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Legislation introduced giving ownership of Tech Park to MU

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goherd73

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Marshall University President Jerome A. Gilbert today released this statement regarding legislation that has been introduced in the West Virginia Legislature regarding the West Virginia Regional Technology Park:


“Ownership of the West Virginia Regional Technology Park is an exciting opportunity for our university. Marshall is the home to forward-thinkers and we are eager to partner with the State of West Virginia, other universities and colleges, chambers of commerce and other key stakeholders to create good-paying jobs for West Virginians.

“We, at Marshall, are leading the way to new thinking when it comes to economic development—we need to break down the silos of higher education and start partnering with other institutions on joint degree programs, cutting-edge research and commercialization that all lead to a diversified economy.

“As I have said before, Marshall is stepping to the plate to increase its impact and do our part to aid the redevelopment of our state and help our citizens. Leading the Tech Park is a great step in achieving this. Marshall already has high-tech facilities adjacent to this important asset and has a long-standing track record of collaboration with the region’s stakeholders.

“I also have met with the West Virginia Secretary of Commerce regarding Marshall’s vision for economic growth. In addition, I have invited a world-renowned expert in university-based economic development—a former colleague of mine—to visit West Virginia in May to share his knowledge for advancing job creation through attraction of high-tech industry.

“We thank Senator Bob Plymale for his leadership on this issue. Marshall will always do our part to give back to the state that has given us so much.”
 
Those facilities are pretty old and would require a significant investment to bring them into the 21st Century; an interesting proposition for a school looking at losing between 5-15% of its funding.

Also, the lack of specifics in terms of how Marshall intends to utilize the Tech Park leads me to believe its just a matter of, "Nobody wants that? Grab it and put a block M on it."
 
herdalicious said:
New Those facilities are pretty old and would require a significant investment to bring them into the 21st Century; an interesting proposition for a school looking at losing between 5-15% of its funding.
Click to expand...

Yep, let's sit on our arses do nothing and let more opportunities leave the state rather than poise ourselves for future growth industries.

Apologies but your post is absolutely why WV is 49th out of 50.

My .02 , why not let's try something ? I live in Georgia , I had to leave WV because of people like you who think like you. I'm shocked embaressed and ashamed to have someone who says their a Marshall fan make such a stupid post.

You go President Gilbert! Keep trying to improve the state! Wet Vagina U isn't going to!
 
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Not so sure those facilities are so old or obsolete. That technology park, I believe, consists of the old Union Carbide technology/research park. I believe the state has recently upgraded some/many of those research facilities with the hopes of luring private investment, business, etc., to the area.

Maybe the thinking in some governmental quarters, legislative members, or the governor, etc., is that the overall facility could be better operated under one of the state colleges/universities. MU is already on site, practically, with the South Charleston "branch" and we already have the second largest research component among all state higher ed schools. Just like Governor and some others appear to want all the state's public TV and radio put under the auspices of WVU, perhaps this is a way of cutting overall scope/cost of state government by consolidating some functions/entities under the larger higher ed institutions. Could be a very positive move overall for Marshall in the long run.

Just like the very positive opening just this week of upgraded Marshall Health facilities in Putnam County, this proposed transformation in South Charleston could be a giant step in making MU a larger and stronger regional, comprehensive university and not just "the Huntington school". Good move, Dr. Gilbert!!!
 
TheGreenhouseEffect said:
Yep, let's sit on our arses do nothing and let more opportunities leave the state rather than poise ourselves for future growth industries.

Apologies but your post is absolutely why WV is 49th out of 50.

My .02 , why not let's try something ? I live in Georgia , I had to leave WV because of people like you who think like you. I'm shocked embaressed and ashamed to have someone who says their a Marshall fan make such a stupid post.

You go President Gilbert! Keep trying to improve the state! Wet Vagina U isn't going to!
Click to expand...
If you're going to ream someone for being stupid & embarrassing, it's best not to misspell "embarrassed" and misuse "their". Or you could just be civil.
 
