EDUCATION: REGENTS APPROVE NEW ALUMNI CENTER PROJECT

Southeast Missouri State University's Board of Regents Friday voted to build a new alumni center.

But the regents said they want to review construction plans as they do with other capital improvement projects. Bids will be taken for the $1.2 million project, which could get under construction next spring.

The two-story, 7,000-square-foot Wehking Alumni Center will be built south and slightly east of Wildwood, the historic home that once was the official residence of university presidents and is now used for official receptions and other social functions.

The project will be funded with private donations, nearly $1 million of it already in place, school officials said.

Wayne Davenport, vice president of university advancement and executive director of the foundation, told the regents that he expects to secure the remaining donations needed to fund the project.

The late Aleen Wehking provided much of the funding. Southeast Missouri natives Earl and Marjorie Holland of Fort Myers, Fla., also have contributed toward the project.

Davenport said he expects to secure the remaining funding from a "small handful of donors."

That's being done, he said, so the alumni center project won't cut into donations to the school's current capital campaign.

Several regents voiced support for the project. "I think this is a great idea," said Regent Doyle Privett of Kennett, Mo.

Dr. Pauline Fox, vice president of administration and enrollment management, said the new center would be designed strictly to house the offices of the university foundation and alumni services.

"It is a beautiful location," she said.

Fox said the university decided against adding onto Wildwood partly because of concern that construction work could damage the historic structure. The oldest part of the house may date to the late 1800s, local historians say.

Fox said the separate building should please alumni who wanted to preserve Wildwood as a home while also providing a new alumni center. The existing center on Sprigg Street is surrounded by Show Me Center parking lots. A former migrant center, the one-story, block building was never designed for foundation and alumni offices.

Regent Sarah Long of Poplar Bluff, Mo., said the project frees up space in the Sprigg Street building to house other offices.

Fox said that will be particularly important when administrative offices have to be relocated for the renovation of Academic Hall, a project for which the university is seeking funding from the state.

BOARD OF REGENTS ACTION TAKEN

Southeast Missouri State University Board of Regents

Friday, Dec. 8

University Center Ballroom

* Authorized construction of a new alumni center.

* Approved a resolution honoring the late governor Mel Carnahan and expressing condolences to his widow, Jean Carnahan.

* Conferred degrees for students scheduled to graduate in Saturday's commencement.

* Approved a computer graphics degree option.

* Accepted the annual financial audit.

* Reappointed Anne Bradshaw to the Show Me Center Board of Managers and Pauline Fox to the River Campus Board of Managers.