News Releases for March 2004
March 25, 2004
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Hoeven To Kick Off Round Of Centers Of Excellence Forums
BISMARCK, N.D. - Gov. John Hoeven on Friday, March 26 will kick off a round of statewide forums at Valley City State University (VCSU) to help the campus identify potential areas for a Center of Excellence. The forum is the first in a series of such meetings to be held at all 11 campuses of the North Dakota State University System throughout the spring. Friday's meeting at VCSU will be held at 2 p.m. in the Student Center, Skoal Room.
"In the coming months, educators, business leaders and policy makers will gather on campuses across our state to map out our Centers of Excellence initiative," Hoeven said. "We want to encourage each campus to engage in planning with its business community."
Business leaders, faculty, students, Chambers of Commerce, economic developers, city, state and county officials - all are invited to help build the future of North Dakota using Centers of Excellence.
Hoeven proposed the Centers of Excellence initiative during his State of the State address last January. The $50 million plan combines education and economic development to create higher paying jobs and new business opportunities for North Dakota citizens. When leveraged with federal and private funding, as much as $150 million could be made available for research and commercialization of new products and services. Centers of Excellence make the North Dakota University System and all of the state's campuses active partners in building the economy of the state, according to Hoeven.
The concept behind a Center of Excellence is simple, according to Hoeven. If North Dakota nurtures places where some of the state's best and brightest minds can find ways to commercialize their ideas into products, skills and services -- we will create and attract new businesses. Those businesses will then generate higher-paying, skilled jobs for our citizens, especially graduates. A Center of Excellence then becomes a hub of research and development around which dynamic new businesses cluster because they offer access to new technologies and an educated workforce.
"Identifying and building Centers of Excellence is an important task, because they mean better paying jobs, more dynamic campuses and a more vibrant economy for our communities and our state," Hoeven said. "They mean more opportunities for our graduates and a brighter future for North Dakota. We look forward to working with our campuses and our communities to build that future together."
Additional forums will be held at Dickinson State University, March 31; University of North Dakota, April 26; North Dakota State College of Science, April 28; Bismarck State College, April 29; Minot State University, May 5; and North Dakota State University, May 7. Forums are currently being scheduled for the remaining campuses.
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