[212] MTSU Supports Efforts to Secure Science-Building Funding

MTSU SUPPORTS EFFORTS TO SECURE SCIENCE-BUILDING FUNDING
President Echoes Legislators’ Urgency on Advancing Project

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Nov. 19, 2010
EDITORIAL CONTACT: Andrew Oppmann, 615-339-8851, aoppmann@mtsu.edu

(MURFREESBORO)—Middle Tennessee State University officials support preliminary discussions by lawmakers to secure funding for the $126 million proposed science building by reducing the state’s share of the project to less than $100 million.

University President Sidney A. McPhee said he was grateful for the work by legislators, state officials and others to advance the science building, which has been on the state’s priority list for higher-education building projects since 1998 and designated as the No. 1 priority for the last three years. The university’s current science buildings have been deemed outdated and inadequate to support demand created by MTSU’s record-breaking enrollment.

State Sens. Bill Ketron, R-Murfreesboro, and Jim Tracy, R-Shelbyville, said at a Rutherford County Chamber of Commerce legislative luncheon on Nov. 17 that they thought the project would fare better before the Legislature if the state’s cost could be reduced below the $100 million mark.

McPhee said he will work with the senators, as well as the entire local legislative delegation and other key lawmakers, on ways to reduce the state’s portion of the cost and move the project forward. Under such a scenario, he said, the university would secure the balance needed to finish the building through other options apart from state funding.

The president also echoed the senators’ urgency on moving quickly with the project to take advantage of lower construction and material costs. While the $126 million project has been scaled back considerably during the years-long planning process, McPhee said the university will look for additional ways to reduce costs while preserving the building’s functionality and educational mission.


Founded in 1911, Middle Tennessee State University is a Tennessee Board of Regents institution located in Murfreesboro and is the state’s largest public undergraduate institution. MTSU now boasts one of the nation’s first master’s degree programs in horse science, and the Council of Graduate Schools in Washington, D.C., acclaims MTSU’s Master of Science in Professional Science degree—the only one in Tennessee—as a model program. This fall, MTSU unveiled three new doctoral degrees in the sciences.

For MTSU news and information, visit www.mtsunews.com.

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