Ohio State likely will get tens of millions of dollars from the federal stimulus package over the next two years. The Board of Trustees will meet today to discuss how the university can best prepare itself to spend the money.
Higher education institutions supported by the state are scheduled to receive $279 million from the stimulus in the 2010 fiscal year, and $374 million in 2011. University administrators say this will help OSU freeze tuition in 2010 and limit any increase in 2011 to no more than 3.5 percent.
The spending from this sum is will likely be heavily monitored, according to the agenda for the Board of Trustee's meeting. To help prevent problems, the university has established a task force headed by the Office of Business and Finance and the Office of Research.
In an e-mail, William Shkurti, senior vice president for Business and Finance, stressed the importance of spending the money quickly, but carefully.
"The goal is to spend it quickly to help produce jobs and stimulate the economy out of its current downslide. This is part of President Obama's plan to help turn the economy around. It is important to use the money wisely because it is public money and if it's not used wisely it will not accomplish either the University or the Federal Government's goals," he wrote.
Additionally, OSU administrators hope to receive a portion of the more than $10 billion appropriated for research grants in the stimulus package.
OSU could receive up to $45.3 million from the National Institute of Health, up to $18.1 million from the National Science Foundation, and $4.3 million from the Department of Energy. OSU is also competing for some of the $300 million appropriated to the Department of Defense for research grants.
"In the short run it will enable us to hire additional researchers and support staff to do research into fields like clean energy and treatments for cancer," Shkurti said. "In the longer run the improved treatments, products and services from this research will stimulate additional jobs and investment in Ohio. For example additional research in clean energy will have both current and future benefits for Ohio's economy."
The Board of Trustees is not scheduled to vote Thursday on any matters related to the stimulus funds; the meeting is simply for "information and discussion," according to the agenda.
Richard Oviatt can be reached at oviatt.3@osu.edu.
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