ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, March 26, 1996 TAG: 9603260076
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: C-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
THE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL will include both Virginia Tech faculty and local businessmen as a resource for Western Virginia. Having one place to bring questions will be ``wonderful,'' some say.
Virginia Tech plans to create an office to work on economic development issues and to assist businesses in tapping the university's resources.
President Paul Torgersen on Monday told a transportation conference at the Hotel Roanoke and Conference Center that the university is about two weeks from announcing formation of the Virginia Tech Economic Development Council.
The council - Torgersen's idea - will advise the university's president on economic development issues as they relate to Tech, Larry Hincker, director of university relations, said. It will consist of the various people around campus who are now involved in development issues, such as the heads of research, the graduate school and the corporate research center, said Hincker, who also will sit on the council.
Plans call for hiring a full-time manager, Hincker said. Other aspects of the group's operations have yet to be worked out. "It's still in the formative stage," he said.
It often is difficult for outsiders to find their way around the university and to locate resources they need, Hincker said. The council "will be the front door to anyone looking to us for assistance," he said.
"That's good news; Tech can be the most important economic development tool in Western Virginia," said Bev Fitzpatrick, of Roanoke. Fitzpatrick is director of the New Century Council, a regional economic visioning group, which last year recommended that Tech establish a single point of contact for economic development.
Having one place to go at the university for economic development help will be a "wonderful change from the system that's been there," Fitzpatrick said. Many times those contacted at Tech for help with a business prospect didn't realize the need to act quickly, he said.
Fitzpatrick said he hoped Tech will have some outside representation on the council, someone to offer advice on economic development. Hincker said one of the things the university is sorting out is how it will involve those outside the university on the council.
The idea for the council evolved, in part, from a suggestion from a group of Virginia business people concerned about funding for higher education that last year suggested every Virginia university name an economic development director, Hincker said. Tech named Joe Meredith, head of Tech's Corporate Research Center, to that role, but it became obvious that the task was too much in addition to Meredith's regular duties, he said.
"Our opinion is that Tech is way, way ahead of other universities in the area of economic development," Hincker added.
One recent initiative, he said, was the development of a business research guide to Tech that provides information on the wide variety of services the university can offer businesses.
The guide has already been mailed to 5,000 companies around the state and is available on the Internet at http: www.vt.edu/resources.html, Hincker said.
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