 "Photo: Andrew Rogers")
The biological field lab and graduate student housing on the Brackenridge Tract are essential to the University, but that does not mean they would stay in their current locations, said David McGregor, managing director of Cooper, Robertson & Partners.
The remarks were made at a public information session where the New York design firm disclosed its findings of extensive research conducted about the tract's residents' core values, which include maintaining green, open spaces and traffic flow and development trends in the area. The UT System Board of Regents contracted the firm in March to complete two master plans for the best uses of the 345-acre lakeside tract.
A June 2009 report will detail the plans to update the lab if it remains in its current location and the firm's recommendations for best uses of the tract. McGregor cited University of Missouri botanist Peter Raven as saying that a field lab is essential to any program of evolutionary biology and added that continued affordable housing was also crucial for UT to attract graduate students.
"One of the charges the regents gave us was to be able, when our recommendations come out in June of 2009, to tell them not only what goes on in the field lab now, but looking ahead, if the field lab stays there, how does it evolve to meet the evolution any academic program faces," McGregor said.
Biology professor Randal Linder, who works in the field lab, said he was cautiously optimistic that the lab's concerns would be heard by the board of regents.
"There is a recognition on the part of the regents that a field lab is necessary and essential to our program," Linder said. "It's not clear to me that they understand this particular location is so important."
McGregor said his firm has met with every elected official whose district covers the tract as well as University and residential representatives.
"They were all concerned about the process," he said. "They were concerned that people were heard and their wishes considered."
McGregor said representatives from Lion's Municipal Golf Course introduced him to the tract, but his comments Tuesday focused on the tract's two UT facilities.
Additional levels and more confined living spaces would have to be constructed to provide more graduate student housing on the tract, especially for international students, he said.
"If you want to get the best students, you want to get and be able to service not only American students but international students as well," McGregor said.
Naminata Diabate, chairwoman of the Brackenridge Tenant Advisory Board, said the board would continue to push for expanded University services for graduate students, including child care and more consistent service from Capital Metro.
"We've come a long way from the idea of a stipend to having University officials back increased housing," Diabate.
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