"When Kentuckians think of partnerships between institutions of higher education and businesses, industries and communities, what normally comes to mind?
Typically, the answer centers on workforce training and development, and often the public perception is that such work is some sort of separate auxiliary enterprise at our colleges and universities.
Historically, that may have been true.
If, however, Kentucky is to attract, keep and grow the kind of businesses that truly transform our economic landscape and invigorate our communities and quality of life, higher education must take an increasingly comprehensive, holistic and integrated approach to economic and community development by leveraging intellectual capacity and resources with development needs through targeted outreach and engagement activities.
To put that in more everyday terms, service must be more than simply what we do; it must be who we are.
When noted state economist Dr. Charles Haywood announced last fall the results of his economic impact study for EKU, he rightly emphasized that regional universities like EKU are uniquely situated to play an increasingly catalytic role as the commonwealth transitions to a more knowledge-based economy.
Recognizing that very fact, the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education this past year approved guidelines for the first state-funded Regional Stewardship Trust Fund in the country. The commonwealth's six comprehensive universities - EKU, Kentucky State, Morehead State, Murray State, Northern Kentucky and Western Kentucky - are sharing $4.8 million in support of these stewardship activities.
These activities stretch far beyond workforce training and development, although they remain important activities. Stewardship will involve projects and activities, identified by the region, that promote regional economic development, livable communities, improved P-12 schools, creative governance and civic participation.
It's not far-fetched at all to suggest that our stewardship role in the years to come will stretch almost from cradle to grave. Indeed, it must.
Consider that regional universities like EKU produce the vast majority of the commonwealth's P-12 teachers and that our colleges of education partner closely with school districts on teacher professional development, curriculum design and other matters. The foundation these students receive in their formative years is critical to their ability to handle college-level academics or directly enter the workforce and contribute to the economy, and it all starts in our teacher education programs.
Obviously, our collective impact on the state's workforce is no longer limited to the preparation of schoolteachers. For many years, EKU has also produced many of Kentucky's public safety officials, social workers, health care providers, plant managers, and businessmen and businesswomen, among other professionals.
Also for years, EKU has been leveraging its intellectual capacity to help address a variety of concerns throughout the region. Faculty and staff have been heavily involved in direct assistance to businesses, industries and municipal governments. The Center for Economic Development, Entrepreneurship and Technology (CEDET) based at EKU, as well as our Small Business Development Center, are well-established with myriad programs throughout the region. EKU's Justice and Safety Center and Training Resource Center also are having a tremendous impact on the commonwealth.
A new wrinkle at EKU is an increased emphasis on incorporating service into our students' academic experience, involving undergraduates and graduate students alike in the same off-campus settings, serving the region before they graduate. Service learning, which can be imaginatively applied to most any academic discipline, opens up all sorts of new and exciting opportunities for the university to make an even bigger positive difference in communities throughout our region.
In what is a win-win situation for all involved parties, faculty members are increasingly involving their students in classroom projects and activities in response to external needs. Clients receive problem-solving assistance (at little or no expense) while the students get an invaluable early start on applying what they've learned in the classroom to real-life situations.
But here's the real bottom line: it has been demonstrated that students who gain such meaningful experiences, whether through an internship or a class project, are significantly more likely to stay in the region. Lesson: if we want to keep more of our best and brightest young people in the state, let's involve them even now in the partnerships we're building with business, industry, education, health care and government.
Another key to building the regional economy is the development of entrepreneurs. And where better to nourish the entrepreneurial spirit than on our college campuses? In Eastern's College of Business and Technology, a student incubator will be launched this year for students to "hatch" their own enterprises under the watchful eye of experienced faculty and staff. Because most entrepreneurs stay in the community or region where they launch their businesses, we believe this to be a wise investment in the local and regional economy.
Together with the many programs and services already provided to entrepreneurs and established businesses and industries throughout central and eastern Kentucky, we are steadily growing the capacity of the region to solve its problems.
Regional universities are also uniquely situated to provide the lifelong learning that 21st century Kentuckians will need. A half-century or so ago, education was a finite process. You earned your four-year degree and you never set foot on a college campus again. If you didn't have the good fortune to be located in a campus community, certainly college classes didn't come to you.
Changes in the workplace amidst the transition to a knowledge-based economy have put a premium on lifelong learning. For most small- and mid-sized employers, however, professional development and training would be cost-prohibitive without the assistance of higher education. One challenge in the years to come will be the need to educate the migrant workforce.
But the circle doesn't stop with professional development and training for Kentucky's workforce. Learning doesn't - or at least shouldn't - stop with retirement. Many retirees continue to learn new skills and enrich their lives with community education courses offered at colleges and universities throughout Kentucky.
So there you have it: higher education completing the circle of life in the Bluegrass State.
Author Thomas Friedman had another shape in mind when he asked in his best-seller about the empowerment of entrepreneurs in an increasingly global economy, "Where were you when the world went flat?"
As the dust continues to settle, Kentucky's higher education community stands ready to help lead the commonwealth to a bright and prosperous future by embracing new and better ways to both partner with businesses, industries and communities and to serve them through innovative new programs.
Joanne K. Glasser is president of Eastern Kentucky University.