Building an Economic-Development Strategy

If there is a single topic we most hear from reporters and other representatives of the news media this year, it is that of colleges and universities as local and regional economic engines. Recently, The Chronicle of Higher Education hosted, Leslie Boney, the top economic development official at the University of North Carolina system, in an online "brown bag" about:

how colleges can combine their educational missions with the expectation of becoming economic saviors as well. . . . [H]ow can colleges and universities work in their local economies in ways that are responsive and meaningful? How do institutions develop a strategic plan for dealing with long-term economic challenges while managing short-term expectations of the university as economic savior? And how do they encourage faculty members to marry their research goals with real-world needs?" Read that transcript here!

Related: As more evidence that this is a hot topic for planners, you can read the abstracts from these related concurrent sessions at SCUP-42 (July, Montreal) this summer:

• Collaborative Facilities Strategies
• Planning and Design in the Realm Between Campus and City;
• Re-aligning the Business of Higher Education with Local/State Economies;
• Steps to Successful Partnerships for Performing Arts Centers; and
• Stimulating and Sustaining Regional Economies Through Workforce Development.