Thanks to Gov. Jay Nixon's signature on two budget bills last week:
Lincoln University can do a feasibility study on moving some classes to the former St. Mary's Hospital site.
State Technical College of Missouri, Linn, will be getting money to help build a new Health Facilities building.
"We appreciate very much the support of the General Assembly and the governor," State Tech President Don Claycomb told the News Tribune Friday.
Both projects are part of a capital improvements bill lawmakers passed last month.
The second of the two measures, House Bill 2018, provides more than $191 million to address deferred maintenance projects at Missouri colleges and universities, Nixon said in a news release.
It gives LU $200,000 "for analysis and evaluation to determine the best future use of the former St. Mary's Hospital for university programs," spokeswoman Misty Young explained, and $1 million to State Tech for a new health technology center.
The first measure, House Bill 2017, provides $792 million to continue essential renovations across the state, the governor noted.
Young said it "reappropriates the deferred maintenance funding from last year, totaling just over $4 million for Lincoln University. (Our) last two projects were approved during the June 9 Board of Curators meeting (and) all funding must be expensed during" the 2016-17 business year, which begins July 1.
Curators at that meeting approved two contracts, totaling $966,000, for exterior building repairs on Founders, Memorial, Young, Schweich and Stamper halls and for restroom renovations in Martin Luther King and Founders halls.
Previous LU projects supported by the $4,020,838 bond funding have included:
Roofing repairs at the LU Power Plant and Elliff, Young and Founders halls.
Renovations to the President's Residence, 601 Jackson St., which had been unoccupied since former President David Henson and his family moved out because of a build-up of water and mold in the basement.
Current President Kevin Rome's family moved into the home at the end of April.
Renovations to Young Hall, LU's administration building.
The re-appropriations bill also continues $1,049,282 for renovations and repairs at State Tech.
The Linn school's $1 million in new state money will be coupled with other funds, raised by the school, to build a new home on the main campus in Linn for several existing programs that now operate in Jefferson City.
State Tech operates three medical education programs - dental assisting technology, medical radiologic technology and practical nursing technology - at Jefferson City's Nichols Career Center. The programs were started by the Jefferson City Public Schools but transferred to State Tech when national accreditation requirements changed.
State Tech's physical therapist assistant program is located at Capital Region Medical Center's Southwest Boulevard campus.
The school's regents voted in March to relocate the existing programs to Linn.
Claycomb - who retires at the end of this month - called the decision to be "in the long-term best interest of both students and the college."
Nixon noted last week the new funding bill included $16,099,503 to fund significant renovations of Reynolds Hall, at Missouri Southern State University in Joplin. Built in 1967, Reynolds Hall houses the school's biology, environmental health, physical science and mathematics programs for the university. The renovations include new laboratories with state-of-the-art equipment and expanded academic space.
Among its provisions, the new funding capital improvements bill also includes:
$5 million for improvements at the University of Missouri-Columbia's Thompson Center for Autism and Neurodevelopmental Disorders.
$4.5 million for planning, design and renovation of Greenwood School for the Inter-Professional Autism Clinic at Truman State University in Kirksville.
$8.85 million for plumbing, electrical and heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) improvements at state facilities throughout Missouri.
$4.425 million for roof repairs at state-owned facilities.