By Steve Gilliam , University Relations
Contact: (336) 334-5371
Posted 3-10-08
GREENSBORO, NC – The University of North Carolina at Greensboro is creating an Institute for Community and Economic Engagement, a virtual organization that will promote and coordinate its community and economic development activity.
UNCG Trustees approved the new institute at their February meeting. Its name gives the ICEE immediate recognition for its oversight of UNCG’s outreach program in community and economic development, according to Dr. Rosemary Wander, associate provost for research and pubic/private sector partnerships, who will serve as the institute’s director.
An ICEE website is being created that will give the public direct access to UNCG programs.
“The institute is integral to the mission for UNCG,” Wander said. “The vision for the institute is that it will contribute to the remodeling of the Piedmont Triad and the state of North Carolina from a manufacturing to a knowledge-based economy and gain recognition for UNCG’s contributions to these activities both on and off campus.”
Extensive planning went into the ICEE, which answers UNC President Erskine Bowles’s inaugural challenge to UNC system campuses: “In partnership with business, government and the other sectors of education, this university must continue to seek out ways to help every region of North Carolina foster and stimulate economic development.” The UNC Board of Governors has included regional and statewide economic development as one of its seven strategic priorities for the system.
ICEE incorporates the UNCG Economic Development Strategic Initiatives 2007-2010 and also the directives of UNC Tomorrow, Wander said. The major findings and suggested strategies of the UNC Tomorrow Commission were clustered in seven categories. All universities in the system are charged with identifying and developing specific plans to respond to the recommendations.
The UNCG Economic Development Strategic Initiatives 2007-2010 are aligned with recommendations from the commission. These are actively engaged in enhancing the economic transformation and community development of North Carolina’s regions and the state as a whole, and to be more directly engaged with and connected to the people of North Carolina, its regions, and the state as a whole.
The ICEE goals and the economic development strategic initiatives are:
• Deliver learning that meets the needs of the 21st century.
• Enhance the capacity of public institutions to implement successful and sustainable economic development policies.
• Enhance opportunities for research and innovation.
• Provide support to build competitive businesses.
• Grow high-quality, healthy and attractive communities.
Each campus group that affiliates with the institute will be known as a partner. The number of partners would not be limited but each partner would be expected to contribute to the overall productivity of the institute. When operational, the ICEE will provide:
• A visible point of contact for the external community for campus activities related to community and economic engagement.
• A structure where each partner affiliated with it could function within its own division, unit or department with maximum efficiency; receive recognition as being part of their home domain; and simultaneously contribute to and receive recognition for being part of the campus-wide initiative.
• A structure where the campus goals around community and economic engagement will be recognized and shared effectively among all partners.
• A matrix to which new activities in the area of community and economic engagement could easily become affiliated.
• A home for individual faculty to interact around their work in the area of community and economic engagement through the Fellows Program.
An institute advisory board will be formed, with on- and off-campus members. It will serve as a sounding board for educational programs and external activities, assist in the development of support for the goals and strategic initiatives of the institute, and provide a mechanism for informing the community about the institute’s capabilities.
While there are no well-defined metrics to measure community and economic engagement, Wander said, it is recognized that universities across the country are becoming more heavily involved in these types of activities. Productivity will be measured by the number and quality of community connections, the amount of external funding procured to support community and economic engagement, the number of campus discussions around these topics, number of partners in the Institute, activities of the partners, and receiving Carnegie Foundation’s “community engagement” designation.
