Booming States Lure Academics From Those With Financial Woes

The University of Arizona has put a freeze on all state-financed hiring, Georgia’s 14 technical colleges are being merged into seven, and New York will probably have to shelve a plan to create a $3-billion fund to attract cutting-edge researchers. But in some places, things look much different.

States with booming industries, such as oil and natural gas, are using their riches to bolster higher education, sometimes at their neighbors’ expense.

The University of North Texas is looking to lure researchers by spending tens of millions of new dollars on collaborative research projects. North Dakota State University is on a hiring binge; it added more than 30 new professors last year and is now looking to add 26 more. The University of Alaska is fixing its aging infrastructure and preparing to build a $46-million health-sciences building, among other new facilities.

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