Tuesday, August 20, 2002

Virginia Looks for Economic Lift From Academic-Technology Center By DAN CARNEVALE Despite budget troubles, Virginia has found money to begin construction of an $18-million academic-technology center that officials hope will spur economic development in the southern part of the state. The new facility, called the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research, is being built in Danville and will be jointly run by Averett University and Danville Community College, both also in Danville, and Virginia Tech, in Blacksburg. The three institutions plan to offer joint degree programs in technology fields, including computing, Web design, and information-systems technology. Students will be able to transfer credits from the community college through Virginia Tech's graduate programs. Courses will be offered both face to face and online, with faculty members from each institution contributing. The new academic-technology center will provide equipment and facilities that students will be able to use to conduct research. Supercomputers will be available for students to examine a variety of topics, including plant genomes that might lead to new crops to help reduce the regional economy's reliance on tobacco. Budget deficits have halted many other construction projects at Virginia colleges. And economic difficulties have forced institutions around the country to cut back on technology programs. About $15-million of the research-institute project will be financed through the state's portion of the national tobacco settlement. Virginia has set aside about half of its settlement money to redirect the economies of areas in the state that currently grow tobacco. The institute, which is being built on former tobacco fields, is meant to help turn rural towns into technology hotbeds so they can groom computer-savvy workers and attract technology companies. "To really recruit companies to the area, we have to have a large pool of IT workers," says Betty Foster, vice president for academic services at Danville Community College. High-speed Internet cables are being installed in the area for the institute and to act as another lure to technology companies. The 90,000-square-foot institute building is expected to be ready for both instruction and research by the fall of 2003. Tim Franklin, executive director of the institute, says the nearest research institution is more than an hour's drive away -- and it's in North Carolina. Building the institute in the Danville area and providing powerful Internet access should help revive the area's economy, he says. "The bigger metropolitan areas will always get the better services first, so there's no way to catch up," says Mr. Franklin, who is also director of university outreach programs at Virginia Tech for Southside Virginia. "This was really a leapfrog strategy." Easy-to-print version E-mail this article

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