Western Carolina University’s Center for Regional Development (CRD) is a university research and public service center that drives regional economic development; conducts public policy analysis and applied research; and administers public service projects on economic and community capacity building, government training, natural resource conservation and strategic development.
The CRD is multidisciplinary with faculty, students and staff from various academic departments and the private sector including industry affiliates (who are sent by their corporate sponsors to work with us from a week to a year, depending on the nature of the agreement and the intended outcome).
The economic development mission of the CRD is to attract, identify, qualify and assist regional businesses and to leverage the university’s extensive resources of research, science, engineering, arts and humanities faculty and students, as well as the core staff of the center (analysts, planners and faculty fellows) for business growth, including the transfer and application of new technologies and the commercialization of the creative arts.
The CRD also has responsibility for developing the strategy and implementation plans for Western’s Millennial Campus Initiative, a state legislative mandate which allows rural comprehensive universities to take several critical actions to support economic development, including:
•Acquiring property to promote business development
•Developing flexible site arrangements to achieve specific economic development objectives
•Providing services to businesses to promote their location or development
•Issuing revenue bonds (with Board of Governors approval) to support business development
•Engaging in public/private partnerships, developing joint use facilities, and co-operating with enterprises to promote economic development
•Incubating businesses
To fulfill its mission and generate new initiatives the CRD partners with federal, state, and regional organizations and the private sector. Current partners include the United States Department of Commerce, Smoky Mountain Host, the School of Government at UNC-Chapel Hill, and AdvantageWest Regional Economic Development Commission.
This page is maintained by Nancy Carden in the
Office of the Provost.
Last updated: 2/15/2005.
Copyright 2005 by Western Carolina University .