The Board of Trustees approved allocating $1.3 million for the College's second try at building the Metzger Drive student apartments. The money was allocated to Fletcher Thompson, a Connecticut-based architectural design firm with offices in East Brunswick, at the Oct. 3 meeting.
According to Matt Golden, director of Communications and Media Relations, the money is for the apartment project "going forward" and is not related to the upcoming demolition of the current structures.
The board also approved its annual "wish list" of capital construction projects, submitting a proposed budget of $31.9 million to the state. The list includes a request for $4 million to replace the roofs of the relatively new Science and Biology buildings. The Science Complex roof troubles have been in litigation since Spring 2003.
Other requests include $3.9 million to preserve the Student Recreation Center and $1.6 million to help renovate the Green Farmhouse. The College has been attempting to get the state's help with the farmhouse's preservation, but has been forced to rely on private fundraising and donation efforts so far.
In her president's report, R. Barbara Gitenstein praised the "extraordinary new staff of 26 faculty" that the board formally approved at the meeting.
The College has left a number of full-time tenure track positions open as a result of the state's budget cuts and has been filling the gap with temporary and part-time professors.
Already, Gitenstein said, "the long and tedious" process of forming strategies to get state support for the College has begun.
Private donations to the College are up, according to board member Robert Kayne. He said that even excluding the $5 million endowment from Tom and Carol Loser, donations are coming at double the pace of last year. The College has set a goal of receiving 10,000 private donations in 2006-2007 as part of its "Target 10,000" campaign.
The board approved the resignation of Martin Becker, associate professor of physics, and Matthew McGarry, assistant professor of engineering. It also approved the retirements of Roosevelt Butler, associate professor of business, and Edward Rockel, associate professor of biology.
Jenna Klubnick, alternate student trustee, was sworn in at the meeting. The position, elected by the student body each spring, is non-voting. Next year, she will automatically become student trustee and be permitted to vote, taking over for the current student trustee, senior Daria Silvestro.
