This 2011 file photo shows Kansas University Medical Center's School of Medicine, 3901 Rainbow Boulevard, Kansas City, Kan.

Kansas City, Kansas ? State funding, construction projects and diversity were among subjects Kansas University Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little talked about during a visit to the KU Medical Center campus Tuesday morning.

About 100 faculty, staff and students attended the chancellor’s informal update and Q&A session at the School of Nursing auditorium. She recently held a similar event on the Lawrence campus.

When it comes to finances, the university’s goal is to at least have “stable” funding from the state, Gray-Little said. “We do ask for increases, but we don’t expect to get them.”

One example is additional money for salary increases at the Medical Center, which KU is requesting for at least the second year in a row.

“It is unlikely that we will receive those enhancements, in light of the budget,” Gray-Little said.

Her assessment seemed to be all but solidified by statehouse news that came out later that day revealing state revenues were $53.6 million below projections for February, prompting a potential total of $7.2 million in cuts at KU’s Lawrence and Medical Center campuses.

Bernadette Gray-Little

On the private giving side, however, things are going better.

KU Endowment’s Far Above campaign, has raised $1.5 billion, surpassing its fundraising goal months before it’s scheduled to wrap up, Gray-Little said.

“This is an amazing endorsement of our effort,” she said.

A number of construction projects — most funded by revenue sources other than state dollars, including student fees and private giving — are ongoing, Gray-Little said.

She updated her KU Medical Center audience on the $350 million Central District redevelopment project, which calls for, among other buildings, a new integrated science facility on the Lawrence campus.

Progress is already visible on a major new Medical School building, the $75 million Health Education Building being constructed near 39th Street and Rainbow Boulevard.

“It seems like every week it looks different over there,” Gray-Little said.

The KU Medical Center campus also is included in a goal to improve diversity and inclusion.

Gray-Little said KU began assessing areas for improvement following November’s town hall forum on race, responsibility and free speech. She said most comments from students relayed experiences in which KU faculty, staff or peers said or did things that were offensive and invalidating.

Gray-Little said that will be difficult to change with policy, because it’s a matter of how people relate to one another.

“I think for the long term, the way we will address it is by ways we will include cultural sensitivity in all the things that we do,” she said. “And that’s a difficult order.”