Penley Panel

"Global competition will demand a population with knowledge-based skills that combine the best of arts, sciences and technology."

--Dick Robinson, CEO of Robinson Dairy and a member of the Colorado Economic Futures Panel

If there has been one lesson to be learned from the economic downturn of recent years, it's that we all need to work hard at staying competitive in the global marketplace - as individuals, as businesses and as a state - because time and trends are constantly changing. This newsletter is designed to help keep you abreast of those changes, as measured by our research and scholarship at Colorado State University. Our work on issues ranging from business management to environmental sustainability may help you gain that competitive edge in your own industry.

We'd welcome your questions and topic suggestions for future editions of The Edge.

Larry Edward Penley
Chancellor and President

Retooling Higher Education to Support Economic Development

Driving change in higher education, as in any bureaucracy, can be a bit like hauling a bucket of water up hill - without a bucket. You might have the will and the drive, but you also have to have the right machinery in place or you may wind up expending a whole lot of effort and still come up empty-handed.

Colorado State University is working to set the standard for the 21^st-century land-grant research university, and last week took an important step to get the right tools and people in place to make this happen.

Normally, an internal reorganization is more or less a big yawn for everyone except the people involved. But the recent CSU restructuring is great news for Colorado. Land-grant universities like CSU historically have provided outreach and educational services, mostly in agriculture, to counties around the state through their Cooperative Extension infrastructure. CSU now will team its Cooperative Extension offices with services offered through Continuing Education, the Office of Economic Development, the Colorado Institute of Public Policy, International Programs, and the Colorado Water Resources Research Institute - expanding its level of direct service to Colorado's rural, urban and suburban communities but enabling its urban and suburban communities greater access than ever before to the rich resources of a 21^st century land-grant university.

The emphasis will be on promoting economic development and vitality statewide. The university is also restructuring programs in admissions, marketing and other key areas to promote better service to students and families -and the changes are being funded through a reallocation of dollars from other administrative areas. To read more about the reorganization, visit http://www.president.colostate.edu/index.asp?page=changes

Underground Lab Could Mean Big Economic Gains for Colorado

Colorado is one of two sites competing to be the home of a National Science Foundation Deep Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory at the Henderson Mine in Empire. During the past few decades, large-scale underground physics laboratories in Canada, Europe and Japan have made major discoveries in neutrino physics, but no comparable laboratories exist in the U.S. When established, the underground lab will allow U.S. scientists and engineers to re-establish leadership in underground science and engineering. And it promises to be a huge economic boon to the state that houses the facility. Three Colorado universities - University of Colorado, Colorado School of Mines and Colorado State - are among those leading the effort to locate the lab in the state, working as part of a collaboration that includes biologists, geologists, physicists, mining engineers, corporate professionals and community leaders and community members. A decision on the lab location is expected to be made in late 2006 or early 2007.

CSU Policy Report Discusses Impact, Potential of Bio-Pharming in Colorado

In summer 2004, Colorado embarked on a new frontier in agriculture with the planting of the state's first bio-pharm crop. "Bio-pharming," or "molecular farming" involves raising genetically engineered crops for pharmaceuticals and industrial compounds - a technology that scientists have envisioned for 20 years, but which is still in the early stages of application. Colorado's experimental research crop of 2,000 engineered corn plants puts the state at a policy crossroads. The Colorado Institute for Public Policy discusses the issue at www.cipp.colostate.edu/pdf/bio-pharm-bk-medres.pdf

CSU Engines Lab Partnering with Industry to Reduce Blackouts

The Engines and Energy Conversion Laboratory at Colorado State has teamed with Caterpillar Inc. and Woodward Governor Company to develop a low-emissions, high-efficiency engine that could improve the reliability and efficiency of the electrical power grid, reducing the occurrence of rolling blackouts. The Lab's new Distributed Power Generation Research Center will conduct research on distributed power generation -- an increasingly popular solution for power companies working to keep up with demand and increasing competition under deregulation. It's the first such center of its kind in the nation.

Distributed power refers to electricity that is generated close to where it's needed -- such as next to a factory or neighborhood or other major power user. The closer it is, the smaller the transmission losses and the more energy and money saved. Distributed power generation technology is key to reliably meeting the growing power needs of communities, without building new high-voltage power lines.

Peak power demand is expected to grow by 2 percent per year through 2010, according to the North American Electric Reliability Council. The U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Power Technologies wants distributed generation to account for 20 percent of new generating capacity in the United States by 2010.

The new Distributed Power Research Center is expected to serve as an independent source of information on distributed power for industry and energy users. Other potential users include equipment manufacturers, national laboratories and universities.

Denver Chamber Focuses on State of Higher Ed

Higher education leaders are making four key mistakes in selling the importance of colleges and universities to the general public. This was CSU System Chancellor Larry Penley's message when he joined business and higher education leaders October 27th for the Denver Metro Chamber's second annual "State of Higher Education" breakfast. Given the funding challenges facing state governments and colleges and universities, we need to change the way we talk about higher education, Penley said. He cited "four mistakes" he's observed in how he and his peers communicate with the public:

• Mistake #1: We focus too much on money. Instead, Penley suggested, we should focus on the role of higher education as a public good that supports our state's prosperity.
• Mistake #2: Threatening the public with the specter of privatizing higher education. We need to shift the discussion away from the issue of control, he said, and instead focus on how to sustain higher education as a public good, particularly during tough economic times.
• Mistake #3: Institutions talk too much about recruiting "The Best and the Brightest." It's more important to make the case for the value of a public university, especially the public research university, via a fundamental commitment to access and success, he said.
• Mistake #4: Higher ed needs to focus on economic development - not impact!. Penley noted the tendency of universities to tout their economic impact, via the traditional economic impact study, as a means to demonstrate the value of public higher education. Focusing on idea generation and the creation of a quality labor supply is far more important and has more impact, he said. The case for public higher education should be made based on an institution's contribution to technology transfer and the commercialization of ideas and on the quality of the graduates coming out of excellent educational programs.

Participants on the panel included Denver Metro Chamber President and CEO Joe Blake; President Kay Norton of the University of Northern Colorado; Paul Schauer of the CU Board of Regents; President Stephen Jordan, Nancy McCallin of the Colorado Community College System; and John Trefney, president of Colorado School of Mines. The overall discussion focused on the significant contributions of higher education to the state economy, the need to preserve a diverse system that provides a broad range of access to people with differing educational needs, and the importance of strengthening partnerships with K-12 education.