The Seattle Post-Intelligencer
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THE SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER July 22, 2004, Thursday FINAL BUSINESS, Pg. D1 UNIVERSITY IS NOW KEY TO A STATE'S ECONOMY BILL VIRGIN compiled a long and igno- to boost the economy of the P-I columnist minious resume of athletic upstate New York community department misbehavior.) of Hamilton. The Uni- versity THE TRADITIONAL if quaint of Dayton in Ohio is part of vision of the American univer- To that full plate has now what's called the Genesis sity was an ivy-covered refuge been added one more task: Project to revive a neighbor- in which scholars could purse Bail out the state's economy. hood in that city. their academic inquiries to broaden the world's store of Universities have long been Michigan Tech in Houghton knowledge. part of economic develop- has helped organize a state ment, anyway, because of the SmartZone to help diversify That has devolved to the research they produce that is the economy as the region's more modern, more cynical commercialized by startups core industry, mining, de- view of the American univer- and existing companies, and clines. Allegheny College has sity today: a football team with because of the graduates and a Center for Economic and a trade school attached. faculty members who become Environmental Development entrepreneurs. to help revitalize northwestern The task of university presi- Pennsylvania. dents these days is to find But that was more by happen- some tenable ground be- stance than design. Purdue and Indiana universi- tween those two extremes ties offer such programs as upon which the modern uni- Today, though, governors funding for faculty entrepre- versity can be based, and and economic development neurs, research parks and an from which to deal with all the authorities are deliberately agency to help companies internal and external pres- and specifically designating develop commercially viable sures, issues, missions, com- universities as a key compo- technology. Cleveland State plaints, headaches, societal nent in generating new eco- has helped launch a new trends and fights. nomic activity, not just business development cen- through training and educa- ter. North Dakota State has a Consider the typical agenda tion but as centers for creating new research and technology for a college prexy: trying to new technologies and com- park in Fargo. keep the athletic department mercial ventures. out of trouble and squeezing That barely skims the surface, more money out of the Leg- Read through the speeches but it does so enough to raise islature and trying to defuse and press releases from the some interesting questions. the latest athletic department governors, and you'll see re- Given all the other things scandal and finding classroom peated references to using they're dealing with, should slots for students and, state-supported universi- ties universities be involved in the whoops, there goes the ath- as engines of economic re- economic development busi- letic department again. vival. ness? Do they even want to be? Are they equipped to be? (Lest you think I am piling on Read through releases from If not, how are they going to to the well-documented tra- universities themselves, pub- have to change to be signifi- vails of the University of lic and private, and you'll see cant contributors to economic Washington, I'm not - that's just how broad the effort is. development? the Go 2 Guy's job. Besides, I live in a glass house when it A sampling: Colgate Univer- The answer to a couple of comes to this issue. My own sity has started a Partnership those questions - should they alma mater, Ohio State, has for Com- munity Development be and do they want to be - is CompetitivEdge 1-888-881-EDGE www.clipresearch.com Electronic Clipping yes, said Carol Harter, presi- school as a major research dent of the University of Ne- center. The higher ed system is ask- vada-Las Vegas. "Universities ing the state both for more see themselves as central to And that's what the school is support and for more freedom these efforts," she said. working toward, in pursuing in controlling its finances. The such niches as hazardous- Legislature is trying to balance While there will always be en- waste trans- formation and those requests with all the trepreneurs who succeed alternative energy, aimed to- other demands on the state without a college degree - a ward providing some diversifi- budget as well as the touchy certain local software mogul cation to Nevada's tourism- issue of tax structure. And the comes to mind - the world's and gambling-dependent universities have to figure out increasing technological economy. which areas of research are complexity suggests that the most promising for generating concentration of research The model Harter and UNLV economic-development re- power at colleges is more are pursuing is what has been turn on those dollars. likely to spin out next- accomplished already in generation ideas and compa- Washington, with the federal Is resolving those issues a lot nies. research dollars that have to ask of both government poured into the state, and and higher ed? Not really. Does an emphasis on eco- with the strengths of the UW That's what both ought to be nomic development crowd in biomedical research and doing - unknotting the tan- out the university's traditional Washington State in agricul- gled issues of our times. mission? Harter doesn't be- ture that have supported pri- lieve so. "I'm an English pro- vate enterprise. And whatever the commit- fessor, a Faulkner scholar," ment of time, effort and she said. The liberal-arts core But that was the last chapter, money involved, the payoff is is critical to turning out stu- and it doesn't have much almost certain to be far greater dents who can read, write, bearing on the next few vol- for students, faculty, the speak and do math. "I don't umes. The UW has a new schools themselves, re- see any conflict at all." president. The state will get a searchers, companies, our new governor in January. state, our state's economy How difficult it is for a univer- and the residents of Washing- sity to add the mission of eco- The higher-education system ton than whatever time is nomic development depends is under greater financial spent rescuing the athletic a lot on its culture. UNLV be- pressure to find spots for un- department from its latest epi- ing only 47 years old, Harter dergraduate students. sode. said she doesn't have dec- ades of ingrained tradition to The competition for federal P-I reporter Bill Virgin can be overcome. And because the research money is even more reached at 206-448-8319 or university is growing, it can intense, and the feds are ex- [email protected]. His hire new faculty members at- pecting states to pitch in column appears Tuesdays tuned to the vision of the more. Other states are doing and Thursdays. so. CompetitivEdge 1-888-881-EDGE www.clipresearch.com Electronic Clipping Poughkeepsie Journal July 18, 2004 Sunday Front Edition New York: STATE OF THE HUDSON; Pg. 1L What's worth saving? Kathleen Norton vative cannons, called Parrott The burden of protecting the riv- Guns, were bored and shipped COLD SPRING, Putnam County - erfront from unchecked devel- off to the Union army on Civil War - The splash, gurgle and whoosh opment rests on those involved battlefields. The cannons, accu- of water falling is what you hear in land use planning and eco- rate and lethal pieces of artillery, now in this historic, woody ra- nomic development, as well as were credited with helping the vine. the everyday person who wants North win the war. to preserve the valley's best That and the ever-so-careful dig- traits, experts agreed. The students are from Michigan ging of student archaeologists Technological University, who are prodding the past to the Determined environmentalists which partnered with the regional surface. forged the way in the last few environmental group Scenic decades of the 20th century, and Hudson to preserve the site. As they work near waterfalls in great successes resulted. One Scenic Hudson acquired the 87- this peaceful, if buggy place, was a change in the way people acre site in the Village of Cold they imagine ear-splitting sounds with different agendas are work- Spring in 1996, saving it from from giant fiery furnaces, the ing together, said Carmella Man- possible development. Plans screeching of railcars and the tello, executive director of the include public access and trails. human noises of 1,500 people Hudson River Valley Greenway. who once worked here at the What had been garbage-strewn West Point Foundry. "I was a local offical in my prior woods with falling-down walls is life and if you were to tell me then key to understanding that the The students summer in these that local communities, develop- Hudson River was a superhigh- woods, with trowels, whisk ers, environmentalists and state way back then -- businesses brooms and tape measures, re- government could all work to- could easily ship goods made vealing, brick by brick, the crum- gether, I would never have be- along the river's banks by boat or bling, half walls of the buildings of lieved it," said Mantello, a former train. But old illustrations and the innovative 19th century City of Rensselaer official. The paintings of the foundry show foundry. Greenway, a state agency, pro- black waste pouring from smoke- motes regional planning that bal- stacks. In many places, the river The honking of water fowl can be ances economic development, became a dumping place for what heard from a nearby marsh called environmental protection and businesses discarded.