Colorado farm-fed tourism

A significant amount of Colorado's tourism industry is tied to agritourism, and out-of-state tourists make up the lion’s share of spending, says Dawn Thilmany, CSU professor of agricultural resource economics. Agritourism is most popular in the fall and in rural areas where new monies have the most impact. Top Colorado agritourism activities, according to a recent CSU study, include camping, picnicking, photography, and bird and wildlife watching.

13.2 million
Tourists who experienced Colorado's agricultural offerings such as corn mazes, farmers markets, wineries, and breweries

$2.2 billion
Total economic activity generated from agricultural offerings in 2006

$1.26 billion
Direct economic contributions to agritourism operators and their lodging, dining, and retail businesses

$1 billion
Ancillary economic business activities from agritourism

14,655
Jobs created from agritourism

$1.7 billion
Revenue generated from out-of-state agritourists

56 percent
Agritourists from out-of-state

$887
Average per-trip spending by out-of-state agritourists

$391
Average per-trip spending by in-state agritourists

Source: Colorado State University

Competitive edge

"Speed, innovation, productivity, cultural openness, access to financing and capital, and the ability to manage complex systems ... The capability of that workforce is what really will differentiate us globally and nationally."
—Thomas A. Gendron, Woodward CEO, citing the eight areas that improve competitiveness, at the Northern Colorado Economic Development Corporation annual meeting

Land plan

"It's definitely a win-win."
—Fort Collins City Manager Darin Atteberry on the land exchange between Colorado State University and the city, which will leverage property to develop a CSU-funded clean-energy research center and add acreage to expand the city’s Reservoir Ridge Natural Area

High demand

"Companies are begging for our students as interns and are quick to hire them after graduation."
—Darrell Whitley, CSU professor and chair of the Department of Computer Science, about the demand for CSU computer science students and graduates

Fire-prone

Months before fires raged through Southern California, Colorado State researchers released a national study warning that Americans faced an increased fire risk as they build more homes in natural wildland areas. The danger zone – the wildland-urban interface where homes and urban sprawl meet wildlands – has grown to an area larger than the state of California, placing an estimated 12.5 million homes at risk of high-severity wildfires, said Dave Theobald, CSU landscape ecologist. The National Fire Plan of 2001 and the Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003 address hazardous wildfire in the United States, but the researchers say more must be done. The interface in 2000 expanded by 52 percent since 1970, the study found, and predict it will expand by at least another 10 percent by 2030.

Prize wise

The Nobel Peace Prize shared by Al Gore and the International Panel on Climate Change has Colorado State University connections. Several CSU scientists have contributed to the IPCC, which includes thousands of scientists from across the globe. Colorado State’s David Randall, atmospheric science professor, served as a lead author on a chapter on climate modeling. Keith Paustian and Rich Conant, research scientists with CSU’s Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory, served as lead authors on chapters on carbon cycling. Stephen Ogle, also a NREL research scientist, served as a lead author on a chapter on mitigation options in agriculture. "Through the scientific reports … the IPCC has created an ever-broader informed consensus about the connection between human activities and global warming," the Nobel Committee said.

Top M.B.A.

Colorado State University's College of Business offers one of the best M.B.A. programs in the nation and is one of the top 10 best administered, according to The Princeton Review. CSU’s business college is among 290 colleges listed in the 2008 annual guide, which features two-page profiles on the school's academics, student life, admissions, and career/placement programs. The ranking lists are based on surveys of law and business school students. Colorado State has ranked among the top 10 in the "best administered" category for the past three years.

Global commitment

The Bohemian Foundation has committed $400,000 to the Colorado State University College of Business for its new master's program in Global Social and Sustainable Enterprise. The 18-month Master of Science program teaches students to use entrepreneurial, sustainable approaches to address the global challenges of poverty, environmental degradation, and poor health. The program, which encourages summer field work in the developing world, ultimately could help some of the world's 3 billion people who live on less than $3 a day. GSSE students take traditional master's-level courses in marketing, finance, leadership, and entrepreneurship but get deeper coverage of cross-cultural issues, non-profit perspectives, and environmental and social policy implications.

Systems support

Woodward has pledged $1 million to support an endowed professorship in systems engineering at Colorado State. The most complex engineering problems require critical thinking at a systems level, said Thomas A. Gendron, Woodward president and chief executive officer, but there are relatively few systems engineering programs in the United States. Ronald M. Sega, former NASA astronaut and undersecretary for the U.S. Air Force, was recently hired at CSU to build the new systems engineering program. "The contributions that will be made through this program will serve society by solving problems of global importance," said Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter.

Constructing jobs

The Colorado State University construction management international team, on the recommendation of the U.S. State Department, will help create employment opportunities in the West Bank and Gaza for young, unemployed Palestinian engineers in the construction management field. "At least 45 unemployed young Palestinian engineering graduates will be placed in guaranteed jobs that they would not have been able to acquire without [CSU’s] expertise," said Amanda Fazzone, program manager for the Education For Employment Foundation, which is funding the project.

Ad accountable

Socially aware advertising is providing food for thought. CSU’s Karen Hyllegard and Jennifer Ogle, associate professors in design and merchandising, received $448,000 from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to develop an online undergraduate curriculum that promotes the socially responsible advertising of food among future industry professionals. The interdisciplinary project also includes researchers from Ohio State University and the University of South Carolina.

Labor-union democracy

Labor unions are a driving force in promoting global democracy, say Dimitris Stevis of Colorado State and the late Terry Boswell of Emory University. The authors of the new book Globalization & Labor: Democratizing Global Governance focus on the past accomplishments and challenges still facing global union politics. Unions play a critical role in expanding democracy and equity in countries where unions can operate freely, the authors contend, and globalization and global governance cannot be inclusive and equitable if labor rights or environmental and human rights are not given as much priority as business rights.