduate, who completed his term.

2010 State of the University Address

Dr. Dana Gibson, the new president of SHSU, told faculty and staff Thursday (Sept. 2) in her first-ever State of the University address that while budget cuts loom in the immediate future, she also sees “the need and the opportunity” to add new degree programs, build new facilities to house them and recruit more students. Today@Sam has some of the highlights, including:

Gibson said the top priorities for new facilities include biology, nursing and applied health, forensic sciences and the agriculture complex and building. In terms of new academic programs, Gibson said “we must continue to develop appropriate graduate and doctoral programs and emphasize research activity to emphasize our Carnegie Classification of Doctoral Research status and to develop more programs in science, technology, engineering, mathematics and health.

“These programs are desperately needed by the state so state and research funds tend to follow them.” Gibson said she sees “tremendous opportunities” for enrollment and revenue growth in The Woodlands and in online course enrollments. “Graduate and non-traditional students will be key populations for The Woodlands campus.”

SHSU plans to begin construction on a new classroom buildings in The Woodlands near Lone Star College “later this calendar year.” SHSU is already serving hundreds of upper-division and graduate students in a classroom building it shares with Texas A&M University and Texas Southern University. “The Woodlands Campus will provide us with an increased ability to diversify our student population, which will help us through tough economic times and optimize our strength in better times,” Gibson said.

21 Vocational Nurses Graduate

A December 13 Item article caught our eye about recent graduates at the Joe G. Davis School of Vocational Nursing at Huntsville Memorial Hospital, specifically a few remarks about SHSU's Medical & Allied Health Programs and impending building:

Conversations about the Master Plan

More discussions about the Campus Master Plan from President James Gaertner in today Houstonian:

"We plan to tear down all of the small student housing, like King Hall for example, and build additional student housing. We are going to tear down the LSC and build a new LSC on the same spot, and build new Nursing and Allied Health, Engineering, and College of Business buildings and turn the old business building into general classrooms," Gaertner said. "We also plan to add to the Criminal Justice and Education buildings. There will also be three structured parking garages being built."

"The building schedule depends on our enrollment growth, the availability of funds, certain programs growing at a certain rate, and programs being approved, such as the Engineering and Nursing and Allied Health programs," Gaertner said. "One of the very first projects we will have is going to be new dormitories and student housing because we need a certain number of beds available when we tear down the older houses. We will probably break ground [on the housing project] within the next year and a half or so and then probably after that Allied Health and Nursing."

Chime in with your thoughts or questions about the Master Plan at the katfans forum.

Gaertner Outlines SHSU’s 10-Year Plan

The Item reports that SHSU President James Gaertner outlined SHSU's 10-year master plan to the Huntsville Rotary Club during its weekly meeting Wednesday at West Hill Mall; topics included:

He covered classroom space — current and what is needed — housing, parking — current and what is needed — and athletics and intramurals, where an additional 10 acres are needed.

Gaertner said nothing in particular stands out about the plan, which covers the entire campus and includes a new student center, replacing the Lowman Student Center.

“If anything would stand out, it would be the South Quad area that has all the new academic buildings and creates a new academic quadrangle on campus,” he said. “The whole plan is important.

Gaertner said the LSC was built in the early 1960s and “it has gotten to the point where it’s getting outdated and needs to come down. It was renovated about eight or nine years ago.

“We won’t tear it down until three or four years from now. It will come down. It needs to. We will build a new student center right there in the same place in the middle of the campus.”

Some of the housing buildings scheduled to be demolished include Smith-Kirkley, Recital Hall, White Hall, Allen House, Vick House, Sorority Hill, Art Complex, Thomason Building, and Barrett House.

New buildings scheduled to be constructed on the SHSU campus include agriculture, forensic science, college of business, biology and allied health, integrated engineering and criminal justice expansion.

“We hope to build a couple of residential halls,” he said. They are included in a six-year plan along with intramural fields which would be moved to where the agriculture center is now located off Interstate 45. All ag center facilities would be moved to the location off state Highway 75 North [Gibbs Ranch].

Gaertner said the campus will take on a new look in upcoming years, but “it has changed a lot. It has changed from when I was a student. Over the past 10 years it has changed some and the next 10 years it will change again."

November 2008 Regents Report

Today@Sam has their run-down of the meeting of the Texas State University System Board of Regents:

Each of the component universities in the system is required to submit a revised campus master plan at least every 10 years. The board approved Sam Houston State's current plan in 2000; however, because of the university's rapid growth during the past eight years, administrators decided to update the plan this year.

The plan submitted by JJR, Inc. of Ann Arbor, Mich. calls for new or improved academic space, new residence halls, non-academic structures and a parking garage.

Recommended projects and estimated costs include an addition to the Law Enforcement Management Institute of Texas building ($15 million); integrated engineering and technology building ($37 million); agriculture complex at Gibbs Ranch ($6 million); biology, nursing and allied health building ($42 million); forensic science building ($24 million); College of Business Administration building ($45 million); and Criminal Justice Center addition ($16 million).

JJR, Inc. suggests building two residence halls --- the first one ($17.5 million) north of Sorority Hill and the second one ($23.5 million) at the site of King Hall --- in response to the projected growth in student population.

A proposed 1,200-space, multi-level parking structure on Bearkat Boulevard would cost $20 million.

Recommended non-academic facilities include a health center expansion ($3 million); a new residence life maintenance building ($2 million); and an alumni center ($10 million) adjacent to Bowers Stadium.