PUBLICATIONS Inside Illinois Vol. 20, No. 10, Nov. 16, 2000

Trustees discuss land purchases, chancellor searches, projects

Becky Mabry , Assistant Editor
(217) 244-1072; mabry@illinois.edu

The UI Board of Trustees agreed the university should begin negotiating to purchase 641 acres of land in Piatt County, adjacent to the Robert Allerton Park.

If purchasing negotiations with the owner fails, the trustees authorized the use of its power of eminent domain to acquire the land. The trustees met Nov. 8 and 9 in the Pine Lounge at the Illini Union on the Urbana campus.

The acreage being discussed is a holding of the Art Institute of Chicago that recently has gone up for sale. The property borders both sides of the tree-lined road that is the entrance to the park. Pieces of the property have one of the best stands of wild Virginia blue bells in the state, according to university planners, and it is contiguous to a rookery of blue herons. About one-third of the land is tillable.

UI officials told the trustees that acquiring the land is in the interests of the university’s educational and conservation missions. The Sangamon River also flows through the property. The action provides that the UI Foundation acquires the property and leases it over the next 10 years to help defray operating and acquisition costs. Money for purchase is available from the FY2001 Institutional Funds Operating Budget of the Urbana campus.

Trustees also heard Nov. 8 that searches for new chancellors at the Springfield and Urbana campuses are proceeding well. The chair of the search committee at Springfield said the candidate pool is large and deep and members have begun checking references. The committee hopes to have a list of candidates to the president by Dec. 15 and it is hoped that interviews can begin in January.

The Urbana search committee, chaired by Professor Tom Ulen of the College of Law, met for the first time Nov. 8. Committee members agreed to place ads in the Chronicle of Higher Education, the New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times and other periodicals that reach those in higher education.

Ulen said the committee also agreed to employ a search firm. A brochure and package of material about the university and the Urbana campus is being prepared to send to candidates. The search committee will meet next after Thanksgiving. Chancellor Michael Aiken will be resigning next August.

"It is paramount that we have good people in these two positions," said Trustee Susan Gravenhorst. "I’m anxious to see the results of both search committees’ efforts."

Trustees saw a three-dimensional model of the new Thomas M. Siebel Center for Computer Science, which will share a two-block area on north campus with the new building for the National Center for Supercomputing Applications.

The Siebel Center will have about 224,000 total square feet, be four stories high and have a large expanse of glass facing north toward a large Quad area that will be shared with the NCSA building. The building has been designed to continue the traditional look of the campus and its red brick and limestone exterior will match the look of other buildings on campus, according to architect Jon Jackson of the firm Bohlin, Cywanski and Jackson.

The building is a $74 million project, funded with a gift from alumnus Siebel and the state. Completion is expected in the summer of 2003.

Trustees also approved a new look for the plaza in front of University Hall on the Chicago campus. A Quad area with grass and sidewalks fronts University Hall, the tallest building on the UIC campus. A committee sought the help of artist Vito Acconci of New York City who is renowned for creations of "public art" in large cities around the country and world.

Acconci’s vision includes walkways of rough composite concrete that radiate out from the front of University Hall in a shadow pattern, according to UIC art history professor Peter Bacon Hales. It will have sitting areas and it will be easy for students to pass from the pavement to the grassy areas. The landscape will feature berms and rises. Shallow reflective pools will be located near University Hall to mirror the building, and two stainless steel screens have been designed on both sides of the main entrance to reach up to the second-story of the building. The screens will be covered with a fast-growing vine that will be green in the spring and summer and turn red in the fall and winter. The vine will retain most of its leaves in cold weather, Hales said.

"These will be like waterfalls of greenery announcing the building," Hales said.

A large parking lot adjacent to the building will be converted to expanses of lawn with trees, and a very small parking lot will be put on the south side of the building, Hales said, to accommodate emergency vehicles and to provide a few parking spaces for upper-level administrators.

Because of Acconci’s reputation, this completed work of public art will be a landmark for Chicago and will bring UIC prestige and draw visits from art patrons around the country, Hales said.

Trustee Gerald Shea wondered why there wasn’t one big piece of art, like the Picasso statue at the Chicago Civic Center. Trustee Kenneth Schmidt explained that the entire plaza must be considered by itself a work of art by Acconci, rather than one piece of art in a limited space.

In other matters, UIC Chancellor Sylvia Manning presented a report on her visions and goals for the campus and said the condensed version is that the campus "is becoming the nation’s model public urban research university."

Among the goals established for the campus is the enhancement of undergraduate recruitment and retention. Manning said recruitment and graduation rates have improved recently, but they are not where they need to be. She said undergraduate students need more opportunities to participate in research.

At the graduate level, work is being done to reshape the life sciences doctoral programs "in ways that the life sciences have reshaped themselves in the last decades," she said.

Distance learning for post-baccalaureate degree students is very strong, and in fact there is no dropout rate among those students. But the distance education programs need to be expanded and aggressively marketed, she said.

"I continue to think distance-learning programs for post-baccalaureate professionals is a niche we need to look at," Manning said.

Another goal is the continued recruitment of first-rate faculty to the campus, as well as the recruitment of under-represented faculty and senior staff.

Fiscal stability in the hospital and clinics remains a high priority, as well as the timely completion of the South Campus Development. She said she personally is going to make a concentrated effort to increase levels of private funds raised. In 2000, levels are considerably higher than just six years ago, she said, but still need to be increased. Endowments in 2000 are $107 million, compared with $39 million in 1994, she said. Planned gifts are at $36 million, compared with $4.8 million in 1994.

Also at the trustees meeting, Loren Taylor of the Alumni Association reported that the organization is the second-largest dues-based alumni association in the country with 123,603 members. It has more total memberships than the memberships of five other Big 10 schools combined.

Taylor told the trustees of several initiatives taken this year, including the mailing of the Illinois Alumni magazine to 250,000 alumni, including nonmembers, and a Census 2000 form. The AA is also offering lifetime e-mail addresses to members.

Sidney Micek, president of the UI Foundation, reported that Campaign Illinois total gifts are at $1.478 billion as of Sept. 30. By the end of the calendar year, the amount is expected to reach $1.5 billion.

Goals of the UI Foundation are to increase levels of private giving by increasing its prospective donor base. Currently, the Foundation is able to contact only about 30 percent of the total donor pool, Micek said.

He said additional endowment money would be an effective way to compete for top faculty and draw the best students. At the Chicago campus, he said money is needed for the medical school and in time a new performing arts center. The Springfield campus needs a new student union to support incoming freshmen and sophomore students next fall. And the College of Business and Management needs a new building, Micek said.

At Urbana, the libraries need improved financial support and the School of School Work needs a new building.

Trustee Kenneth Schmidt ended the presentations by pointing out that one item on his "wish list" is money for Allerton Park. He said about $4 million worth of maintenance has been deferred and that the park and its infrastructure are deteriorating.

"My plea is that this be placed on the front burner," Schmidt said. "We all recognize it as a valuable asset to the university and it needs money in order to retain its value."