Campus construction projects, a successful fundraising campaign and the state budget outlook were among the topics addressed by Dr. John F. Carney III, chancellor of Missouri University of Science and Technology, during his State of the University Address Wednesday (April 28, 2010) on the Missouri S&T campus.

Delivering his eighth State of the University address since becoming chancellor in September 2005, Carney discussed several construction projects that were recently completed or are under way. They include:

• The S&T Fitness Center, completed last fall.
• The renovation of the Materials Research Center.
• The recent groundbreaking for the Miner Alumni Association’s Hasselmann Alumni House on Pine and 11th Streets.
• Construction of the first building at S&T’s Innovation Park on 10th Street, west of Allgood-Bailey Stadium.
• The renovation of the Miner Recreation Building at 10th Street and Bishop Avenue, which will house the campus’s student design teams as the Kummer Student Design Center.
• The construction of an indoor athletic practice facility adjacent to the Gale Bullman Multi-Purpose Building.

Carney pointed out that many of these capital projects are being funded as a result of Missouri S&T’s successful fundraising campaign. The $200 million Advancing Excellence fundraising campaign, scheduled to conclude on June 30, 2010 has already exceeded its goal by more than $7 million. Carney added, however, that the budget outlook for the state of Missouri is still shaky. He noted that Missouri S&T and the other University of Missouri campuses are likely to receive a 5.2 percent cut in state funding from last year.

The cut is part of an agreement with Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon that the universities would hold undergraduate in-state tuition steady in exchange for a state funding cut of no more than 5.2 percent.

Carney also said that the university is “very close to exceeding our overall capacity to provide all enrolled students with a quality education.” He said Missouri S&T may consider limiting the number of freshmen to be admitted this fall. Applicants wishing to attend S&T may be placed on a waiting list or encouraged to enroll at one of the university’s 52 transfer partner institutions.

At the conclusion of his address, Carney announced that Nixon had accepted his invitation to deliver the commencement address at Missouri S&T’s May 15 undergraduate ceremony.