Midwest university leaders call for economic cooperation

Leaders of the Big Ten universities, including The Ohio State University, are calling for closer cooperation among political, business and university leaders to make the Midwest's economy more competitive.  University leaders, leaders of regional banks, chief executive officers, government leaders, economists, researchers and professors came together for an economic

summit at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis in late June to find ways to break down barriers that prevent them from working together to build a vital Midwest economy. Taken as a whole, the region's assets form the building blocks of a vibrant economy: the Great Lakes, significant industrial and corporate entities, world-class research universities, dynamic cities and agricultural resources.
 
The summit resulted in an agreement among the 12 provosts from the Big Ten universities

and the University of Chicago to work together to make the Midwest's economy more competitive. They called on the states' governors to join in. "Like the national economy, the Midwest economy is facing great challenges," says University of Minnesota Provost Thomas Sullivan. "We believe it is important for our universities to work closely with each other and with CEOs and leaders of government to make the Midwest economy more robust." Sullivan says the 12 universities alone spend more than $6 billion in research annually, employ 50,000 faculty and more than 142,000 staff and employees, and enroll 385,000 students, accounting for about a fifth of the Upper Midwest's economy.

Writer: David Holthaus
Source: Patty Mattern, University of Minnesota