Requests to the state legislature

Current top priorities

Riverpoint Biomedical and Health Sciences Building
Requests $70.8 million to construct this facility the in the heart of Spokane’s burgeoning $6 billion health care industry. Home to co-located programs with UW and EWU, the facility will house programs to train more doctors, dentists, and pharmacists, increasing access to health care in rural communities while producing a $2.1 billion return on investment. The facility will support research in targeted areas, among them cancer, diabetes, reproduction, sleep and performance, obesity, and substance abuse.

2011-2013 operating budget requests

Expand Spokane Undergraduate Medical Education (WWAMI) to Meet Statewide Physician Shortages
Requests $600,000 to work jointly with the University of Washington’s School of Medicine (UWSOM) to continue the work of increasing the number of primary care physicians that practice in the state, particularly those in rural and underserved areas.

School for Global Animal Health
Requests $6.4 million for the development of the new WSU School for Global Animal Health, which has the unique mission of discovering and developing novel solutions to infectious disease challenges through research, education, global outreach, and implementation at the animal-human interface.

Creating Clean Jobs and Industries
Requests twenty new science and engineering faculty positions to bolster employment-producing initiatives. The positions may lead to new technologies that reduce the state’s reliance on foreign oil; enable rapid and sustainable adaptation to climate change; maintain or enhance Washington’s competitive advantage in agriculture; minimize greenhouse gas emissions; and, improve soil, air, and water quality.

Enrollment at All Campuses
Requests a policy-level funding adjustment to continue to provide access to 1,000 undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in excess of the budgeted enrollment level.

Maintenance & Operations for New Facilities (Policy Level)
Requests maintenance and operations funding for the WSU Spokane Riverpoint Veterinary Specialty Teaching Clinic, housed in a building that was acquired by the University and the state in 2004. Also provides information about the federally-funded Agricultural Research Services facility in Pullman; the university will request maintenance and operations funding when the building is complete and occupied.

Collective Bargaining
Requests state funding to implement labor agreements with the Police Guild, Facilities Operations-Steam Plant, and Washington Federation of State Employees.

Authorize Tuition and Fees
Requests that legislature grant authority to the Board of Regents to increase or adjust tuition and fees by the amount judged reasonable and necessary by the governing board.

2011-2013 capital budget requests

Clean Technology Building
Requests $5.8 million to design a new Clean Technology Building at the Pullman campus. The facility will support this high-demand, new economy field for which the university is already nationally recognized. It will house research and education in areas including air quality, power grid management, environmental engineering, and new renewable energy technologies.

Washington Animal Disease Diagnostic and Research Facility
Requests design funds for a facility to house the Washington Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory (WADDL), which stands at the front line of regional and national defenses against foreign diseases and food-borne illness. WADDL’s current aging facilities are overcrowded and not integrated for best laboratory practices, workflow, and biosafety. The new facility will enable WADDL to accommodate its growing staff, caseload, and breadth of diagnostic services and programs.

WSU Vancouver: Library Second Floor Conversion
Requests funds to convert current classroom spaces to library space to accommodate campus growth, as specified in the initial design of the building. The building opened in 1996. In 2006, the legislature authorized the campus to offer lower division programs for students for the first time. The resulting growth leaves the library with insufficient stack space, study space, and computer access stations to meet existing demand.

Minor Works Preservation
Requests critical funding to improve facilities to comply with occupational health, public health, and environmental protection regulations. Failure to provide preservation funding condemns existing facilities and infrastructure to continued decline and degradation, adversely impacting the recruitment of quality students and faculty, and the ability of WSU to perform its primary mission of teaching and research.

Minor Program Improvements and Omnibus Equipment
Requests $10.6 million to make improvements and modifications to University facilities that do not rise to the level of major capital projects, but which significantly enhance existing facilities’ support for programs and quality of life. The modifications accommodate program growth and change, access for the disabled, classroom and lab improvements, research needs of new and existing faculty, and general campus facility and infrastructure improvements.