Hill, Bob

English

Syracuse University Research Facility and Collaborative Environment

For better or worse: A healthy union between town and gown makes each stronger . • atnp fO the southern reaches of the Syracuse University campus will lead you to Skytop Road, where you can venture past South Campus housing, the Goldstein Student Center, and the Skytop Office Building, a lonely outpost fronting 90 acres of mud and weeds, as well as Peter Webber's vision of the future. Webber is director of Syracuse University Research Park and chief cheer-leader for a project that could eventually bring 2,000 research and b y B o b H i 1 1 1Hill: For Better or WorsePublished by SURFACE, 1994development jobs to the city, and an academic and economic windfall to the University. The ground-breaking this summer will launch what Webber calls "the biggest economic news in Syracuse since the MONY towers were built, and that was about 25 years ago. This has the potential to add something real-ly significant to the economy of Central New York. Research Park will house new businesses, employ local people, a nd enhance the University's educa-tional and research mission." Research Park is a long-term project designed to move technology from the halls of academia to the bottom lines of business. It's also the latest in a long list of projects- including the Carrier Dome and the Center for Science and Technology - that have been partnered to fruition by SU and Syracuse's Metropolitan Development Associa-tion (MDA). "In the next 10 years, we foresee Research Park providing $90 million in growth to the community," says Irwin Davis, executive vice president of the MDA, which represents the business leadership of Central New York. "The role the University has played in the community is one of the main reasons for local economic growth over the past 35 years . In my mind, the University is the community. Period. Where would Central New York be without Syracuse University?" Indeed, the impact of the Universi-ty-its teachers, researchers, employ-ees, students, seminars, events, and vis-itors, its mere presence-can be felt in almost every corner of Onondaga County and in every aspect of life in greater Syracuse. From the Red Cross to the Carrier Circle hotels, from bars and restaurants in Armory Square to the SUNY Health Science Center, from the Shonnard Street Boys and Girls Club to the Chamber of Com-merce, SU is an integral partner in Syracuse's well-being. The University is also a beneficiary. The schools, businesses, and agencies of Onondaga County provide an ideal training ground for University students and researchers. Meanwhile, the area's many malls, restaurants, parks, and museums, plus the splendor of the Finger Lakes - even the endless drifts of snow-make Syracuse a culturally diverse and appealing locale for those associated with or simply visiting the University. "The relationship between the city and the University is mutually benefi-cial," says Roy Bernard i, mayor of Syracuse and a 1973 recipient of a master's degree from the School of Education. "The University provides a first-class education . It brings thou-sands of people into the community. It brings business into the community. The University is really part of the city." SU Chancellor Kenneth A. Shaw wouldn 't have it any other way. "It isn't just that we do all these won-derful things for the city and it stops there," says Shaw. "We are very much dependent on a strong and viable region in Central New York, and it's in our best interests to make that happen. We can't achieve our goals in a region that isn't progressive and doesn't provide a positive quality of life for the people who work and go to school here. " -the lffi act ofthe University Q~ Syracuse and Onondaga County is, first and foremost, financial. SU has an annual payroll exceeding $150 million and ranks as the county's third-largest employer. Annual expen-ditures by students, employees, and SU visitors exceed $200 million, and each year some 900,000 people-including nearly 300,000 from outside of Onondaga County-attend Univer-sity events ranging from conferences to concerts to athletic events. The Car;ier Dome welcomes many of these visitors. It hosts athletic con-tests (SU football, basketball , and lacrosse, high school tournaments, occasional NCAA c h ampionship events), concerts (Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel, and Pink Floyd were recent visitors), and assorted events such as the annual Boy Scouts Hiawatha Council Boy Power Dinner and the 2Syracuse University Magazine, Vol. 10, Iss. 4 [1994], Art. 