A sales tax vote next week in Johnson County could open up degree, research and job options for the University of Kansas and its students for years to come.

The Nov. 4 vote would create a one-eighth cent sales tax in Johnson County that could generate millions of dollars for the University and establish a Kansas-Kansas State partnership called the “Johnson County Education Research Triangle.”

According to the Triangle’s Web site, it would divide the projected $15 million in tax revenue and distribute $5 million each to the KU Cancer Center, the KU Edwards Campus, and the KSU National Food Safety & Animal Health Institute.

The University of Kansas would use the money to establish the KU Cancer Clinical Research Center in Fairway, and the KU Edwards Campus Business, Engineering, Science and Technology (BEST) Center in Overland Park.

The new cancer research center could create thousands of jobs for medical graduates and give medical students the opportunity to work directly with cancer patients. The Edwards Campus BEST Center would offer 10 new business and engineering degrees and accommodate 1,000 additional students.

Aubrey Heckman, Independence, Kan., senior in the nursing program at the Edwards Campus, said she would vote for the new center because it would improve the University’s national prestige.

“The KU Med Center is known nationally for its research,” Heckman said. “An additional research facility like this would add to its prestige and probably attract more students.”

The new cancer research center would serve 1,000 patients in about 40 trials per year. Amy Jordan, public affairs director for KU Medical Center, said the Hall Family Foundation agreed to donate a recently purchased office building to the University, which she said would save $10 million in construction costs.

David Atkins, vice chancellor forexternal affairs at the Med Center, said the cancer research center would not only create thousands of new jobs for medical graduates but it would also generate new life science enterprises at the University.

“The Johnson County Education and Research Triangle will help us in our quest to be a national leader in the fight against cancer,” Atkins said. “With new investments in clinical research and innovative cancer trials we can bring leading-edge treatments to patients here, close to home.”

According to the Triangle’s Web site, the new research complex will require $750,000 annually to operate and maintain. The Triangle will also allocate $1.75 million to the center for medical research annually.

The Edwards BEST Center would offer four new masters degrees, two of which are in professional sciences.. It will also offer four new bachelor degrees, but those four are already offered at the Lawrence campus. Bob Clark, vice chancellor for the KU Edwards Campus, said the Johnson County Education Research Triangle would have an enormous impact on the area’s economy.

“The economic impact of KU’s Edwards Campus to Johnson County totals over half a billion dollars in its short existence,” Clark said. “The Triangle initiative will double that impact in less than a decade.”

Mary Ryan, associate dean for the KU Edwards Campus, said the Triangle had not yet determined what specific degrees it would add, but it had narrowed the choices down to 16.

According to the triangle’s Web site, proposed business graduate degrees include Facility Management, Design Management, and Strategic Health Communications. Proposed engineering degrees include Electrical Engineering, Engineering Management, Project Management, Bio-engineering Lab Management, and Infrastructure Management. Proposed science degrees include Geographic Information Sciences, Bioscience Management, and Geology (with an emphasis on hydrogeology, environmental geology and geophysics). Proposed technology degrees include Educational Technology and Interaction Design.

Ryan said the bulk of these degrees were brand new additions that weren’t offered at the Lawrence campus. According to the Triangle’s Web site, the center would cost $23.3 million to construct, $650,000 per year to operate and $1.85 million annually to fund degree programs.

Kansas State University will use its allocated funds to build a new center in Olathe for the KSU National Food & Animal Health Institute. The new center would offer students 10 to 15 new masters degrees and 20 to 30 certification programs. The new center would hold an additional 1,000 students per year.

It would cost $28 million to construct, $950,000 per year to operate and $1.55 million annually to finance degree programs and research, according to the Triangle’s Web site.

The Midwest Cancer Alliance Partners Advisory Board endorsed the Triangle last September and supported its passage on the Johnson County General Election Ballot on Nov. 4.

— — Edited by Scott R. Toland