Jacqueline Peraza | EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Thursday morning, the University of Texas System Board of Regents will cast a final vote on funding a new School of Medicine building in Brownsville.
The Facilities Planning and Construction Committee voted unanimously this morning to amend the current capital improvement program to include the project.
UTRGV President Guy Bailey reintroduced the project to the board after Chancellor James Milliken approved it for a Definition Phase on Jan. 22.
In total, the project cost is estimated at $15,776,663.
According to the agenda, “the Board approved $8,920,000 of Permanent University Fund (PUF) Bond Proceeds for this project” on Nov. 14, 2019.
The Valley Baptist Legacy Foundation has awarded $6 million to the project, and the remaining $856,663 in funding would come from unexpended plant funds.
“This is an expensive building but … it will be within the spectrum of cost for this kind of facility,” Bailey told the committee. “Again, it’s a very complex research facility: vivarium and a MRI facility.”
The new building would include “faculty and administrative offices, state-of-the-art vivarium and laboratory, and an MRI suite with exam rooms,” according to the meeting’s presentation.
In the past, Bailey said, the School of Medicine would send lab tests to San Antonio to receive their results.
“This significantly increases the footprint for the School of Medicine,” he said. “It increases genetic research support growth, as well. This is in our center for genetics and genomics, which focuses on diabetes.”
The new building would be located on the north side of the Brownsville campus and spacious enough to hold the research team of over 55 members.
“It will maintain the character of the Brownsville campus,” Bailey said. “Those of you who have been there know that this is a gorgeous campus and, so, we do everything we can to maintain that character.”
The regents will meet at 9 a.m. Thursday via video conference to cast a final vote on the approval of the project’s funding. To access the webcast, click here.