8https://surface.syr.edu/sumagazine/vol10/iss4/8New York State Fie ld Ba nd Cha m-pionships. Across camp us, Bird Library offers p u blic access to a wealth of informa-tion a nd r e sou r ces. Dow ntown, Univer sity College offer s SU degree p rograms in more than 30 disciplines to pa rt-time students, most of whom live a nd work in the community a nd typically must attend evening classes. SU cultural r esources available to a r ea r e s id e n ts i n clu d e Lowe A r t Gallery, Syracuse Stage, the Commu-n ity Folk Art Gallery, and U niversity College's T hu rsday Morning Rou nd-table, w hich brings community leaders together w ith prominent speakers for weekly discussions on current issues. "Economically , educationally, a nd culturally, Sy racuse University makes a great splash in the commu nity," say s Doug las Ba r c lay, p r e s id e nt o f t h e M D A a n d c h a ir of S U's boa r d of trustees. "T h e resear c h , c ul t u r a l opportun ities, and the faculty and stu -dents give the area a lot of vita lity." Many stud ents a lso provide the a rea w it h something more ta ngible - them-selves. A study by the p ublic affairs pro-gram of t h e M axwell S ch ool found more t h a n 2 ,500 stude n ts spent in excess of 180,000 hours volunteering in the community in 1991. Such volun-teerism has been fu rther encouraged by t he crea t ion of t h e C h ancellor's Awa rd fo r P u b lic S e r v ice, whic h began in 1992 and is presented to the r esid en ce ha ll, resid e nce floo r , a nd individual with the greatest number of public service ho urs . "There 's e no r-mous potent ia l, only partia lly rea lized, for ou r students to g ive back t o t he community," says Shaw. Each of S U's 13 colleges contribute to t h e c o mmunity in some fas hion . Examples include: • T he School of Education 's Coun-se lor I n t ernship Progra m , in w hich gradua te students help find jobs for high school students w ho don 't plan to attend college. • T he College for H uma n D evelop-ment's Community Service P roject, in w hich students provide food and nutri-tion services to t he hungry, homeless, homebound, and terminally ill. • T he M axwell S chool's U n iversity R each program, in w hic h studen t s help a t -r isk yout hs gain self-esteem, aca d e mic s ki ll s , a nd caree r s kill s thr oug h variou s p rog ra ms a nd p ro-jects. In addition , t h e S ch ool of Socia l 30 SYRACUSE UN I V E R S I TY M AG A Z INE Nearly 900,000 people visit Syracuse University annu-ally, many of them to attend events at the Carrier Dome. Aside from University sporting events, the Dome hosts concerts, and events such as the Billy Graham Crusade. W o rk annually sends hundreds of vol-unteers to some 150 agencies located throughout Central New York. Mean-w hile, the College of N ursing has stu-d ents develop p rograms at a local geri-a tric center and teach health education courses to members of boy s a nd girls clubs. "Students a nd faculty give h undreds of thousands of dollars' worth of goods a nd services to the community," says public affairs p rofessor a nd U niversity Reach creator W illiam Coplin. "With-out them, many of the agencies served would be hard p ressed to do w hat they're doing . We sponsor something called the Commu nity Link Project . Agencies su bm it the projects t hey'd like done. In 1993-94, our policy stud -ies m ajors comple ted about 6 0 p ro-jects, includ ing telepho ne surveys a nd inpu tt ing data o n c o mp u ters . W e a sked t h e agenc ies to estima te t h e value of these services, and this year the value was in excess of $ 110,000." Local sc hoo ls a lso b e n efit from SU's p rog ra m s a nd people . P r oject Advance provides e lig ible high school students w ith college courses a t a frac-ti o n of th e c o s t . T h e S c h o o l of E d ucation provides student teachers. T h e College of Arts a nd S c ie n ces sends p rofessors a nd public a ffa ir s students to schools to start and facili-tate programs. "W e've had a tremendous relation-ship w ith t he University for years," says Sy r acu se Supe rin tendent of S c h ools R o b ert D iF lorio, w ho re-ce ived a m as te r 's d egr ee from th e School of Education in 1964. "So much of that relationship is based on the good-will a nd efforts of both the city school distr ic t and t he University working together for children." 