Board of Trustees Recap for Nov. 5

Editor’s Note: After each Board of Trustees meeting, Western Today provides a recap of decisions and discussion.

Trustees Award Contract for Anatomy and Physiology Labs
Western’s Board of Trustees on Monday approved awarding a $1.324 million contract to Regency NW Construction, Inc., Bellevue, for construction of two anatomy and physiology teaching laboratories with one prep room and associated infrastructure, of approximately 2700 square feet, in the Carver Academic Facility.

WWU President Sabah Randhawa said the project was initially scheduled for the October Board of Trustees meeting; however, due to some program changes and a redesign, the project required a special board meeting.

Provost Brent Carbajal said that the project will provide needed space and scheduling relief for required anatomy and physiology classes for both the Biology and Health & Human Development departments. In addition, there will be study involving human cadavers, which Carbajal said would assist students as they prepare for careers in health fields.
Research has shown that the use of human cadavers for instructional purposes enhances student learning and retention, and higher GPAs for students in medical school.  WWU is lagging behind other schools – including Eastern Washington University, Central Washington University and the University of Puget Sound – that have human cadaver labs. The use of human cadavers in these classes will allow Western to better train well qualified professionals in high-demand fields in the state’s workforce, including nursing, physical therapy, occupational therapy, community health, health and fitness specialists, health teacher education, recreation, and sport psychology. 

Trustee Karen Lee asked why no minority-owned businesses bid on the project. 

Rick Benner, university architect and director of Facilities Development and Capital Budget, said that there was extensive outreach to minority- and women-owned businesses and that the university will be reaching out to them to inquire why they didn’t bid on the contract.

Rich Van Den Hul, WWU vice president for Business and Finance, said that the university will be encouraging the contractor to reach out to minority-owned sub-contractors as they start the project.

The next regular meeting of the Board of trustees will be Dec. 13 and 14. Meeting documents are available at the Board of Trustees website at https://trustees.wwu.edu/meeting-materials