To: All Faculty & All Academic Professionals & All Civil Service Staff
           <everybody@illinois.edu> 
    From: "President B. Joseph White" <presidentwhite@uillinois.edu>

Reply-To: presidentwhite@uillinois.edu
 Subject: State Capital Budget Enacted 

On July 13th, Governor Pat Quinn signed a major capital appropriation bill 
for the State of Illinois into law. It represents the first major, 
publicly funded capital initiative in the state in nearly a decade, and it 
is very welcome news for the University of Illinois' three campuses. 

Appropriations for projects the capital bill includes for the University 
of Illinois are the following:

-- University-wide, $32.2 million for repair-and-renovation of facilities 
on all three campuses.
-- Urbana, $57.3 million to renovate Lincoln Hall.
-- Urbana, $20 million to construct a Post Harvest Crop Processing and 
Research Laboratory.
-- Urbana, $44.5 million to construct an Electrical and Computer 
Engineering Building.
-- Urbana, $60 million for the Petascale supercomputing facility is 
included in the state Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity 
(DCEO) budget.
-- Chicago, $20.8 million to upgrade campus infrastructure and College of 
Dentistry modernization.
-- Chicago, $14.8 million to construct a National Rural Health Center at 
the UIC College of Medicine campus in Rockford.
-- Springfield, $4 million for renovation and construction of the Public 
Safety Building.
-- Chicago, a $1.3 million DCEO grant for construction of a College of 
Medicine (COM) cancer research facility in Peoria, and a $500,000 DCEO 
grant to the Heartland Foundation for costs associated with the 
construction of the cancer research center at the COM in Peoria. 
-- Chicago, a $175,000 DCEO grant to the UIC College of Dentistry for a 
pediatric dental clinic.

While the capital appropriation bills have been signed, there are 
additional steps in the process. A bonding authorization has been signed 
but must be implemented, as well as the mechanism for debt service. The 
release of the projects through the Governor's office must be authorized 
and the contractual processes through the Illinois Capital Development 
Board and the University's Board of Trustees will require action. 

However, I believe there is a strong desire by the Governor and the 
General Assembly to move forward on these projects, and I am optimistic 
that the process will continue with urgency.

There are some additional sources of funding that the University may be 
able to access with other state agencies. We will continue to pursue 
funding through the competitive processes.

I thank all those involved in the process to make this 2010 capital bill a 
reality. These are very high priority projects for the University, and I 
thank the Governor and the General Assembly for this breakthrough in 
capital funding.


This mailing approved by:
The Office of the President

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