Tom Morrison flies under the radar

Is Tom Morrison the new Terry Clapacs?

“I’m the new Terry Clapacs, and that’s an honor,” he said.

After the retirement of the former vice president and chief administrative officer Terry Clapacs, President Michael McRobbie appointed Morrison to the new position of vice president for capital projects and facilities. Clapacs’ administrative responsibilities, such as human resources and risk management, were split among other departments  to create a narrowed position.

Morrison is responsible for physical assets of the University’s campuses, including facilities, land, capital projects, master planning, real estate and some government relations.

Morrison said he intends to carry out the direction of the board of trustees and the master plan and do what’s best for the University.

“It’s not about who fills this chair, it’s about the University and its faculty and students and reflecting their needs,” Morrison said.

Morrison was hired about a year ago as the associate vice president for government relations, but he served in a role similar to his current position at Ball State University for 17 years.

Roughly $200 million dollars are being directed toward capital projects this year.

Morrison said some of these projects, such as research facilities and lab renovations, aren’t in the core of campus but are important to the development of the University.  

He added that some of the University’s budget does go to projects students and faculty never see, such as maintenance of roofs, gutters, windows, steam tunnels and heat and air conditioning systems.

“That’s what we do, make sure things work every day,” Morrison said.

Morrison said each project is designed within a given budget and some can be upgraded as long as the money is available. University building projects are funded by Indiana’s General Assembly, private donors and institutional resources.

Because of lengthy project timelines, Morrison said students shouldn’t expect to see immediate results. After making it through a lengthy approval process, it takes about a year for University architects to design a major project and 18 to 24 months to finish building. Major building projects can take seven to 10 years to complete.

“Students now are seeing us in a bit of a building boom,” Morrison said.

Because of his involvement with capital projects, Morrison was directly involved with the recent tuition negotiations with state Sen. Luke Kenley.

“Our discussions with Senator Kenley were very productive, and in the end we came to something that worked for the students and for the University,” Morrison said. He added that Kenley and the University share the same goal of making college as affordable as possible.

Morrison said the tuition negotiations didn’t delay University projects, though Sen. Kenley had threatened to put a hold on approval of any building projects until the tuition concerns were solved.

Two projects, a parking garage at IU-Purdue University Indianapolis and renovations to the Billy Hayes Track, were confirmed in late August, and the rest of the projects will hopefully come before the Budget Committee in September. Any project more than $1 million for a public university has to be approved by the Budget Committee, even if it is funded privately.

For the most part, Morrison and his staff are below students’ radars, but he says that’s how it should be.

“If students don’t know us, that’s OK, because it means we’re doing our job well,” he said.

IU’s major building projects under construction
Ashton Housing
$70,000,000

Multidisciplinary Science Building Phase II
$51,681,000      

Memorial Stadium North End Zone Project
$39,000,000      

Basketball Development Center
$16,000,000      

Auxiliary Library Facility Phase II
$9,500,000      

Ashton Chilled Water Facility
$4,450,000      

McNutt and Teter Quad Restroom Renovation
$3,862,000      

Jordan Hall Teaching Lab Renovation
$2,000,000      

Wells Library Reroof    
$1,427,000      

Education School Roof and Window Replacement
$1,250,000

Men and Women’s Varsity Golf Facility    
$980,000      

Wylie House Education Center    
$800,000

Source: IU Office of the Vice President for Capital Projects
and Facilities