A committee of the state Board of Higher Education has given the okay to four projects on the University of North Dakota campus in Grand Forks.
One was $1.3 million to replace a fiber optic cable from the flight operations center at the Grand Forks airport to a data center on campus. UND’s Brian Larson told the Board’s Budget and Finance Committee the project would replace seven and a half miles of line, that has been in service for a number of years.
"Over the years, this line has been damaged, struck and repaired a few times," Larson told the Committee. "It's due to be replaced."
Larson said the new line would be buried deeper, so that it's protected.
"This line is extremely important to maintain the critical communication between our campus information network, and our operations out at the airport," Larson said.
The committee also approved $1.8 million for renovation of UND’s Harrington Hall, part of the national security corridor. Larson said work that has been completed so far includes the construction of a satellite assembly lab, and a digital engineering lab. He said this request will help continue and expand research.
"Included in the scope of work is the construction of a data center, to be able to manage the large amounts of computational research being done, and planned to be done, in Harrington Hall, as well as the construction of an optics lab, that will be focused on national defense research," Larson said.
Another proposes $3.6 million for renovations of the UND law school.
"The school of law has increased its class size, starting in 2025," Larson said. "As such, that has put quite a bit of stress on the size of the classrooms, and the student support service areas," Larson said. "The project before you will be constructed over the next few summers, if approved. And that will adjust a lot of the space in the building, creating more room for the current class size in the school of law."
And UND is asking to spend $4.5 million to reconstruct the Ray Richards Golf Course. Some of the land was sold to the Department of Transportation for road construction. Larson told the Committee the course will be realigned.
"It will end up being slightly shorter," Larson said. "It will play as a par-34, instead of a par-36. It provides an opportunity to address some of the deferred maintenance at the golf course."
The projects will be reviewed by the full Board at its next meeting.
