DeKALB | In a campus e-mail on March 27, NIU President John Peters discussed the state budget, capital campaign and the NIU strategic planning group.

Gov. Rod Blagojevich is presenting two budgets that, if approved, would result in increased funding for NIU.

The governor is calling for an increase of 1.9 percent in general revenue funding for public universities. This would result in around $2 million for NIU and would be the second-straight increase in funding, overturning a period of flat or declining appropriations.

The governor is also calling for an additional $19 million in the capital budget for funding for renovations to the Stevens Building, which houses the NIU theatre, dance and anthropology programs.

Kent Gallagher, a professor for the NIU School of Theatre and Dance, said the Stevens Building has needed renovations since he started teaching at NIU 27 years ago and the School is hopeful to receive these renovations.

“We are just overjoyed and hope it goes through,” Gallagher said. “We will have to go elsewhere to teach our courses, but we will be happy to do so.”

Peters also announced that the “NIU Foundation will soon move into the public phase of the first official capital campaign in university history.”

“While the budget will be the topic of much debate in the weeks ahead, and nothing is yet written in stone, this initial proposal gives hope that higher education will continue its slow but steady recovery from the funding cuts of recent years,” Peters said in the e-mail.

For the last five years, the campaign has worked to raise $106 million and on May 5, the Foundation will kick off a campaign to raise the total to $150 million. This money will be used for the improvement of “academic programs, scholarships, endowed professorships and facilities at the university,” Peters said.

The Strategic Planning Task Force under the leadership of Provost Ray Alden will also be producing developments come this May. They have been working since November to produce a blueprint to guide academic growth and development within the university.

“That plan will raise the academic bar for our institution as we move forward,” Peters said.

The e-mail also announced that the university received one of the largest donations in NIU’s history, a $2 million donation from Ray and Patricia Smerge. This contribution will be set to establish an endowed dean’s chair in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.