TERRE HAUTE —
The upper Midwest often carries a less geographic label — the “Rust Belt.” It refers to a region whose economic engine once ran primarily on manufacturing but has seen its motor slow and corrode as plants and jobs in that sector moved elsewhere.
Indiana sits within the Rust Belt, but has retained more of its shine than the other states. It ranks first nationally in manufacturing jobs per capita, according to the Ball State University Center for Business and Economic Research.
Nonetheless, the realities of the global economy have forced all states that have long relied on manufacturing to diversify their employment sector. That reality applies to cities, too, especially Terre Haute. Saddled with the state’s highest unemployment rate among its 13 metropolitan areas, Terre Haute needs key components of its local economic engine centered in sectors beyond manufacturing.
The good news is the community houses a growing, stable source of jobs and enrichment in Indiana State University.
ISU began its fall semester with 12,114 students, its highest enrollment since 1993. The university topped the 12,000 mark two years ahead of the benchmark set by its president, Daniel Bradley, back in 2009.
Last week, with that goal met, ISU announced its intention to reach an unprecedented enrollment of 14,000 by 2017. The largest student body in school history, 13,533, occupied the campus in 1971.
That aspiration is amazing, considering that just five years ago, in the spring semester of 2007, ISU’s enrollment had dwindled below 10,000, settling at 9,681.
For Terre Haute, the fiscal impact of the university’s hard-earned growth in numbers cannot be understated. A study by an Indianapolis-based market analysis firm, Thomas P. Miller and Associates, calculated ISU accounts for a $406 million chunk of the local economy. That figure, according to the Miller report presented to the ISU Board of Trustees on Thursday, was “very conservative.” It also was calculated for 2011, before the student body exceeded 12,000.
ISU directly employed 1,813 faculty and staff members in 2011, making it the area’s third-largest employer, just behind Union Hospital and the Vigo County School Corp. ISU expenditures support 4,200 local jobs, both directly and indirectly.
Statewide, its impact totals $519 million and 5,020 jobs.
Enrollment is just one crucial factor in the equation for a healthy public university. The number of students who actually receive their ISU degrees on time needs to significantly improve, too; the university also has made promising strides in that area.
A growing, active state university helps attract businesses and industries, in terms of economic development. It also raises the level of education within the population, through both graduates and resident instructors, which in turn could raise Terre Haute’s median household incomes, which fall far below state and national levels.
And, ISU’s vitality also can help the city realize some of its long-term visions, such as development of the Wabash River front (where the university aims to build enhanced athletic facilities) and downtown (where private student housing may emerge).
With an asset growing at that pace, rust will have a harder time setting in on Terre Haute.
Editorials
EDITORIAL: Higher ed helps community shake off the rust of decline
ISU’s recent expansion provides base for future
- Editorials
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EDITORIAL: Insult to an independent press
Distrust of government secrecy has been elevated to an exceptional level with the disclosure the Justice Department covertly examined two months of Associated Press phone records to determine who leaked details to the AP about a foiled terrorist plot.
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EDITORIAL: Noteworthy in the news: Dashing finish for the Sycamores
It’s always thrilling to see Indiana State University’s athletic teams do well in high-level competition, and two specific teams rose to impressive heights last weekend in the Missouri Valley Conference outdoor track and field championships.
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EDITORIAL: Better monitoring needed to prevent local environmental messes
The nasty, hazardous messes lurking in the community raise a bottom-line, red-flag question. Could these environmental problems have been monitored and, thus, prevented?
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EDITORIAL: Memo to U.S.A.: You can ‘SPPRAK’ just as we do in Vigo County
Our kids, truly, are ‘Making a Difference’
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Some words in praise of boring government — Indiana’s
A conservative Republican governor has super majorities in both branches of the legislature. One might suspect such one-party government leads to major changes in public policy. This did not happen in 2013 in Indiana.
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EDITORIAL: Doc’s prescient prescription
Viewed through a 2013 prism, Doc Bowen’s response to the AIDS epidemic looks merely prudent, routine.
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EDITORIAL: Education remains worth the cost
Within the next few weeks, each of the local colleges will have conducted graduation ceremonies. A few days later, a different Class of 2013 will don caps and gowns for commencement — the seniors at five Vigo County high schools. It is still a smart, worthy aspiration for those high school grads to replicate the achievement of those college students by earning a higher-education degree.
