Trustees to discuss buildings

The IU board of trustees will discuss plans for the IU-Purdue University at Indianapolis Information Sciences Building at their monthly meeting at IU-East in Richmond, Ind., this weekend.\nThe facilities committee and the finance and audit committee will meet Thursday, followed by an executive session Friday.\nPeter Obremskey, chair of the facilities committee, said the committee will be approving preliminary plans for the IUPUI building.\n"There are several steps we go through before we approve a building, one of the first is the preliminary design to make sure it's consistent with all the others on the campus," Obremskey said. \nOn the Bloomington campus the buildings are predominately limestone; on the East campus and at IUPUI they are brick.\n"We want to make sure whatever they have in mind meets the overall objectives," Obremskey said.\nIn addition to approving plans for a new building, the facilities committee will approve the sublease of office space in Indianapolis from IU Medical Group Specialty Care. IUPUI must lease space because there is not enough room to house all faculty offices on campus.\n"We don't have enough room on campus to provide office space in Indianapolis for many of the disciplines," Obremskey said. "We have to rent space, and any lease over three years must be approved by the board of trustees."\nThe Finance and Audit Committee also will hear an audit report from the State Board of Accounts.\nThe board will hear a report Friday by Indiana Commission for Higher Education Commissioner Stan Jones on Indiana's Blueprint for Policy and Planning Development in Higher Education.\nAfter Jones' and each committee's report, the chancellor of each IU campus will report to the board on personnel issues.\nIU-Bloomington Chancellor Sharon Brehm said she will be discussing professor Richard DiMarchi's acceptance of a tenured professorship as the Jack and Linda Gill distinguished chair in biomolecular sciences. DiMarchi is currently the group vice president for Lilly Research Laboratories.\n"The Bloomington campus is delighted that professor DiMarchi has joined us," Brehm said.\nAside from the committee and personnel reports, Obremskey said he hopes IU President Adam Herbert will discuss his recent trip to Washington during his report to the board. Herbert met with each of Indiana's delegates as a step toward revamping IU's legislative effort.\n"We need money, and one of the places we can get it is in gifts and grants," Obremskey said. "The National Health Institute has money set aside for various research institutions, and we have one of the better medical schools in the country."\n-- Contact staff writer Alli Stolper at astolper@indiana.edu.