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Listen idiots , the point isn't grammar it's about WV being 49th out of 50th. It's a DIRECT result from the thinking of the people from wet vagina U.

Jesus your state is collapsing , and in reality wet vagina U fans would rather the state collapse with them still being the Fagship U ( yes intentional misspelling) the flagship U of the state of WV.

Idiots listen, you have people trying to help you, your kids, your families by looking outside the box of wet vagina u thinking. Let's let them try, otherwise it's going to be 50 of 50 real soon.

I'll take your comments about spelling under consideration.

Thank you for checking.
 
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TheGreenhouseEffect said:
Listen idiots , the point isn't grammar it's about WV being 49th out of 50th. It's a DIRECT result from the thinking of the people from wet vagina U.

Jesus your state is collapsing , and in reality wet vagina U fans would rather the state collapse with them still being the Fagship U ( yes intentional misspelling) the flagship U of the state of WV.

Idiots listen, you have people trying to help you, your kids, your families by looking outside the box of wet vagina u thinking. Let's let them try, otherwise it's going to be 50 of 50 real soon.

I'll take your comments about spelling under consideration.

Thank you for checking.
Click to expand...

Given Marshall's (or WVU's, the state of WV's, etc. for that matter) track record of implementing new ideas that positively contribute to state economic development how do you think Marshall will "think outside of box" in regards to WVRTP usage and move the state out of "49th" place?
 
A Cousin From Richmond said:
Be careful, you're dealing with the Notre Dame of Herdnation posters.
Click to expand...

Aws2q6D.gif
 
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WV is 49th out of 50 for a lot of reasons. Funding STEM research can help, but it is not a cureall for 90 years of bad decisions. In electing Manchin/Justice WVians have shown that we still are not serious about making the needed changes, and the job creators see that.

As to the place, we have to be careful. It has been modernized, but there are some politicians who think MU's role is to prop up the Huntington economy, and this COULD be an effort to enlarge that into MU propping up the Charleston economy too. The primary role of MU is, and must always be, the education of the youth of WV into useful skills (a task WVU turned its back on decades ago). Whether that student lives out his life in WV or elsewhere. Research, and anything else, must be secondary to that. However, the use of this, and the medical school, to expand MU into a complete engineering school and into a STEM PhD awarding school, seems like a good thing.

Generally in school funding, there are three sides in all things. MU and the state colleges are generally trying to do their jobs and are just asking for the $$ to do it. On the other side is, of course, WVU, which needs to maintain the giant subsidy of out-of-state tuition and has a massive non-teaching non-researching bureaucracy to support. And then, especially in terms of this issue is WV State "U" (sic) which, some 65 years after being desegreated and being, after Bluefield State, the second most white "HBCU", and having an awful academic performance rate (count the entering freshman and the graduates and do the math) is always willing to play the race card to get money it does not need and will not use to good effect. Remember that every day Gilbert wakes up and says "what can MU do for WV today?" and racist Gee says "what can WV do for WVU today". That is the fundamental difference in the two schools.

I hope this place can be made to good effect, but we need to be very careful.
 
My opinion is based on my impression of the interior or some of the buildings - I have had customers in the past who were tenants. True, some of the newer structures in the park are very modern, but others are definitely showing their age - those are not featured in any of their galleries.

I get why Marshall wants it - real estate in Charleston. My issue is that they don't appear to have a clear plan for its use, and with budget cuts likely, investing in expansion while simultaneously raising tuition rates for students seems off to me.

/sits back, waits to be called "idiot"
 
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herdalicious said:
Those facilities are pretty old and would require a significant investment to bring them into the 21st Century; an interesting proposition for a school looking at losing between 5-15% of its funding.

Also, the lack of specifics in terms of how Marshall intends to utilize the Tech Park leads me to believe its just a matter of, "Nobody wants that? Grab it and put a block M on it."
Click to expand...


POSITIVE=====Confident, Certain.....You are amazing herdalicious..."If I gave you one million $$$ you would "bitch" about the dollar amounts ($100, $50, $20...etc).

