Repost from UNCG Now
Article by Mike Harris
Work toward a collaborative downtown campus steadily continues.
Greensboro has seven colleges and universities, 47,000 college students and 6,376 college employees. Of the seven, UNCG is the largest.
Opportunity Greensboro, an initiative of the Greensboro Partnership, has been working on the idea of a campus in downtown Greensboro – a collaborative project that would serve the needs of the educational institutions and the larger community. They’ve seen the success that cities such as Spokane, Wash., have had with such projects. And Greensboro has so much potential for collaboration in this regard.
Ed Kitchen and Ken Mayer gave an update on the initiative at a recent meeting of the UNCG Board of Trustees. A feasibility study will soon wrap up, and a site for a downtown campus will be selected in the next 60 to 90 days.
Chancellor Linda P. Brady, who represents UNCG on Opportunity Greensboro, explained that receiving funding at UNCG for capital projects likely will be a challenge for years to come. Collaboration is a way to help UNCG meets its needs. She cited JSNN, with its much-needed facility, as a great example of collaboration. The downtown campus project would take that type of collaboration to the next level, she explained. Many educational institutions would be involved.
An area of concentration will be healthcare professions. A “big idea” will be state-of-the-art medical education and training, including simulation technologies, Kitchen said.
Additional areas of concentration ultimately would include a global opportunities center and continual/distance learning.
Phase I would involve a 105,000-square-foot facility with four floors.
