If construction is slowing in the Treasure Valley, the news hasn't reached Boise State University yet. Idaho's largest institution of higher learning has some 113 projects worth $150 million under way or planned.

With 20,000 students now, BSU aims for student body growth of 2 to 3 percent each year. And the university is promoting its sports and research programs with ambitious new buildings.

In the short term, the university is focused on three projects:

A stadium expansion that's due to open Aug. 30 with luxury seats, private viewing boxes, a new press box and a merchandise store.

A nursing and life sciences building that will be ready for classes next summer.

An expansion of the popular student union that will start opening in stages Aug. 18.

Construction on the student union and stadium expansions alone employs about 225 workers on any given day.

The 54,000-square-foot, $14 million Interactive Learning Center, which opened last August, was the first building to be completed in the university's 2005 campus master plan. Also last August, BSU opened a new parking garage - the first of three or four that are expected to be needed over the next several decades.

Most of the new buildings are paid for through a combination of private donations and a university building fund that comes from student fees.

A Boise medical equipment company, Norco, contributed $2 million toward the nursing building. Lawmakers appropriated $10 million for the research building due to begin construction next spring. And the stadium addition and Caven-Williams both use only private contributions.

For the last 12 years, the university has been acquiring land in neighborhoods on its southeastern border for expanding the campus.

The university has now acquired about 25 acres - about 90 percent of its goal for land acquisition there.

The acquisitions and new buildings are part of a massive construction plan for the next 30 to 50 years that also includes new student housing, dedicated research facilities, a new alumni center, a new College of Business and Economics building on the west end of campus and more parking garages.

"When you're putting up a building that is expected to be in place for 100 or 200 years, you try to build something durable," said James Maguire, Boise State's associate vice president for campus planning and facilities. "We design them so they'll be able to evolve in their functions over time."

They're also trying to design them for an urban campus with limited space. The new nursing building and a 90,000-square-foot research building, the Center for Environmental Science and Economic Development, planned for 2011, will each be five stories.

"We feel that it's important to have a boundary and density that's consistent with an urban campus," Maguire said.

A clearly identifiable boundary will help the university, now principally a commuter school, develop a stronger sense of identity, Maguire said. He's also striving to unify signs and the appearance of university buildings.

"It's a human need to feel connected to a place," he said. "It's a framework that supports the forming of bonds with students and teachers."

Anne Wallace Allen: 377-6433