COLUMBUS – The OSU Board of Trustees this week approved a budget that includes millions of dollars in cuts to reflect the loss of revenue due the coronavirus while also taking a step forward on the university’s biggest-ever building project.
The board also formally approved the university’s newest president, Kristina Johnson, whose tenure begins Sept. 1 and continues through Aug. 31, 2025, and includes an appointment to the post of professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
Faced approximately $241 million in lost tuition and dorm fees, revenue from canceled football games and other sporting events, and a cut in state funding, the board of trustees slashed $252.2 million across all colleges, support units and the Wexner Medical Center for the 2021 fiscal year.
The $7.5 billion budget includes $175 in cuts from university operations and $77.2 million from the Wexner Medical Center.
At the same time, the board approved moving forward on the largest single facilities project ever undertaken, a new $1.79 billion, 1.9 million-square-foot inpatient hospital that will be paid for with health system funds, debt and fundraising, according to a press release from the board.
Scheduled to open in early 2026, the hospital will have up to 820 beds in private room settings and 60 neonatal intensive care unit bassinets, as well as state-of-the-art diagnostic, treatment and inpatient service areas; an emergency department, imaging, operating rooms and critical care and medical/surgical beds, the university announced.
The new facility will allow the hospital “to translate groundbreaking discoveries into patient care more quickly than ever before,” said Dr. Hal Paz, the university’s executive vice president and chancellor for Health Affairs and CEO of the Medical Center.
“Most importantly, this tower positions us to be a leader in the rapidly changing health care landscape by revolutionizing the way care is delivered,” Paz said.
The 26-story hospital, located east of Cannon Drive, will be a sleek glass and brick structure designed to maximize light in patient rooms.
As a result of the development, the OSU Comprehensive Cancer Center–Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital will gain 148 beds and areas of the OSUCCC–James and Ross Heart Hospital will be repurposed for a blood bank, support services and building connections.