Investing in the Future

There's nothing wrong with building castles in the air, Henry David Thoreau once wrote. Just make sure you place a solid foundation under them. Careful financial planning, budgeting, and investing are the foundation that supports this "castle" of learning.

University-Wide Budgeted Revenues FY 1998-99 (in millions of dollars)
University-Wide Budgeted Expenditures FY 1998-99 (in millions of dollars)
General Education Fund Budgeted Revenues FY 1998-99 (in millions of dollars)
General Education Fund Budgeted Expenditures FY 1998-99 (in millions of dollars)

Toward a Healthier, More Humane Workplace

As anyone who has ever held a job knows, the neat line between work and the rest of life is, in fact, quite messy. If the line exists at all, that is.

"If you're stressed-out at work, that affects everything you do," says Laura Reed, director of the University's aptly named WorkLife program. "We're constantly feeling the effects of one sphere on the other."

WorkLife recently added UI Wellness to a variety of existing services that are geared toward integrating work and life in a healthier and more humane fashion. For example, safe, affordable child care is a necessity for many working families. The WorkLife day-care component includes three University-run centers (serving 127 children) and scholarships to make private day care centers more affordable.

The new UI Wellness program helps employees lead healthier lives through workshops on nutrition, parenting, stress, and a host of other services ranging from cholesterol testing to ergonomic worksite analysis to shoulder and neck massages for employees.

"Our vision is to become one of the most comprehensive worksite health promotion programs at an academic institution," Reed says. "Our staff and faculty are our most important assets. The WorkLife program simply recognizes that fact."

Construction Projects Change the Campus

The most dramatic feature of the Biological Sciences Renovation and Replacement Project is the skywalk over Dubuque Street connecting the old and new biology buildings. After the new biology building is completed in January 2000, the original 1902 building will be renovated and safety hazards remedied.

September 25, 1998, marked the groundbreaking ceremony for the Medical Education and Biomedical Research Facility and the launching of the "Seeking Knowledge for Healing" campaign, the largest capital project ever undertaken by the University. The new building will be the centerpiece of a redesigned health sciences campus. Scheduled for completion in 2001, the project also includes renovation on existing buildings, a new parking facility, landscaping, walkways, and a pedestrian-access bridge over Highway 6.

The four-year Engineering Building Modernization Project began with the dismantling of the radio tower atop the newly renamed Seamans Center for the Engineering Arts and Sciences. A new classroom and laboratory addition to the building will be complete in June 2000. The final phase of the project calls for the renovation of the original building.

The University Services Building is scheduled to be fully occupied by the end of 1999. The building will be the new home of the Offices of Human Resources, Information Technology, and the Facilities Services Group.