Projects including the conference center, hotel and Graduate School of Management complex to be located on the south end of campus and substantial facility upgrades at the medical center will be discussed next week during a regular meeting of the UC Regents.

The regents are set to meet Tuesday through Thursday at the UC San Francisco-Laurel Heights campus.

The regents will consider approval of design for the proposed conference center and hotel and Graduate School of Management building.

The about 163,000-square-foot facility - which includes plans for 75 guest rooms - has been proposed to provide the university with expanded opportunities to host national and international academic conferences and regional business events. The proposed facility also will house academic and conference space and administrative offices on a 5.1-acre tract adjacent to the Buehler Alumni and Visitors Center.

Preliminary plan authorization for a new hospital addition at the medical center - the Surgery and Emergency Services Pavilion - also is on the agenda. The $150 million project marks the cornerstone of the hospital master plan to meet Senate Bill 1953 requirements.

Under SB 1953, medical facilities throughout the state must be upgraded structurally by January of 2008 or be removed from acute care facility status. The medical center is on track with that timeline, said Associate Hospital Director Michael Boyd.

The addition will help address state-mandated seismic stability and space codes and will help accommodate a growing demand for inpatient services and key functions at the hospital. More than 350,000 square feet will be added to the medical center.

Plans include a replacement emergency room, operating rooms, intensive care beds, cardiology labs, and facilities and equipment serving diagnostic radiology and pathology units.

Regents will vote on an agreement to expand natural reserve lands managed by UC Davis.

Under the agreement, UC Davis would assume exclusive license to use and manage the Donald and Sylvia McLaughlin Reserve, located on about 7,000 acres two hours northwest of Davis at the junction of Napa, Lake and Yolo counties. The McLaughlin Reserve will be one of the largest sites in the UC Natural Reserve System - more than 30 protected sites supporting environmental research and teaching around the state.

Regents also added a 1:15 p.m. Tuesday session to their customary two-day meetings to discuss an admissions testing proposal.

Wednesday's meeting is scheduled to begin at 8:30 a.m. with public comment, followed by an open session of the national laboratory oversight committee at 8:45 a.m.

Agenda items for the Wednesday morning open sessions include discussions of the annual report of the president's council on the Department of Energy laboratories and the first-year update on the California Institutes for Science and Innovation.

Thursday's meeting is scheduled to begin at 8:30 a.m. with public comment, followed at 8:55 a.m. by a joint session of the regents' committees on finance and investments.

Thursday sessions will include status report updates and action on a number of capital improvement projects throughout the UC system.

The agenda for the meeting can be viewed at: http://www.ucop.edu/regents/regmeet/march02.html.