Innovation Campus to expand the hopes of increasing business
Plans to expand Utah State University’s Innovation Campus were announced last night at the Associated Students of Utah State University Executive Council meeting.
Over the next 30 to 40 years, the Innovation Campus plans to expand to 4.5 million square feet in building space, said Teresa McKnight, Innovation Campus director.
Such an expansion would make the campus as large as USU’s main campus. The Innovation Campus currently owns 38 acres of land in Logan and North Logan and has currently attained more than 100 more acres between 600 and 1200 East and 1400 and 1650 North, McKnight said. The hope is to expand and bring in more businesses.
“This will provide really good jobs for you when you graduate from USU,” McKnight said.
Currently 53 companies find their homes at the Innovation Campus, many of which employ students, McKnight said.
The two biggest companies are Convergys and The Space Dynamics Laboratory. The majority of the other businesses are smaller spin-off companies from technology developed at USU. McKnight said the expansion will create around 8,000 new jobs.
The plan for the expansion includes numerous phases over the next 30 or 40 years including obtaining the land and many new buildings. So far, the plan is ahead of schedule, McKnight said.
Utah Student Association Director Carrie Flamm, spoke about the organizations main goals and gave lobbying advice for the ASUSU Executive Council. The USA is an organization made up of student body presidents and other students from Utah institutions of higher education to represent student concerns to the Legislature.
This school years main goals are the improvement of academic advising, an increase in financial aid, voting improvements and the library consortium, Flamm said.
Flamm said that due to recent tuition increases, financial aid is a big student concern and that the USA would like to look into voting options such as voting in student centers and same-day voters registration.
The library consortium is a project that would allow state institutions to exchange data and information such as journals.
Concerns were raised about the lack of funding for higher education which Flamm said will be lobbied by the state Board of Regents and supported by the USA.
Flamm also gave tips for lobbying during the state Legislative session that starts mid-January. Among many other tips Flamm said when lobbying, student representatives should have a strategy, yet be flexible, have a clear concise message, keep allies, have accurate information and be polite and professional. It is also important to lobby for student issues and not personal concerns, Flamm said.
“Another important tip is to know when to shut up and quit talking,” Flamm said. “Sometimes as students we think we have so much to say because we think we’re right. We need to know how to say our piece and sit down.”
The council also discussed the upcoming 2005 ASUSU elections. The council voted unanimously to change the election bylaws to include a clause that requires candidates to adhere to the fire code. ASUSU President Les Essig said he hopes this will encourage candidates to not block doorways in and out of campus buildings.
Last year, students complained about such occurrences especially in the business building, said Emily Bott, public relations vice president. The council also decided to continue to allow college senators to debate in classrooms during the final week of elections.
-hilaryi@cc.usu.edu