State funding for university shows increase for 1994-95

The Board of Trustees of Institutions of Higher Learning also approved at its May meeting one-time allocations from Education Enhancement Funds, including $1.2 million for the Mississippi State library, $450,000 to complete the auditorium in the new Meridian Campus building, and about $746,000 for a variety of other needs.

The Legislature's 1994-95 bond program also includes funding for two new buildings and an urgent repair and renovation project. Just under $4 million in bonds was approved to match federal funds already available to build a new Diagnostic Instrumentation and Analysis Laboratory, $7.5 million was authorized to help fund a new indoor recreation center, and $3 million was designated for repair and renovation and will be used mainly to upgrade Hand Chemical Laboratory.

“The Legislature and the governor have been exceptionally good to higher education and to Mississippi State University this year,” said President Donald Zacharias. “Legislative leaders have taken unprecedented steps to improve funding for higher education and have given us a chance to recover from the inadequate support of the past.”

Construction is expected to start this summer on the new DIAL building in the Mississippi Research and Technology Park adjacent to campus. That interdisciplinary project, currently occupying cramped quarters in engineering buildings, has attracted more than $65 million in federal support over the past 18 years.

The Joe Frank Sanderson Center for student, faculty, and staff recreational use is expected to cost about $19 million. A gift from Laurel businessman and Mississippi State alumnus Joe Frank Sanderson Sr. will cover a significant part of the cost. Bonds authorized by the Legislature last year in support of the project would provide the remainder of the financing, but the status of the bond bill is being decided in the Mississippi Supreme Court.

In addition to state support for on-campus operations, the university's Division of Agriculture, Forestry and Veterinary Medicine received an 18 percent increase in general state funds.

Appropriations for the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station, Mississippi Cooperative Extension Service, College of Veterinary Medicine, and Forest and Wildlife Research Center total $44 million for 1994-95. Those units also received about $1.8 million in one-time Education Enhancement Funds to be used for various special needs.

The Forest and Wildlife Research Center was created by the Legislature this year by consolidating research programs in forestry, wildlife, and fisheries being carried on by separate units of the university. The realignment was sought by the university to increase efficiency and coordination of programs.

Funding to MAFES will allow increased emphasis on research to add value to agricultural products through further processing, and on efforts to maintain a healthy environment. A sizable portion of the total increase will be used to replace obsolete research equipment.

MCES will use its additional funding to focus on technology enhancement and financial management entrepreneurships. The College of Veterinary Medicine increase will aid research in support of the state aquaculture industry. The college also received one-time equipment replacement funds.

The Legislature's 1994-95 bond program also includes $1.5 million for agriculture division repair and renovation projects and $1.3 million for a new building at the North Mississippi Research and Extension Center at Verona.

The Mississippi State Chemical Laboratory, a separately funded unit of the university, received a 12 percent increase in general state support, to $1.2 million, and Education Enhancement Funds of $1.85 million to be used for equipment, repair and renovation, and construction preplanning.