Marquette University President Kimo Ah Yun addressed University Academic Senate Feb. 17 to provide updates on possible capital projects, President Trump’s executive orders and $31 million budget cuts.
Here’s what to know:
BioDiscovery building or science district project
Ah Yun said there has been discussion about improving the current biological and biomedical sciences facilities.
A master plan was created in 2017 detailing campus improvement plans, including a “BioDiscovery District.”
The science district is the only capital project on Marquette’s $600 million campus master plan that hasn’t been completed.
“We’ve been talking about BioDiscovery or a science district. As I get further into that, it’s clear that we need to start thinking about this in smaller chunks and figure out what the most important chunk is that we need to go after first,” Ah Yun said.
Ah Yun said if this were to be a standalone building it could cost upwards of $250 million.
“I just didn’t see the pathway for us to do that, so we went out and started talking to donors to see if we have interest. It’s not going to be able to generate enough money for that building,” Ah Yun said.
That is why Ah Yun said looking at this in smaller pieces will be the best way to address it. He said that labs and teaching spaces seem to be a priority, so he said they are doing an audit of those spaces.
“Can we renovate some of the labs? Do we have to have a separate structure and what kind of structure does it need to be?” Ah Yun said.
Ah Yun said students and faculty who utilize the labs said they are insufficient and that some high schools have better lab spaces.
“As I think about thriving students, that’s one of the ways I think we could help our students to thrive,” Ah Yun said.
AHPRC II
In 2023, the Wire reported a second Athletic and Human Performance Research Center was in the works with plans to create another building in the parking lot adjacent to the current facility.
As of our 2023 reporting, the second building would include new homes for the soccer, tennis, cross country and track & field programs, practice facilities for men’s basketball, new academic spaces for student-athletes and more sports medicine space.
As of 2023, the building was listed in the university’s annual report under “construction in progress,” but didn’t have enough funding. Ah Yun said since then, there hasn’t been much progress.
For the Board of Trustees to approve construction, Ah Yun said the university has to have 100% or close to 100% funding or a plan to get full funding, and for this project, it needs to be fully donor-funded.
“Then if we can generate enough of a pathway for them to see we can make this happen, then they approve that building,” Ah Yun said.
But the pathway isn’t there yet.
“There is some money that has been raised because donors have come forward for AHPRC II and said, ‘We’d like to give to that cause’, but it’s not the point yet where that building is fully funded,” Ah Yun said.
Jennifer Ohlendorf, vice chair of UAS, asked if UAS could see a full fiscal analysis of the success of AHPRC I, if at any point it looks like AHPRC II will be approved.
Ah Yun said he would look into this, but he said they haven’t started putting a proposal together for what they hope to see in AHPRC II.
Executive orders
Ralph Weber, vice president and general counsel, gave an update on President Donald Trump’s executive orders and how they will impact Marquette. To read our coverage of his address, click here.
But Ah Yun gave his own remarks, saying evaluating the executive orders is at the forefront of his mind. He is working with administration and other institutions to come up with a plan to address them.
On a national level, Ah Yun said has met with the presidents of the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities and the Wisconsin Independent Colleges and Universities to discuss the executive orders.
“Please know that this is something that’s constantly on my mind and constantly in conversations, and it will continue to move forward,” Ah Yun said.
Marquette 2031: Securing Our Future plan
Last March, Marquette announced a plan to make $31 million in budget cuts and reinvest 40% of that back into the university.
Ah Yun said the steering committee for the plan has identified $14 million dollars to make possible cuts.
“We sketched it out and said, ‘Here are some things we can be looking at,’ but I would say, nothing is fixed, meaning we have work to do,” Ah Yun said.
In terms of academic cuts, Marquette has proposed to cut or modify 15 programs so far in alignment with the plan.
But Ah Yun said aside from academics, they are looking into cuts or revenue-generating ideas in advancement, athletics and enrollment.
“We’re talking about things like ‘What are we going to do in enrollment?’ And there’s some good signs there, but we’re earlier on in that process,” Ah Yun said.
In order to make changes in enrollment, Ah Yun said they are looking to increase the number of applications in order to change the net tuition revenue, which is the money they would receive from tuition after financial aid and other discounts on tuition.
As for tuition, Ah Yun said he is also working to make sure it stays affordable for students.
“That’s part of the work we need to do,” Ah Yun said.
For athletics and advancement, Ah Yun said he is looking at ways to increase immediate use dollars, so they are able to fund initiatives faster.
“I think about all the great things we do, and our university has so much momentum, and I think sometimes when we look at the day-to-day things we’re trying to address, we miss the larger picture,” Ah Yun said. “Marquette is really doing well.”
This story was written by Sophia Tiedge. She can be reached at Sophia.tiedge@marquette.edu.
