Regents OK
Pharmacy College
The addition to the Hilo campus
carries a $25 million price tag
HILO » A University of Hawaii Board of Regents committee approved a new $25 million College of Pharmacy as part of at the Hilo campus yesterday.
The full board was expected take up the recommendation of the Academic Affairs Committee to approve the new school today, which would open with 66 students in 2007.
The college had been under consideration for months, but funding was one of the biggest hurdles for the regents.
Regent Kitty Lagareta said other programs such as nursing and Hawaiian studies also need money.
"Is this (new college) the most important place to put limited resources at this time?" she asked.
Stacy Evensen of Hawaii Medical Services Association answered that Hawaii has the fastest-aging population in the nation. Business leaders put health care at the top of their list of needs, she said.
"It's critical that we have additional pharmacists," she said.
Ron Schurra, administrator of Hilo Medical Center, said his most critical staffing need is in pharmacy programs.
Paula Helfrich of the Economic Development Alliance of Hawaii assured the regents that money will be available, even if Big Island residents have to donate a dollar at a time.
"Whatever is needed, we're going to make it happen," she said.
Dr. Joel Weber, representing national pharmaceuticals supplier AmerisourceBergen, said his company has donated to pharmaceutical schools in the past and would donate to this one.
After hearing unanimous testimony for the college, Lagareta answered her own question about the wisdom of putting money into it, urging her fellow regents to vote for it.
University officials working on the college had already redesigned their proposal to make it more acceptable to the regents.
They dropped a request for a $2 million subsidy from the Legislature every year, although subsidies totaling $6.8 million would be needed during the first five years. About half that amount is expected from federal sources, with the rest from the state.
They projected more revenue by raising tuition and the percentage of nonresident students, who will pay higher rates. Resident tuition would start about $13,000 per year, while nonresidents would pay about $24,000 per year.
The $25 million to build the school is expected to come from federal and pharmaceutical company funding.
www.hawaii.edu
Proposal would
grant UH developer
rights to land
HILO » The University of Hawaii Board of Regents heard three proposals yesterday for private developers to build facilities for the university system at their own expense. Various methods could be adopted to pay back the developers.
The most unusual application of private financing and construction would be for a developer to build an entire campus for the University of Hawaii at West Oahu on a 500-acre site at Kapolei, said Jan Yokota, university director of capital improvements.
In exchange for developing a campus on a portion of the Kapolei site, the developer would obtain the right to develop, lease or sell about 320 acres not intended for campus use.
The first phase of the project, including extensive infrastructure and four buildings, would cost the developer about $88.8 million.
A less unusual type of privately financed development would be to have a new cancer research center constructed by a developer on 5.5 acres at Kakaako. Across the nation, similar facilities have sometimes been funded by a single donor, Yokota said.
The most common use of a private developer would be to have such a company construct the 800 new student housing units needed at the Manoa campus, she said.
But in each case, the exact way the private developer would do the job remains to be seen. The university has not yet requested proposals from developers, and the regents took no action on the projects yesterday.
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