Purdue Center for Regional Development director finalists to participate in open forums
October 22, 2012
Three candidates for the director of the Purdue Center for Regional Development will participate in open forums on campus in October and November.
The candidates and their forum dates are:
* Thursday (Oct. 25). 2:45 p.m. Stewart Center, Room 313. Stephan Goetz, director of the Northeast Regional Center for Rural Development and professor of agricultural and regional economics and demography, Pennsylvania State University.
* Nov. 2 (F). 8:45 a.m. Stewart Center, Room 214D. Maureen Kilkenny, professor, agricultural and applied economics.
* Nov. 7 (W). 11 a.m. Rawls Hall, Room 1071. Lionel (Bo) Beaulieu, director of the Southern Rural Development Center and professor in the Department of Agricultural Economics, Mississippi State University.
"The search committee is very pleased with these candidates, and we encourage people to attend the public forums so they can learn about these leaders," says Vic Lechtenberg, search committee chair and acting provost.
PCRD provides support for civic leaders as they build their economies through education and workforce development, innovation and entrepreneurship support, physical planning, and leadership development. PCRD develops advanced tools and provides training and technical assistance that enable Indiana's entrepreneurs, communities and regions to compete in the global economy.
Since its founding in 2005, collaborations designed and guided by PCRD have trained more than 2,300 entrepreneurs; assisted more than 4,000 businesses start or grow; helped more than 16,000 Hoosiers gain new workforce skills; developed five new training or certificate programs, including the nation's first certificate in sustainable manufacturing; moved nearly 12,000 high school students into STEM education; and engaged more than 1,300 civic leaders in civic collaboration training.
PCRD's internationally recognized approaches to building civic collaborations have led to PCRD engagements in 30 states and Canada. The center's work in building sophisticated analytic tools for cluster and innovation-based economic development has won national awards and recognition.