Posted November 14, 2001

IOWA CITY -- Members of the Board of Regents, State of Iowa got an updated glimpse of a new building for the University of Iowa College of Medicine Wednesday, Nov. 14. A detailed design drawing of the second building in the University of Iowa's medical education and biomedical research capital project, to be called the Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver Biomedical Research Building, was unveiled at the monthly meeting of the Regents in Cedar Falls.

Artist's conception of the Carver Trust Biomedical Research Building.

Last week, the UI announced a $10 million gift from the Roy J. Carver Charitable Trust of Muscatine to help fund the UI College of Medicine's capital improvement plan. Construction on the $40 million, 130,000 square-foot Carver Biomedical Research Building will begin next summer with completion slated for 2005. Earlier this year, the Regents approved the schematic design for the new structure. Payette and Associates/Rohrbach Carlson Architects are designing the building.

Last week's gift represents the largest single gift ever made by the Carver Trust, and brings the Trust's total amount of giving to UI projects to nearly $45 million.

The Carver Building will be a major medical research facility on the UI campus, housing 40 research modules and numerous specialized laboratory support services. It will also house the central administrative offices of the College of Medicine.

The building will house key components of the college's research activities, including investigators studying genetics, neuroscience and aging.

"The College of Medicine's research funding has grown from $104 million in 1994 to $170 million in 2000," said Robert P. Kelch, dean of the College of Medicine and vice president for statewide health services. "Support from the Carver Trust has been integral to this growth. This gift by the Carver Trust for our capital facilities comes in addition to the Trust's longstanding support for faculty and students in the college."

The new building will be the second of three new facilities planned for the health sciences campus. It will be a linear extension of the Medical Education Research Facility (MERF), which will be dedicated in late May. The MERF will house the Roy J. Carver Molecular Science Research Center, funded by a $3 million Carver Trust grant in 1998. Classes began in the MERF in September and the building's laboratory space will begin coming online later this year.

During his lifetime, Iowa industrialist and philanthropist Roy J. Carver of Muscatine contributed nearly $10 million to the University of Iowa in support of scholarships, professorships, medical research, the UI Hospitals and Clinics, the Iowa Opportunity Fund, and Iowa athletics. He died in 1981.

Lucille A. Carver attended the UI and in 1972 received the Distinguished Service Award from the UI Alumni Association. A former director of the Carver Pump Company, she currently serves as a member of the board of directors of Bandag Inc. of Muscatine and also served on the UI Foundation board of directors from 1981 to 1985.

Contact Information

Carl Bendorf
Interim Assistant Vice President, Health Sciences Center Development
(319) 335-3305 or (800) 648-6973

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