A new music building on South Campus and the expansion of Norris University Center are “at this point, hopes” and far from fruition, University President Henry Bienen said in his State of the University address Thursday.
Bienen, who recently began his 11th year as president, said planned development on South Campus lacks a substantial amount of funding. A proposal for expansion was announced by university officials in January.
“Very few donor funds have been raised,” Bienen said. “While we are prepared to use some of the royalties from our pharmaceutical product, Lyrica, for these purposes, other large sums have to be accumulated, and they don’t yet exist. We won’t build a new music school without serious private donations.”
Lyrica revenues may help offset a small portion of the cost of planned construction on the southeast portion of South Campus, but private donors must fund the bulk of construction costs, Bienen said during a question-and-answer session after his speech.
Lyrica, developed by chemistry Prof. Richard Silverman, was approved by the Food and Drug Administration on Dec. 31 to treat pain associated with diabetes and a type of herpes. It could raise $60 million a year for
Northwestern.
Another building, the Robert H. Lurie Medical Research Center, is closer to completion and will be dedicated in two months on the Chicago Campus, Bienen said. Bienen also announced that he hoped to break ground for a new life-science building adjacent to the Pancoe-Evanston Northwestern Healthcare Life Sciences Pavilion on North Campus in the “not too far future.”
“(The Lurie) building, along with the new science buildings on the Evanston Campus, represents a significant commitment on the part of the university to expanding our scientific and medical research,” he said.
After his speech, Bienen took audience questions and e-mails to the Northwestern University Staff Advisory Council, which sponsored his address. Question topics ranged from athletic fees to military recruitment on campus.
Bienen also addressed NU students’ dissatisfaction with having a half-day on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Taking a full day off would not only cause “tremendous scheduling problems,” but also would be less effective because students would be tempted to “take a long weekend,” Bienen said. NU schedules several days of events related to Martin Luther King Jr. Day, he said.
Another question involved the low number of female and minority professors. Bienen said NU has a “reasonable record of slow improvement” with tenured women and minorities but should work on attracting and retaining more in doctorate programs. The number of female and minority professors increases as more women and minorities receive doctorates, he said.
“If the composition of the faculty does not alter in the future, continuing on this trend of larger representation for women, which reflects an increase in PhD production, I would be surprised,” he said.
“We continue to attract some of the most academically talented students in the country and, increasingly, from other countries,” he said.
Reach Tina Peng at [email protected].