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EDITORIAL: Good news for downtown
For decades, it seems, downtown Terre Haute has been in the throes of change
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EDITORIAL: Overall, state budget step in the right direction
For average Hoosiers uninterested in political point-scoring, the budget crafted by the Indiana Legislature inspires only muted, if any, fanfare.
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EDITORIAL: The lessons of organ donation
The range of emotion surrounding life-saving transplantation of a vital organ is extreme. It is the ultimate “good news-bad news” scenario.
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READERS’ FORUM: April 26, 2013
• Pence’s tax cuts benefit wealthiest
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EDITORIAL: Noteworthy in the news
This does not qualify as a surprise in any way. But the Wabash Valley’s response to widespread flooding of recent days has been nothing short of impressive, even inspirational.
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EDITORIAL: Still waiting for the jobs reward
The forces in control of Indiana government for most of the past decade need to show some results to Hoosiers in one primary category.
Good-paying jobs. -
MARK BENNETT: Littered with irony: Why do people callously discard their trash, and who are they?
Though they aren’t acknowledged by the U.S. Census Bureau, there are basically two demographic groups of people … Those who would dump their old toilet on the banks of the Wabash River or a rural roadside. And those who wouldn’t.
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EDITORIAL: Doing the dirty work to clean up tossed trash
A first-of-its-kind, coast-to-coast project to remove litter from U.S. roadsides brought the Pick Up America crew through the Wabash Valley two years ago.
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EDITORIAL: Keep school security a local issue
The decision to provide armed security inside a schoolhouse should be made locally.
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EDITORIAL: Noteworthy in the news
Indiana’s parks need your help.
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EDITORIAL: The return of terror
Emotions today remain strong and raw in wake of Monday’s terror bombings near the finish line of the Boston Marathon.
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EDITORIAL: A solution to distracted driving … stop it … now
You’ve got to stop. You know you do it. It’s a miracle you haven’t caused a tragedy already.
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EDITORIAL: ‘Women of Influence’: 2013 selectees have given much to their communities
For the second year, United Way of the Wabash Valley has teamed up with local sponsors to select and honor a group of women who have made outstanding contributions to their communities, professions and families.
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EDITORIAL: Noteworthy in the news: A new honor for our veterans
A commendation goes out today to state Rep. Clyde Kersey, a Terre Haute Democrat who led the charge this week in the Indiana House of Representatives to pay tribute to the nation’s Purple Heart recipients.
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EDITORIAL: Shifting view on marriage
One could argue, as many have, that Sen. Joe Donnelly did the right thing last week when he dropped his support of government-sanctioned opposition to same-sex marriage. It wasn’t a radical move, considering most Democrats have now made the switch.
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MAX JONES: The American Newspaper: Changing? Yes. Dying? No way!
It happened again this past January when all those “looking at the year ahead” stories started popping up on Internet “news” websites and broadcast “news” programs. Under a provocative headline reading something like “Five industries/businesses doomed to tank in the coming year,” there it was, a prediction based on an unsubstantiated “expert” analysis that the newspaper industry will continue in 2013 to suffer its slide into oblivion.
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EDITORIAL: A chance to change our bad cultural habits
The sight of diligent, eager young people dragging trash out of the Wabash River wetlands is both inspiring and sad.
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EDITORIAL: Maintaining high standards
Standards
It’s the raging buzzword in education circles these days. Everyone insists that higher standards must be met. Anything less is, doggone it, unacceptable. -
Noteworthy in the news
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EDITORIAL: Crack down on dumpers
There is a reason it’s called “illegal” dumping. It’s against the law. And there is a very good reason illegal dumping is against the law.
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Season of Day 2s arrives
Calendars in Cincinnati contain one extra holiday — Opening Day, traditionally the first Monday in April.
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Congress fails to recognize problem of education costs
Who hasn’t gotten this message yet? The cost of a college degree has become unaffordable for a wide swath of middle-class America.
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EDITORIAL: The cause of public safety: Firefighter group dedicates itself to preventing tragedy
Ensuring that smoke detectors are in working order is one of those periodic chores that’s so simple, yet seemingly so difficult in terms of follow-through.
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