Maryland's Salisbury University gets $50 million to fund campus

Daily Record, The (Baltimore), Feb 24, 2006 by DORI BERMAN

While state lawmakers have been bickering over the governor's decision to fund golf course upgrades at the University of Maryland, College Park, Salisbury University President Janet Dudley-Eshbach has been celebrating.Her university, after all, is one of the big winners this year in the competition for capital dollars to fund campus projects, with a nearly $50 million commitment for a new teacher education and technology facility and seed money that will help access a private gift to build a new business school.The governor's decision to fund those projects over others stems from the designation of Salisbury and Towson University as the institutions that will take on much of the coming enrollment growth for the University System of Maryland.As the Eastern Shore university grows, so will its status as a key economic driver for Salisbury and the lower shore.

But administrators and local officials will have to work to ensure the school remains a positive impact on the community, which is already feeling the pressure of the growth spreading throughout Maryland's more rural areas.Formerly an institution focused on teacher education, Salisbury University will celebrate its 80th anniversary this spring. Education remains a popular major for Salisbury students, but the Seidel School of Education currently relies on a 50-year-old building with outdated technology to house the university's education programs.That's why Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. included $49.6 million in his capital budget for a new, 160,000-square-foot Teacher Education and Technology Complex on the campus.With Salisbury's designation as a growth institution by the university system's Board of Regents, Dudley-Eshbach said the state would have to spend money at Salisbury to prepare it for more students. With a current enrollment of about 7,000, Dudley-Eshbach expects to take on an additional 1,000 over the next five years.Right now 1,000 is the best I can do, because I need to get new buildings online, she said.Salisbury and Towson were chosen to take on enrollment growth because they educate full-time students at a cheaper rate than other institutions within the system.They're high-quality, accessible institutions. Considering where the populations would be coming from, the types of programs and the cost of Towson and Salisbury compared to the other institutions, the funding required to mount adequate academic programs is a bit lower at the comprehensive universities than at research institutions such as College Park, said the university system's Chief Operating Officer Joseph Vivona.Dudley-Eshbach said the designation of the two as growth schools was a smart business decision by the Ehrlich administration, but noted more capital projects would require funding to continue enrollment growth.I will aggressively try to get a new library, a new recreational center for the students, a new performing arts center and a new football stadium, she said, in addition to the education and business facilities in the pipeline.Economic impactMeanwhile, as the university grows, so will its economic impact on the region.A recent study conducted by the Business, Economic and Community Outreach Network at Salisbury University, or BEACON, found the university has an annual direct impact of more than $350 million on the city of Salisbury and the region.There is no question that this university, from the economic perspective, is an extraordinary engine for this region, said Salisbury City Council President Michael Dunn, a graduate of the university.With the student body expected to grow to 8,000 within the next five years, Dunn said he hopes university expansion will bring with it more economic growth and work force development.One of the challenges is, if we're going to have 8,000 students here, I wish more of them would stay after they graduate. We have a brain drain, he said. It would be nice if a larger chunk of these folks became our future business leaders and doctors, etcetera.If more people stayed, the economic impact would be greater than $350 million annually, he said.According to the BEACON study, about one third of the university's 30,000 alumni live on the Eastern Shore, mostly in the Salisbury area.Only about 35 percent of Salisbury students are from the Eastern Shore, with more and more students coming from Maryland's metro areas, according to the study.Salisbury University is no longer the shore's university. It just happens to be on the shore, said Memo Diriker, director of BEACON. That doesn't mean we don't want to retain more alumni for work force development purposes.But David Ryan, executive director of Salisbury-Wicomico Economic Development Inc., said he believes the university's growth will indeed contribute to economic growth and diversity, and help stabilize our local economy.The university has made some critical connections with the community, such as an intensive internship program with local businesses that is a graduation requirement for business students.BEACON has also established several initiatives to help the community and its businesses prepare for the influx of residents to the shore. GrayShore, for example, aims to help address the specific demands of the growing population of seniors on the Eastern Shore, brought on by the increasing numbers of retirees purchasing homes in the region.The influx of retirees brings specialized economic needs to the region, especially in the health care professions and housing.They make a good population of friends that do business with us, take classes and seek life enrichment Diriker said.While the university now makes a concerted effort to address the needs of the community, there has been some tension in the past between students and Salisbury residents.As university-sponsored housing lagged behind enrollment in the past, Dunn said the housing gap caused some problems in the community. The university eventually pulled through, however, with a public-private partnership for student housing that sparked even more residential development for students.The Town- Gown Council, created several years ago to open lines of communication between the two groups, will act as the moderator between the two as the university's population continues to grow.It is really helping, said Dunn, who sits on the committee. Salisbury was always a town that had a college in it. It wasn't ever really a college town because it was so small. So we're trying, and I'd love to get there, to make this a university town, so that everybody can embrace what the university means to this city.Dunn said he believes university officials now try to remain flexible in accommodating the community. He recalled a request by the university to create a cut through from the new education building to a street that borders the campus in order to create parking for staff.They came to us and we said no. It was a point of contention, but ultimately they understand that they have a responsibility here and want to be good neighbors, he said.And while the region has experienced tension recently due to growth unrelated to the university, Dunn said he does not believe the planned growth for Salisbury University will add to the city and county's growth challenges.Things are so saturated around the core of the university, I don't think 1,200 students over the next decade are going to be the proverbial straw that breaks the camel's back, he said.