OSU Board OKs $36 million project to prepare 24 acres at OSU-Cascades for innovation district, other future expansion

CORVALLIS, Ore. (KTVZ) – Oregon State University President Jayathi Murthy and OSU Vice President and Director of Athletics Scott Barnes shared an update Friday with university trustees about the effects of recent developments with the Pac-12 Conference. The board also gave the green light for OSU-Cascades to prepare 24 acres for its new innovation district and other future expansion.

On Aug. 4, five Pac-12 universities – the University of Oregon, University of Washington, University of Arizona, Arizona State University and University of Utah – announced their intent to leave the conference after this academic year. That followed previous departures by the University of Colorado in July and the University of Southern California and the University of California at Los Angeles in June 2022.

OSU Athletics’ budgeted revenues for the current fiscal year, which began July 1, total $95.3 million. Sources of this revenue are: $42.7 million from the Pac-12 and NCAA, which includes $26.8 million in media rights; $14.9 million in ticket sales and Reser Stadium revenues; $10.9 million from donors’ athletic premium seating contributions; $11.3 million in institutional support and student fees; $500,000 from Oregon Lottery proceeds; and $15 million in other revenues, including sponsorships and licensing royalties.

Barnes said that a gap is expected in the next fiscal year due to potential decreased media rights revenues. The next fiscal year begins on July 1, 2024, and will end on June 30, 2025.

OSU leaders said maintaining scholarships for student-athletes will be a priority. This fall Oregon State will have 563 student-athletes involved in its 17 sports programs; this number will fluctuate during the 2023-24 academic year as rosters are finalized ahead of each competitive season. Of those student-athletes, 370 are slated to receive full or partial scholarships during the academic year, totaling $10.4 million.

The university also will continue to prioritize resources to support the holistic development of all student-athletes, Barnes said. These include academic support, mental health services, health care, nutrition, and life skills programming such as career development and financial literacy.

On Friday, the board of trustees also:

• Advanced to the construction phase a $36 million campus land development project at OSU-Cascades in Bend. The project will create a build-ready 8-acre site to host an innovation district and make an additional 16 acres of land build-ready for campus buildings.

The innovation district will incubate early-stage companies, provide opportunities for student internships, allow for shared research among faculty and area companies, and help OSU-Cascades recruit faculty. The project is funded by $10 million from the state, $24 million in Oregon State-paid bonds and a $2 million Environmental Protection Agency grant.

• Advanced to the construction phase a $12 million project to replace and increase the capabilities of the chiller plant in the Kelley Engineering Center on the Corvallis campus. The chiller plant, which supports building cooling and heat recovery needs, is nearing the end of its useful life and needs to be replaced, according to Oregon State officials. Its capabilities are being increased in part to serve the future Jen-Hsun and Lori Huang Collaborative Innovation Complex.
• Heard an update on work underway with the Oregon Department of State Lands, OSU and others toward achieving the State of Oregon’s goal of establishing the 82,000-acre Elliott State Research Forest in the Coast Range near Reedsport. It’s expected that trustees will be asked in December to approve Oregon State’s participation in managing the forest.
• Accepted a revised university policy related to firearms and directed the policy to the president for approval and implementation. The revised policy includes a simplified statement that possession and use of firearms on university-owned or -controlled property is prohibited unless an exception exists. It also includes a statement that a concealed carry license is not an exception.

About Oregon State University: As one of only three land, sea, space and sun grant universities in the nation, Oregon State serves Oregon and the world by working on today’s most pressing issues. Our more than 35,000 students come from across the globe, and our programs operate in every Oregon county. Oregon State receives more research funding than all of the state’s comprehensive public universities combined. At our campuses in Corvallis and Bend, marine research center in Newport, OSU Portland Center and award-winning Ecampus, we excel at shaping today’s students into tomorrow’s leaders.