HerdZilla22
 
herdalicious said:
I get why Marshall wants it - real estate in Charleston.
Click to expand...

The real estate is a part of it, but land is cheap.

Here is the idea. Not saying I buy it 100%, but here is the idea. Public colleges can only make money three ways. State tax money, tuition, and research. The state is broke and whatever money it has is going to WVU to build another baseball field or insure that the sons and daughters of the Jersey shore don't have to dig any deeper in rich daddy's pockets. Tuition is maxed out at MU considering our service area.

That leaves research. Research makes money several ways. Especially STEM research. First many research projects yield useful products and the university (not the professor and not the state) owns the patent. This patent income is steady, certain and can be big $$. LIke 100s of millions at big time schools. MU will never be that, but even a couple of ten millions per year would be grand. Second, research is often funded by "grants" from either Uncle Sucker, particularly his DOD, or private industry. Most places say that 7/8th of the research budget is from governments and companies. That is FREE money. And most of it is either medicine or STEM. Third is having super-smart people in your state, county, or town is good for the town. Would not 100 or 200 more PhD people, drawing good pay and living quiet lives be better than another bus full of Detroit drug dealers?

According to a website I found, MU already gets over $19M per year in research money, of which $11M is from Uncle Sucker. $19M is great, but it puts us in a class with Western Michigan, Tennessee State, Florida Atlantic, and UNC-Greensboro. Boise State gets $31M. Kent State gets $36M. Southern Miss gets $51M. Old Dominion $65M, OU $61M, and, get this. UAB at $516M. ONE IN THREE jobs in metro Birmingham is directly related to either STEM research or healthcare (the people of Alabama wisely built their med school in an actual city). One in three.

MU with another $10M or $15M coming in from the feds. Another 50 or 100 PhD living somewhere along I-64. I'll take that.
 
The projects proposed to be financed through the district include: $55 million for improvements to Jefferson Road, $30 million for an educational complex at the West Virginia Regional Technology Park, $20 million for the Thomas Memorial Hospital Wellness Center, $15 million for an access road to The Shops at Trace Fork shopping center and $13 million for Tech Park site development.
Click to expand...

http://www.wvgazettemail.com/news-b...trict-to-finance-multimillion-dollar-projects

If MU takes ownership, the city of South Charleston does some improvement work, and the school/state/city can find some private investment this could end up being very positive. It would be interesting to find out all the details and as with everything execution of the plan is key, but if this all happens I personally would be cautiously optimistic about it.
 
I guess the bigger question I have in all of this is pretty simple. If this legislation does indeed go through, what's the chances in this possibly making our O-Line block better?
 
From their website....

WVRTP has a rich history of innovation and is home to more than 30,000 patented discoveries, valued at approximately $18 billion.

.
 
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goherd73 said:
New From their website....

WVRTP has a rich history of innovation and is home to more than 30,000 patented discoveries, valued at approximately $18 billion.

.
Click to expand...

SO if the above is true, then, listen idiots, idiots listen, eerbilly moronic ass wipes idiots , listen, the state can't sustain your backwards , us only thinking. I know that's hard to grasp you idiots , but it's reality.

You want to be 50th out of 50, idiots? Oh , wait let me answer, as long as we keep anything Marshall does down it's okay we're happy with 50 . As long as we are number 1 and quelling anything that threatens us we are happy watching the state die around us.

Ok , eerbilly idiots, tell me again why this was a stoopid move for Marshall and the state of W V?

I'm listening idiots!
 
TheGreenhouseEffect said:
SO if the above is true, then, listen idiots, idiots listen, eerbilly moronic ass wipes idiots , listen, the state can't sustain your backwards , us only thinking. I know that's hard to grasp you idiots , but it's reality.

You want to be 50th out of 50, idiots? Oh , wait let me answer, as long as we keep anything Marshall does down it's okay we're happy with 50 . As long as we are number 1 and quelling anything that threatens us we are happy watching the state die around us.

