New Mexico’s largest public university is hoping to secure nearly $40 million in funding via the state legislature for a variety of campus infrastructure projects.
The funding would come in the form of capital outlay spending to be first approved by legislators before being signed into law by Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham.
Among the larger ticket items requested by the school: $8.9 million for what is described as “essential campus infrastructure,” and exactly $8 million for an environmental water system.
Some $5.3 million is sought for critical campus safety and security improvements, with a smaller $5 million to go for the upgrading of the school’s Interprofessional Health Simulation Center.
Nearly $3.7 million will target information technology upgrades; while $3 million will go for the renovation planning and design of the College of Pharmacy.
One of the smaller amounts, at $2.8 million, will be used for the second floor renovation of the Health Sciences Library and Informatics Center.
In an interview with the Daily Lobo newspaper, Michael Puelle, chief government relations officer for UNM, remarked that investments in security infrastructure include cameras and lighting, “actual technology investments that help increase security on campus.”
Many of the school’s capital outlay requests reflect the larger UNM 2040 goals, which according to a UNM press release, are designed as part of the university’s “long-term strategic plan to achieve a vibrant and thriving society and to build a healthier, better educated, and more economically vigorous New Mexico.”
By Garry Boulard
