As part of a program to renovate and upgrade student housing, ISU trustees have approved room and board rates for the 2009-10 academic year. At their February meeting, trustees also adopted new guidelines for the naming of buildings and other facilities and named the university\\\'s baseball field for long-time Sycamore coach Bob Warn.
As part of a program to renovate and upgrade student housing, Indiana State University trustees Friday (Feb. 27) approved room and board rates for the 2009-10 academic year.
The annual residence hall base rate will be $7,463, an approximate 7 percent increase. As in the past, returning students who have maintained continuous enrollment, excluding summers, and who have earned 56 or more ISU credit hours, will have room and board frozen at the rate in effect for their sophomore year.
Monthly rates for University Apartments will rise by around $35, an increase of approximately 6 percent, depending on the unit and number of bedrooms.
Rates for campus housing at Indiana State include cable television, Internet, local telephone service and other utilities. Increases for 2009-10 are consistent with previous efforts to align university rental rates with prevailing rates in the community, said Tom Ramey, vice president for student affairs.
"Many of ISU's residence halls were constructed in the 1960s and have stood the test of time well. However, we must invest in these buildings in order to provide the safety improvements today's students need and the amenities they expect," Ramey said. "We believe room and board at Indiana State will remain competitive with other universities while providing the funds necessary to begin a significant program of capital improvements."
As part of those improvements, trustees authorized spending up to $11 million on the renovation of Sandison Hall. The authorization reflects an increase from a ceiling of $10 million dollars set by board members when they initially authorized the project in December.
The increase will expand the residence hall's capacity from what original renovation plans proposed while also enhancing the function of various spaces within the building, Ramey said. The additional funding will also allow for changes in the building's fa硤e to blend Sandison's architecture with that of surrounding buildings such as Hulman Memorial Student Union, he said.
In conjunction with the ISU women's soccer team's move to Memorial Stadium and the university's commitment to women's athletics in general, trustees approved the replacement and expansion of the artificial turf at the stadium, which was last replaced in 2001. The board also granted approval to an expansion and upgrade of football locker rooms.
Cost for the two projects is not to exceed $750,000 each from the university's auxiliary reserves, which are set aside for the repair and maintenance of auxiliary facilities such as athletic venues and Hulman Center. Funding for the projects will not come from state budget appropriations. The university will undertake a separate project to create locker rooms at the stadium for women's soccer.
\\\"Moving our soccer program to Memorial Stadium will enable the program to have a quality playing surface, lights, locker rooms, permanent seating, concession stand and paved parking - things the program has not had since the inception. This is an improvement that is long overdue and will enable us to compete effectively in the Missouri Valley Conference, said Ron Prettyman, director of intercollegiate athletics.
Approximately 150 student-athletes, student trainers and managers will be served at Memorial Stadium by housing both football and soccer, Prettyman said.
With an eye toward the future and the Indiana State University Foundation's comprehensive fundraising campaign, set for a public launch in October, trustees also approved revised naming guidelines for capital and endowed funds.
The new policy establishes a minimum donation of $10 million for the naming of a college or unit and $5 million for the naming of a school within a college. Naming of a building requires a minimum gift of 35 percent of the cost of new construction or 50 percent of the cost of renovation.
The policy sets a $3 million minimum for the naming of a deanship, $1.5 million for a distinguished endowed chair, $750,000 for a distinguished endowed professorship and $500,000 for endowed professorships or head coaching positions. It also establishes minimums for the naming of scholarships and fellowships, artwork and collections, endowed funds and named memorials such as benches, gardens and courtyards.
Trustees will continue to have the ability to name facilities or units in honor of individuals who have made significant contributions to the university.
Immediately after adopting the revised policy, trustees did that very thing by naming the playing field at the ISU baseball stadium for longtime Sycamore baseball coach Bob Warn.
"Coach Warn considered his players students first and then athletes," said Trustee Ed Pease, a former ISU faculty member. "More than a coach, Bob was a mentor, always concerned first and foremost with student-athletes' academic progress. He regular checked with professors and instructors to see how they were doing in class - and he was a darn good coach, too."
Warn retired in 2006 after 31 years as head coach of the Indiana State baseball team, compiling 1,070 victories, taking his teams to post season play seven times, including a trip to the College World Series in 1986.
Photos:
Sycamore Towers residence hall complex
Bob Warn
Media contact and writer: Dave Taylor, media relations director, Office of Communications and Marketing, Indiana State University, 812-237-3743 or dave.taylor@indstate.edu
