For years, concerned University faculty have rallied to get better access to child care at the University — and an announcement from University President Michael Adams has put them one step closer to achieving their goals.

Last week, Adams announced plans to offer a new child care facility for University faculty and staff, possibly available by January 2012. The child care center would be in two buildings on the campus of what is now the Navy Supply Corps School, located on Prince Avenue.

“I’m very pleased to hear that we’re making progress in this direction,” said Janet Frick, an associate professor in the psychology department who played a large role in the faculty push for on-campus child care.

In 2007, the University commissioned a report to assess the child care needs of its faculty, staff and students — the report found these needs to be substantial.

Though University faculty can enroll their children in the Child Development Lab at the McPhaul Center, the center is limited in the services it can provide.

“We are never able to accommodate all the children and the families that put in applications to be here,” said Amy Kay, director of the center.

Kay said the center can serve 71 children in the tuition program and an additional 20 children in pre-kindergarten. The center can serve only eight children in the infant age bracket. The names on the facility’s waitlist number in the hundreds. 

Faculty and staff could enroll their children in other day cares in Athens, but Frick said this is often inconvenient, referencing some of her co-workers who have had to spend an extra hour in the car every day to drop their kids off at day care.

“That affects productivity in a number of ways,” she said.

Senior Vice President for Finance and Administration Tim Burgess reflected on the effect of the faculty push for child care.

“It took on a life of its own and came to us — as senior administrators — as a pretty serious concern to those who work here,” he said.

After reviewing the 2007 report, administrators acknowledged the needs of the University’s faculty and staff, but they had to put the child care project on hold because of budget considerations.

“At that point, we were looking at the likelihood of building something here on campus or close to campus,” Burgess said.

But when the Navy school — which will be transferred to the University in the spring of 2011 — was acquired, the administration saw a way to make child care a reality.

“We think we’ve figured out a way to pull it off,” Burgess said.

The University received the Navy school campus at no cost after submitting an application to the U.S. Department of Education for a Public Benefit Conveyance of the Navy school property. 

The Navy school campus will also house the College of Public Health and the facilities associated with the University’s Medical College of Georgia collaboration.

Burgess said the University would make the Navy school campus available to a private contractor, which will take on the task of running the child care operation. Faculty and staff will pay a fee to use the child care service, but exact numbers have not yet been determined.