Regents History: October 16-17, 1975

Board Membership
Mary Louise Petersen, President, Harlan
Ray Bailey, Milford
John Baldridge, Chariton
Stanley Barber, Wellman
S.J. Brownlee, Emmetsburg
Margaret Collison, Oskaloosa
Donald Shaw, Davenport
Harry Slife, Cedar Falls
Steven Zumbach, West Des Moines

Highlights
The Board approved the naming of UNI’s new administrative building in honor of James C. Gilchrist, who served as Iowa State Normal School’s first principal (1876-1886). The old Gilchrist Hall, located just South of what is now Lang Hall and North of Seerley Hall, burned to the ground in 1972. Oddly, new Gilchrist also would be heavily damaged by fire in October 2005 and would not be fully restored until the beginning of the 2008-09 academic year. 

UI Health Care’s North Tower project budget rose by $762,250 to accommodate a dermatology nursing unit and inclusion of newly invented Boehringer Gas Scavengers, which collected excess anesthetic gasses, to operating rooms. The North Tower budget would continue to rise during construction, with the final total coming in at $13.9 million when it opened for general use in 1976. North Tower was renamed Boyd Tower after UI President Willard “Sandy” Boyd’s retirement in 1981. 

Bids for Iowa State’s Design Center project were delayed by “unavoidable” circumstances. ISU VP for Finance Wayne Moore convinced the Board to allow the bidding to occur just a week later by telephone, noting that he would keep the Board Office informed and that this schedule would allow work on the project to begin “this fall.” Work indeed began when Moore said it would, and the College of Design building opened to students in 1978. Design was expanded in 2009 with the opening of the King Pavilion and became the state’s first LEED Platinum-certified higher education building, as well.