Ok , eerbilly idiots, tell me again why this was a stoopid move for Marshall and the state of W V?

I'm listening idiots!
Click to expand...

Well thought-out, eloquent argument. You've convinced me, let's make West Virginia great again!
 
The Union Carbide Technical Center once employed over 4,000 people. This was in its zenith, as a world wide engineering and R&D facility. When Dow Chemical took over Union Carbide they began to slowly eliminate the thousands of jobs at the Technical Center. Charleston just had to many negitive aspects to continue supporting a facility at that level. They tried to sell the property and all the buildings and labs. Even though there was a setting like a college campus.....with multiple R&D buildings egineering labs and office buildings. No interest from any corporations. None. All the infrastructure in place and they almost gave it away for far less than its value. Still no interest. Finally it was offered to WVU for free. In a 11th hour decision WVU backed out because of all the environmental liability assocaited with that site. The environmental issues go back to the 1950's when It was built. It makes Love Canel look like a federal bird sanctuary. All of the domestic sewage and industrial waste from the Union Carbide and now Dow Chemicals South Charleston site is pumped to a huge settlement pond called Holz impoundment on the property. Talk to people in South Charleston that live down wind from Holz. The State finally took it from Dow Chemical for free. It's a huge white elephant with no potential for job growth. If there was potential for job growth, some corporation would have picked it up for pennies on the dollar. At one time there was a world class facility in South Charleston. That time is gone, with it Charleston and Kanawha county. There are to many negatives in this to area to turn the tide. No one is coming to South Charleston for R&D of any kind...to many other opinions in North America. Worked it and lived it. End of story.
 
Eerbillys, it's time to face the facts, you are the reason WV is 49th out of 50and soon to be 50th of 50, Mississippi is about to leave WV in the dust. In a truly collaborative effort Mississippi has added high tech manufacturing jobs and the state is on a roll. Yet the stupidity of Wet Vagina continues. You disparage anything that threatens your world.ala the purchase of a technology park.

In my lifetime I've seen stupidity but nothing like the eerbillys nation. Idiots, that I've to dip skoal, drink jack and mug expectant mothers.

Truly ignorant asses. What drives you? FEAR of Marshall, every day you wake up, Astro glide your ass for the Big 12 inch bottoms you are , and look up and in a moment of pain say, uuuuuuggghhh yeah but all the B12 money makes us superior to Marshall !!!!

Live the bottom dream eerbillys idiot fagship nation dwellers!!!
 
Aahhhhhhh ohhhhhhh I'm a Big 12 bottom, give it it me again Okie State!!! Ugggghhhhhh.
Pound that bottom! Feels soooo good!!!

Eerbillys you are truly the feces that makes even FAUs new coach look like a genius!
 
God I love bitch slapping ****** Big 12 inch bottom eerbillys that will come to scratch our eyes out on our boards but their asses hurt too much to line up and play football or men's hoops.


Oooohhhhhhh aawwwwwww. Hit that ass again B12!
 
There was a thread on here a while back from the Admins asking what could be done to make Herd Nation better. I didn't offer any suggestions in that thread, but I would like to offer one now: don't allow posters to call other posters "idiots," or spam threads with mindless taunts.
 
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herdalicious said:
There was a thread on here a while back from the Admins asking what could be done to make Herd Nation better. I didn't offer any suggestions in that thread, but I would like to offer one now: don't allow posters to call other posters "idiots," or spam threads with mindless taunts.
Click to expand...
I agree. I would like to also offer up a suggestion that if the poster in question that happens to call other posters "idiots" happens to be a bigger "idiot" than those he is referring to as "idiots", then said poster should be subject to punishment beyond recognition.
 
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WVU cares about WV the same way a tic cares about the dog it is on. To the management in that far off hole, WV exists to fund WVU, and WVU exists to be yet another private school option for the rich northern children that management perfers to actual people from actual WV.

