With Fort Bragg expecting to grow by tens of thousands soon, N.C. State University is helping to prepare the workforce of the future.

The anticipated mission growth at Fort Bragg and in the surrounding region projects an additional 40,000 new residents and as many as 20,000 new job opportunities. Such rapid growth will challenge the communities in this 11-county, 73-municipality region, but it also presents clear opportunities for a transformation of the regional economy.

In a spirit of engagement, N.C. State’s Office of Extension, Engagement, and Economic Development met with the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) Task Force and jointly decided to form the NCSU/ BRAC Task Force. The goal was to help connect higher education resources to various BRAC constituencies and to promote strategic partnerships. Co-chaired by Alice Warren, Director of the McKimmon Center for Extension & Continuing Education, and Tom White, Director of N.C. State’s Economic Development Partnership, this task force conducts bi-monthly meetings that feature presentations by organizational and institutional partners to identify programs and projects of mutual interest.

The N.C. State Kenan Fellows Program is one example. The program offers competitive two-year fellowships to K-12 public school teachers teaching science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). The Economic Development Partnership connected Dr. Jane Smith of the BRAC Regional Task Force (RTF) with Dr. Valerie Brown-Schild and Dr. Susan Parry of the Kenan Fellows Program, who combined their talents and worked through the NCSU/BRAC Task Force to secure a $1.5 million National Science Foundation Noyce II grant to underwrite the cost of 18 Kenan Fellows in the BRAC Region.

With 12 Fellows already recruited and on board, Jennifer Annetta, Kenan Fellow Regional Coordinator, emphasized that the Kenan Fellows learn STEM concepts and delivery by hands-on experiences in the laboratory. Fellows connect with mentors from academia, business and government, enabling them to create relevant curricula for teachers to take back to their classrooms, while creating a network for teachers to share feedback and best practices with one another.

Kenan’s Brown-Schild sees the program as “a fabulous opportunity to build effective collaborative partnerships between education and business that will serve as a strong foundation for vibrant economic development in the years ahead.”

Smith of the BRAC RTF shares Brown-Schild’s enthusiasm with the synergy that has been created. “As teacher leaders, these Fellows will influence the practice of STEM teaching with the infusion of locally grown research and industry connections. Building knowledge and awareness of STEM in the region will create a pathway to future careers and open doors of opportunity,” said Smith.

Brigadier General (Ret.) Paul Dordal, former Executive Director of the BRAC RTF, is highly complementary of the impact that the higher education/defense military partnership has yielded as a result of the NCSU/BRAC Task Force efforts: “N.C. State is fully engaged and highly energized by the multiplicity of exciting opportunities that BRAC brings to our region.”

General Dordal, who now heads the Public Private Partners for Innovation (P3I) organization in Fayetteville, has on numerous occasions cited the symbiotic relationship that has been forged with N.C. State as a partner on economic transformation projects and programs.

 

The BRAC Task Force has also interacted extensively with the N.C. Defense Business Association (NCDBA) and its Executive Director Joy Thrash. The partnership has enabled identification of key partners at both the state and regional level to promote the region as fertile ground for military, defense and homeland security, as well as new and expanding industry investment and job creation.

“North Carolina is third in the nation in terms of military presence, but we are 26th in the rankings for Department of Defense (DOD) dollars coming to North Carolina,” Thrash said. Her trade organization, consisting of about 250 contractors, businesses, municipalities and chambers of commerce, wants to increase the number of North Carolina businesses getting defense contracts in the BRAC region.

That’s where N.C. State is adding value and creating mutually beneficial partnerships. The Economic Development Partnership program is matching potential contractors with university programs that could help them produce winning bids.

“We value collaboration at N.C. State,” White said. “We have the Industrial Extension Service, N.C. Cooperative Extension Service, and the Biomanufacturing Training and Education Center. We want to work in tandem with the BRAC communities to achieve mutually beneficial goals and objectives.”

Thrash is impressed with N.C. State’s efforts so far. “Based on what I’ve seen,” she said, “N.C. State is doing a great job in trying to get the word out.”

Fayetteville State University, the N.C. Military Foundation, the N.C. Military Business Center, the Fayetteville Chamber of Commerce, the N.C. Southeast Commission and Fayetteville Technical Community College are a few of the many partners who have collaborated in making presentations and are continuing to find collaborative initiatives that benefit the people who live and work in the BRAC Task Force area.