There's No Better Place To Be From Than Dayton, Ohio

[ohio_peasant]

The point here isn't to disparage any individuals - either for their personal choices, or lifestyle circumstances. One can't be blamed for doing what's most sensible, given the boundary-conditions. Neither do I mean that it is impossible to obtain an excellent education at a second-rate school, or that a top school guarantees profound erudition. After all, so much of education is self-directed. Rather, my point is, how do we attract large numbers of students, who have excellent options and an easy path in life, who would have their pickings of top schools, and who don't already live locally? How do we get high-school seniors in NYC to think, "You know, I could go to NYU, or maybe Columbia, or head up the coast to Yale - but there's this great school over in Ohio, called WSU. Yeah, it's the Midwest and all that, and the city's pretty small. But man, who could pass up WSU?" We need these folks to move into the area, hopefully to remain here after graduation, maybe getting their PhDs or starting businesses or whatnot.

Dayton's problem isn't that we have too many meth-addicts or unemployed former machinists. Dayton's problem is that we don't have structural reasons to attract and retain the sort of engineers, physicists, economists, linguists and the like, who would anchor America's great intellectual and commercial centers.

Ann Arbor would be nothing, without the University of Michigan. What is it about the U of Michigan, that makes Ann Arbor a thriving and pleasant place to live? What could WSU do, in attempting to duplicate this success?

[WRnative]

Cleveland State University and Univ. of Akron, similarly to Wright State, offer some great career opportunities and have some exceptional programs. They offer area residents affordable educations even though they may not be ranked as highly in U.S. News & World Report rankings.

There's such a glut of liberal arts professors, these universities have some exceptional faculties for those interested in broadening their minds beyond more technical pursuits, whether in business, engineering, etc.

These state universities have very mature student bodies, often with many working their ways through school, and their graduates are highly valued by local businesses.

[IDtheftV]

Originally Posted by ohio_peasant

What is it about the U of Michigan, that makes Ann Arbor a thriving and pleasant place to live?

No clue. That's why I asked.

Originally Posted by ohio_peasant

What could WSU do, in attempting to duplicate this success?

x2. I wanted to know.

Again, you wrote:

Originally Posted by ohio_peasant

Third would be redefining Wright State, greatly expanding it and making it a true public flagship university, instead of a second-rate commuter-school. Make it comparable to ...

I was asking for something resembling a plan or strategy.

It's sort of like trying to duplicate the ecosystem of Silicon Valley. Even Dayton has an attempt at doing this with Research Park and Tech Town . Pretty much every other city in the US and all over the world has these. The idea is create an area with "science" or "tech" in it and magically, the Silicon Valley vibe will be created.

UD seems to be doing this the hard way and having some success. I have no idea if they have a master plan or are just trying to create a region around the campus that they just happen to like and good things are happening. It doesn't look like they are trying to be like anything in particular.

I bet U Mich didn't try to be anything in particular either.