Report shows OSU's economic impact

Ohio State plays a remarkable role in the economic health and well-being of Ohio, according to a newly released report by the Inter-University Council of Ohio. The report shows that Ohio State pays economic dividends to Ohio far beyond the state's investment.

During fiscal year 1999, state subsidies and appropriations accounted for 22 percent of the $1.8 billion in University resources, so that for each $1 the state invested, Ohio State generated an additional $3.55 of its current funds revenue from other sources.

Ohio State captured more than $325 million in public- and private-sector research grants and contracts during 1999, much of which came from out of state. With these dollars, the University generated new economic opportunities for Ohio by creating new ideas, innovative technologies and products.

Some highlights for fiscal year 1999 include:

• The state's instructional subsidy supports one-half of Ohio State's day-to-day instruction costs such as salaries, utilities, libraries and student support services.

• The University received $165.4 million in federal support in fiscal year 1999, (down from the 1994 level of $174 million), or 9 percent of its current funds revenues. The primary means of attracting these federal dollars is Ohio State's extensive research capabilities.

• One hundred inventions were disclosed by OSU's Office of Research in 1999, yielding $1.6 million in royalty income. Increasingly, these discoveries are being used to spur the growth of technology-based businesses in Ohio.

• In fiscal year 1999, Ohio State operated a $1.8 billion enterprise with state funds of only $472 million.

• Ohio State directly employed 18,636 Ohioans in all 88 Ohio counties.

• More than 3.4 million OSU visitors spent an estimated $129 million in the local economy in 1999, not including expenditures made to the University.

• Salaries, wages and benefits accounted for 54.1 percent, or $932 million, of the University's spending.

• Ohio State employees paid $24.7 million in state income taxes. Employees also paid $16.2 million in local taxes and $102 million in federal income taxes and Medicare contributions.

• Ohio State purchased $309 million worth of goods and services from 21,537 Ohio vendors.

• Ohio is home to 192,335 Ohio State alumni. Nationwide, a college graduate earns about $22,672 more per year than a high school graduate, or approximately $905,080 more over a lifetime (source: U.S. Census Bureau). Given this increased earning power, Ohio State graduates living in Ohio each year add millions to Ohio's economy.

• Students spent an estimated $392 million for housing, food, transportation, books, clothing and other living expenses.
• Every dollar spent by Ohio State's 7,980 out-of-state students -- for tuition and fees, clothing, housing, food, transportation and entertainment -- represents an expansion of Ohio's economy.

• The University Medical Center delivers advanced health care and trains health care professionals, most of whom stay within the state of Ohio.

• Through a variety of volunteer and outreach programs, Ohio State students, faculty and staff touch the lives of thousands.

Regional centers boosting economies with training

Training centers operating out of regional campuses at Mansfield and Marion are boosting local economies by serving as the bridge between education and industry.

Eileen Smith, director of the Center for Corporate and Community Education at Mansfield and the George H. Alber Enterprise Center at Marion, said the demand for training has been overwhelming.

"We're offering training and services that will develop the local work force, making them more competitive, which makes companies more profitable, which helps develop the economy of the region,"Smith said.

The centers have developed partnerships with Ohio State Extension, the Fisher College of Business Executive Education Program, area joint vocational schools, and Enterprise Ohio Network, a program supported by the Ohio Board of Regents that deals with work force development.

Funding comes from the regional campus, Ohio State Extension, money received from companies for training, and grants from the Ohio Board of Regents, Smith said.

One such grant, the Targeted Industries Grant, allowed the center at Mansfield to offer $250,000 worth of training to 13 local companies last year, Smith said. Grant money pays 75 percent of training costs, while the company pays the remaining 25 percent, she said. Another $212,000 in grant money went to the Marion center for training.

Smith said that the two regional campuses were among only 11 two-year campuses recommended to receive grant money from the Board of Regents this year for noncredit training appropriation funding.

Grant money from the Board of Regents also will help pay for renovation of two classrooms at Mansfield for training and office space, and the purchase of laptop computers and software, Smith said.

The center at Marion was created five years ago, while the center at Mansfield is two years old. Smith said she originally became involved with the Mansfield center as a consultant, but became director one year ago.

Shortly after being named director, Smith hired Rhonda Stannard -- fresh off an overseas stint with the Peace Corps -- as program manager. Stannard does a lot of leg work marketing the program to a multicounty area, fitting in as many business and industry contacts and chamber of commerce meetings as her schedule allows.

"The key has been making our huge university personal,"Stannard said.

Training is often done on-site, and is customized to teach everything from technical training to management skills. Particularly in demand has been training designed for employees who have worked their way up the ranks to management level, without formal education or training.

"We don't use college textbooks for this,"Stannard said. "We design a customized curriculum."Curriculum may incorporate many things, such as company policy, performance reviews, handling difficult people, problem solving techniques, stress management and communication. "It's helping people to get the skills they need to change the way they manage,"Stannard said.

Although the centers offer a wide variety of training, they have no trainers on staff. Instead, they opt for contracting, either with Ohio State faculty or staff, or with independent trainers. That way they can offer the best candidate for the job, not the best trainer on staff, Smith said.

Shahrukh Irani, assistant professor of industrial and systems engineering, will be teaching lean manufacturing seminars through the centers. He said connecting with the center is part of a surge in outreach within the College of Engineering intended to capitalize on the huge manufacturing base in Ohio by forming partnerships with manufacturing and helping top-notch industrial engineering graduates to land internships and jobs at local companies.

Irani said that the center could help give Ohio State a strong industrial outreach presence such as the University of Dayton's Center for Competitive Change, Purdue University's Technical Assistance Program, or the University of Michigan's Tauber Manufacturing Institute. He has toured several small to mid-sized companies in the Mansfield area already, assessing their efficiency and promoting the virtues of lean manufacturing.

"These seminars I teach will just give them a whiff of what could be achieved if they had a long-term industrial engineering presence on their engineering staff,"Irani said. "This could be in the form of a co-op, summer intern or part-time hire; my strong recommendation to them is to hire at least one industrial engineer full-time."

As for the future of the centers, Stannard said they would continue to develop additional training programs to meet an overwhelming response. "Ohio State is the premier educational institution in the state,"Stannard said. "We want our center to reflect that."

Also, a satellite of the Marion campus that will open in Delaware in September will include a presence of the Alber Enterprise Center, Smith said.

Center staff also would like to see Ohio State develop a corner in the corporate training market. "We don't want anybody to say they brought the University of Michigan in to conduct training,"Smith said. "Let's have Ohio State. We're right here."

Those interested in leading training in conjunction with the Mansfield, Marion or Delaware centers may contact Eileen Smith at (419) 755-4383 or smith.1394@osu.edu.

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