The University of Arkansas at Little Rock Board of Visitors today voted to build an honors residential complex on campus that will house 500 additional students.

In addition, the board recommended two other measures. One would be to raise UALR’s student facility fee, which will match the facility fee at the UA-Fayetteville campus. Funds generated by the fee increase would be used for building and facility needs. The other recommendation was to move quickly with a bond issue to capitalize on UALR’s positive bonding capacity and current favorable interest rate.

These recommendations were the only decisions that resulted from the two-and-a-half-hour UALR Board of Visitors meeting. The intent of today’s extended session was to consider funding for the university’s most urgent capital projects.

“We’re going to do something historical that I think will move the school to a different level,” UALR Board Chair Dean Kumpuris said at the start of the meeting held in the Dr. Ted and Virginia Bailey Alumni and Friends Center.

Kumpuris asked board members in attendance to reconvene in early August for further consideration of which of the 14 other projects recommended by UALR Chancellor Joel Anderson and university administrators would best benefit students and the community. In the interim, he asked Anderson to recommend to the board his top priorities, and he asked board members to study the proposals thoroughly before the next meeting.

The university will fund the growth initiative through a bond issue of about $28 to $30 million. The meeting topic resulted from board discussion in May about UALR’s positive bonding capacity and current favorable interest rates.

Once the board of visitors has finished project consideration, the projects must be approved by Chancellor Anderson, University of Arkansas System President B. Alan Sugg, and the UA Board of Trustees.

Among major capital projects under consideration are a nanotechnology science center, a health and wellness building, a community sports complex, a new professional studies building, and expansion of the Donaghey Student Center as a one-stop student center.