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This month’s
St. Louis Commerce Magazine focuses on the critical interconnect
between higher education and economic development. More than 20
leaders of the region’s higher-education institutions provide
their perspectives in this month’s cover story on the economic
impact of higher education on the region.
The increasingly critical tiebreaker in economic-development success is the ability to attract and retain a quality workforce. In that regard, the investments that the St. Louis region is making in higher education has a direct bottom-line implication for our region’s ability to attract and retain quality jobs and grow our economic base.
Christine
Imb’s piece on changing partnerships chronicles a number
of examples of business-education partnerships; including Express
Scripts and the University of Missouri-St. Louis with the first
Fortune 500 company to locate its headquarters on a university
campus, the American Red Cross and Southern Illinois University
Edwardsville with a state-of-the-art blood testing facility, St.
Louis Community College and the pharmaceutical community with
a training facility in Wellston, and a virtual partnership with
the St. Louis College of Pharmacy, Express Scripts, BJC Healthcare
and Walgreens collaborating on the drug information Web site DrugDigest.org.
Speaking of
economic development, this month’s “From the Ground
Up” by Linda Jarrett takes a close look at one of
the more unique real-estate and commercial-development partnerships
in the region; namely, the NorthPark project, a joint venture
between Clayco, one of the nation’s largest privately-owned,
real-estate development, design, building-construction firms,
and McEagle, a full-service, real-estate development, property-management
and brokerage firm. This 5-million-square-foot, $400-million development
is expected to include office, retail and light industrial space.
Three articles in this month’s magazine spotlight the Illinois portion of the region. One highlights the 25th anniversary of the Leadership Council Southwestern Illinois and another celebrates the “graduation” by SIUE to Division I athletics. A third article highlights the latest construction at Scott Air Force Base, totaling $188 million.
Speaking of
Scott Air Force Base, the region welcomes its newest commander,
Gen. Duncan McNabb, who assumed command of the U.S Transportation
Command. He succeeded Gen. Norton Schwarz, who was appointed
chief of staff of the Air Force.
Another variable in the region’s economic development competitiveness is its transportation system. An article this month on Proposition M highlights the importance of the November 4th ballot measure to support the continued successful operation of the region’s bus and light rail transit system and expansion of light rail. The ½-cent sales tax would trigger a ¼-cent sales tax passed by the City of St. Louis in 1997. This critical vote would enable Metro to sustain itself and support the growing demand for public transportation in the St. Louis region.
And finally,
this month’s “Day in the Work Life” profiles
Tim McGowan of McGowan Brothers Development and our monthly
“Spotlight” features Solutia CEO Jeff Quinn,
who is leading the company’s resurgence after filing bankruptcy
five years ago.
We hope you
enjoy reading this issue of St. Louis Commerce Magazine.
As always, please send your comments and suggestions to us at
dfleming@stlrcga.org.
RICHARD C.D. FLEMING
Publisher
St. Louis Commerce Magazine
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