Employees of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) got to ask administrators about parking and other details of the planned campus expansion during the "Ask Your Administrator" event March 22.

UAMS Chancellor I. Dodd Wilson, M.D., told the crowd that a new hospital and other expansion plans will help UAMS improve its health care services and programs. New facilities will also aid the university’s ability to attract the best doctors and researchers.

Wilson joined a panel of UAMS administrators to answer questions from the audience about the expansion work. The e questions included parking (a shortage of on-campus parking will be helped by a new parking deck) and which departments will move into the new hospital or use freed-up space in the old facility (that is still being determined).

Wilson urged employees to get excited about the plans to build and expand UAMS. Construction will begin later this year on the estimated $200 million expansion to include a replacement for the 50-year-old hospital, a psychiatry facility, a new student dormitory, a parking deck, an expansion of the Outpatient Center and a power plant. "I want you to imagine what UAMS could be because we are on the move and going to get better," Wilson said. "Think about where we’ve been, but think more about what we could become."

The Ask Your Administrator event was held in the new Fred W. Smith Auditorium on the 12th floor of Jackson T. Stephens Spine and Neurosciences Institute, which overlooks another ongoing expansion project – the addition of five floors to the Harvey and Bernice Jones Eye Institute across the street. The new hospital will be located on the site of the Jeff Banks Student Union and the existing residence hall, which will be demolished in late November or early December following safe removal of asbestos.

A new Web site will be online next month that will track the progress of the expansion projects. The site will include project descriptions, photos and live Web cams that will let visitors see the work taking place.