The University’s Board of Regents will travel to the University’s Flint campus on Thursday to discuss building renovations, faculty appointments and other projects that will affect all three campuses.

Among the renovation projects the regents will review is an update to Yost Ice Arena, which the regents originally approved in June. The $14.7 million project is expected to receive new bleachers, increased handicapped seating, additional concession stands and a new press box.

In an Oct. 10 communication to the regents, Timothy Slottow, the University’s executive vice president and chief financial officer, and University Athletic Director Dave Brandon recommended that the regents award early procurement packages — included in the $14.7 million — to jumpstart the fabrication of windows and bleachers for the facility and ensure that the project is finished by its fall 2012 deadline.

The funding will come from the Athletic Department, the communication states.

Regents to review update for Central Power Plant

The regents will also vote on whether or not to fund a proposed $6.75 million project to update the Central Power Plant, which heats and cools many buildings on Central Campus.

The renovations will modernize the plant’s electronic control systems and optimize the power plant’s efficiency, Slottow wrote in an Oct. 10 communication to the regents.

Funding for the project will come from the University’s Utility & Plant Engineering resources, according to the communication. If approved, the project is scheduled to be completed in fall 2014.

Board to review proposed addition to new children’s and women’s hospital

Slottow and Ora Pescovitz, the University’s executive vice president for medical affairs, requested the regents’ approval to fund a project to accommodate the University’s second cardiac catheterization laboratory for pediatric cases.

The project, estimated to cost $3.45 million, proposes to house the laboratory in the approximately 1,100 square feet of space on the 11th floor of the new C.S. Mott Children’s and Von Voigtlander Women’s Hospital. The hospitals are scheduled to officially open next month.

If approved, the project is expected to be completed in fall 2012. Funding would come from the University of Michigan Hospitals and Health Centers’ resources, according to an Oct. 10 communication to the regents by Slottow and Pescovitz.

Three faculty member receive Henry Russel Awards

University President Mary Sue Coleman announced that three University faculty members have received the 2012 Henry Russel Awards, which recognize exceptional scholarship and teaching ability, according to a Oct. 10 communication to the regents.

The three recipients are Lada Adamic, associate professor of information and assistant professor of electrical engineering and computer science, Aaron Pierce, associate professor of physics, and Haoxing Xu, assistant professor of molecular, cellular and developmental biology.

The award “is one of the highest honors the University bestows upon junior faculty members,” Coleman wrote.

Adamic, Pierce and Xu will be formally presented with their awards at the Henry Russel Lecture on Feb. 23, 2012.

Regents to vote on honorary degree recipients

The regents will also consider whether to bestow honorary degrees to four individuals at Winter Commencement this December — including New York Times Executive Editor Jill Abramson, who will deliver the commencement address at Crisler Arena on Dec. 18.

The other nominees to receive honorary degrees are Syracuse University Chancellor Nancy Cantor, Leslie Benet, a professor at the University of California, San Francisco, and Harvard University Prof.