That is why, almost always, anything that is bad for WVU, including losing at sports (which WVU uses to fool people who have no relationship with it into thinking it is "us" ) is good for WV. Which is why we need to approach this tech thing with caution, because if WVU thought there was a $ in it, it would either take it over itself, or insure that no one did. Remember the racist Gee said "my concern is not for the health of people in other parts of WV, but only for the health of the WVU Medical Corporation."
 
Ninegate said:
The Union Carbide Technical Center once employed over 4,000 people. This was in its zenith, as a world wide engineering and R&D facility. When Dow Chemical took over Union Carbide they began to slowly eliminate the thousands of jobs at the Technical Center. Charleston just had to many negitive aspects to continue supporting a facility at that level. They tried to sell the property and all the buildings and labs. Even though there was a setting like a college campus.....with multiple R&D buildings egineering labs and office buildings. No interest from any corporations. None. All the infrastructure in place and they almost gave it away for far less than its value. Still no interest. Finally it was offered to WVU for free. In a 11th hour decision WVU backed out because of all the environmental liability assocaited with that site. The environmental issues go back to the 1950's when It was built. It makes Love Canel look like a federal bird sanctuary. All of the domestic sewage and industrial waste from the Union Carbide and now Dow Chemicals South Charleston site is pumped to a huge settlement pond called Holz impoundment on the property. Talk to people in South Charleston that live down wind from Holz. The State finally took it from Dow Chemical for free. It's a huge white elephant with no potential for job growth. If there was potential for job growth, some corporation would have picked it up for pennies on the dollar. At one time there was a world class facility in South Charleston. That time is gone, with it Charleston and Kanawha county. There are to many negatives in this to area to turn the tide. No one is coming to South Charleston for R&D of any kind...to many other opinions in North America. Worked it and lived it. End of story.
Click to expand...

Ninegate's post is the only one on this thread that resembles a straight forward honest history of the park without the ludicrous and insane babbling of the typical resident Herd Nation posters.

When I lived in Charleston, I lobbied Gov. Manchin hard to accept the Tech Park even though the State really had no plans to use it at the time. It became the home of Bridge Valley Community & Technical College and Toyota sponsored a new building that is used for group meetings.

The old research portion of the park is outdated and in need of millions to refurbish. I agree with Ninegate that it is unlikely to attract private companies to the park for new Research & Development projects.

However, if Dr. Gilbert can raise the money (he's not going to get it from the State of WV), he might be able to begin attracting significant and new research dollars to Marshall and the greater Advantage Valley area. That would be a tremendous boost to the local economy and help raise Marshall's profile in the academic world.

But it's going to be tough. Research and the technical support required of such facilities is very expensive. If Dr. Gilbert is successful, it's going to be a long and arduous process.

Despite it's warts, I think the Tech Park was too valuable to let go. I believed it 10 years ago and I believe it today.
 
jocktalker said:
Ninegate's post is the only one on this thread that resembles a straight forward honest history of the park without the ludicrous and insane babbling of the typical resident Herd Nation posters.

When I lived in Charleston, I lobbied Gov. Manchin hard to accept the Tech Park even though the State really had no plans to use it at the time. It became the home of Bridge Valley Community & Technical College and Toyota sponsored a new building that is used for group meetings.

The old research portion of the park is outdated and in need of millions to refurbish. I agree with Ninegate that it is unlikely to attract private companies to the park for new Research & Development projects.

However, if Dr. Gilbert can raise the money (he's not going to get it from the State of WV), he might be able to begin attracting significant and new research dollars to Marshall and the greater Advantage Valley area. That would be a tremendous boost to the local economy and help raise Marshall's profile in the academic world.

But it's going to be tough. Research and the technical support required of such facilities is very expensive. If Dr. Gilbert is successful, it's going to be a long and arduous process.

Despite it's warts, I think the Tech Park was too valuable to let go. I believed it 10 years ago and I believe it today.
Click to expand...


Toyota Center used for "group meetings". Get informed you're embarrassing yourself.
 
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