3Hill: For Better or WorsePublished by SURFACE, 1994for Y£~!moc:~:~h:: dear. "Fortunately," says Anne Peter-son, "attitudes have changed and rela-tions have improved." She should know. Peterson has three SU degrees-she earned her latest, a mas-ter's in public affairs, in May-and has lived in the neighborhood immediately east of the University for more than 25 years. She is the former executive director of UNPA, the University Neighborhood Preservation Association, and continues to be a board member of SEUNA, the Southeast U niver sity Neighborhood Association. She wants her neighborhood to flourish , and believes it's to t he University's benefit to ensure that it does. "The University a nd the city have parallel problems," she says. "The University is going through a serious downsizing and the city has a shrink-ing budget. Students live in this neigh-borhood, but their parents won't want them to if it becomes run-down. There's an overriding theme that we're in this together, that we need to satisfy everyone's best interests." SU h o lds m e mberships on t h e boards of several n eighbor hood groups. These include the U niversity Hill Corporation, a nonprofit organiza-tion representing the major institutions and churches in the University area, and UNPA, a nonprofit organization of residents whose primary mission is to promote owner occu pancy in th e University area. Among other services, UNPA provides home improvemen t and home acquisition loa ns, conducts home-buy ing seminars, a nd works with h om e owners a nd la ndlords to improve property values. SU, UNPA, and the University Hill Corporation collaborated recently on a mutua lly be ne fic ial proj ect. Ala n Culbertson, an absentee owner and 1975 graduate of the College of Law, wanted to sell his six rental properties for the purpose of reconverting them to single-family homes for eventual sale to moder-ate-income families. The Uni-versity got Culbertson together with the University Hill Corporation, which began purchas-ing the properties. UNPA subsequently provided the University Hill Corpora-tion with interest-free loans to help cover renovation costs. SU also took great pains to involve neighborhood groups in its plans to acquire portions of several campus streets from the city. Between January 1988 and March 1989, there were 49 accidents on campus portions of University Place, College Place, and South Crouse, University, and Euclid avenues. To remedy the situation, the city grant-ed SUa two-year lease on the streets. SU made $2.5 million worth of improve-ments-adding street lights, traffic lights, SU students provide thou-sands of hours of volunteer service to the Syracuse community. In April, envi-ronmental design majors did restoration work on the Rescue Mission facilities as part of a class assignment. and widening portions of roads - rerout-ed the flow of traffic t hrough t h e University, and restricted public use of College and University places. L a st Novembe r t h e Sy r a c u se Common Council voted una nimously to accept the changes perma nently and co nfer own ership to SU, w h ich w ill continue to ma intain the street s. The 31 S U MMER 1994 move cost the city parking revenue but allowed it to save money by not having to fund the street improvements. SU considered the money well spent, having significantly reduced both on-campus traffic and accidents. Studies also found the changes had no adverse effect on the surrounding neighborhoods. No one, says Peter-son, came away angry. "The transfer of streets taught us a good deal about goodwill and commit-ment to the best interests of all con-cerned," says E leanor Gallagher, exec-utive assistant to Chancellor Shaw. "It's been great to see people from the University coming to our associa -tion meetings, ma king p resenta tions, and bringing our concerns back to the University," say s Peterson. "The more the U niversity partici-pates, the bette r we'll a ll be, because a ll of a sudden w e find ourselves on the same side. For years there wasn 't th is 'we're-in-this-together' re la t ion-ship. T hat has come a bout in the last four years, and we can only do better." The University w ill do its part to ensure such imp rovement con tinues, insists C hancellor Shaw. "Universities and cities that are to prog ress a r e going to d o so because they resolve issues a nd t ensions a nd work together," say s Shaw. "Clea rly, we can't go it alone." • 4Syracuse University Magazine, Vol. 10, Iss. 4 [1994], Art. 8https://surface.syr.edu/sumagazine/vol10/iss4/8

For Better or Worse: A healthy union between town and gown makes each stronger

https://surface.syr.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1468&amp;context=sumagazine

For Better or Worse: A healthy union between town and gown makes each stronger

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Syracuse University Research Facility and Collaborative Environment