By Steve Biehn
Staff Writer
As printed in The Daily Ardmoreite, January 30, 2008.

A spokesman for Oklahoma State University told the Dickson Board of Trustees Monday night the university plans to build a $10 million agricultural research facility in Dickson. OSU is currently negotiating to purchase land near the intersection of State Highway 199 and Mary Niblack Road for the project.

The OSU/A&M Board of Regents approved the university's request to build the Institute for Agriculture Biosciences on land near the Noble Foundation campus last month.

"The Noble Foundation has a very keen interest in working with us on major research," Assistant Vice President Program Support Bob Westerman said. He is associated with OSU's Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources.

The 20,000-square-foot building will include administrative space, traditional and controlled environmental labs, greenhouses, conference facilities and state-of-the-art telecommunications for worldwide conferencing and long-distance education. The institute will be staffed by a director, eight to 10 faculty members, 30 support staff and 20 to 30 graduate students.

The institute's staff will collaborate with Noble Foundation scientists to conduct agricultural and bioenergy research. They will also help regional agriculture producers by developing new and improved crops and crop production systems.

Westerman wanted confirmation that Dickson could provide adequate police and fire protection once the institute is up and running. OSU is expected to ask the trustees to rezone the property at a future meeting.

In other business, the trustees:

• Approved a resolution to rezone property owned by Northbay Homes from agriculture to residential
• Approved hiring Morris-Murray Aerial Photogrammetry & Surveying Services to update the town's zoning maps
• Approved a resolution supporting the return of one-half cent of the state's sales tax to towns and cities to invest in road, bridge and transportation improvements
• Approved hiring Dustin Branson as a part-time paid reserve officer
• Hired Barbara Anderson as senior nutrition program coordinator

This article appeared in The Daily Ardmoreite, www.ardmoreite.com, on January 30, 2008.