At its quarterly meeting on Oct. 16, the Coastal Carolina University Board of Trustees approved a major new building project. The plans must first be approved by the South Carolina Commission on Higher Education, the S.D. Joint Bond Review Committee and the Budget and Control Board before being implemented.

A 46,000-square-foot Academic Building will provide classroom and faculty office space for the growing institution. The four-story, $11 million building will house large and small classrooms on the first two floors and a total of 110 offices on the top floors. Groundbreaking is planned for January 2011 with an expected completion in January 2012. The project will be funded by revenue from the penny sales tax instituted last year for education-related construction.

The board also approved naming the proposed Information Commons addition to Kimbel Library in honor of the Rebecca R. Bryan Family. The late Miss Bryan, who died in 1999, bequeathed more than $1.8 million to Coastal Carolina University for building projects relating to humanities programs. The Information Commons will add an 18,000-square-foot area to Kimbel Library that will serve as a study/reference/tutorial center for students. The $6 million project, which also includes renovation of the front entrance and interior improvements, is expected to be completed by June 2011.

The Bryan Family Information Commons will be named in honor of Bryan’s father, William Lamar Bryan; her mother, Leethard Douglass Lewis Bryan; and her brother, William Lamar Bryan Jr., M.D. Coastal Carolina University’s art gallery is also named for Rebecca Bryan.

The board also passed a resolution honoring Kelly Sloan, the Coastal Carolina University alumna who is the reigning Miss South Carolina.

Kenneth Wingate, chairman of the South Carolina Commission on Higher Education, addressed the board. He presented an action plan the commission has implemented in an effort to advance higher education in the state. As part of the plan, Wingate asked board members to petition members of the General Assembly to enact regulatory relief. The recommendation is designed to reduce lag-time and resultant expense in hiring, implementing research programs, building capital projects and infrastructure improvement.

The board also approved a motion to move forward in securing funds to developing a Request for Proposal (RFP) for a comprehensive campus master plan.