By KEVIN WALKER
Michigan Correspondent

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Michigan State University has just been named the new host of the North Central Regional Center for Rural Development for the next five years, and as part of the award, MSU has been awarded about $2 million to administer the program.
This is the first time the location of the center has changed since its inception in 1972, according to Frank Fear, senior associate dean of the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources at MSU. He said the center has always been at Iowa State University, which he described as an extremely well run university with an excellent agriculture and rural development program.

Recently the board of directors for the USDA program decided there should be a competition to see who might run it in the future. There were three applicants. One was Iowa State University, another MSU and the third, an unknown university.

Fear said those who administer the program kept the applicants’ identities a secret and the only reason he knows Iowa State was an applicant is because he went to school there and had a little inside information.

“MSU’s proposal was very strong, and was interpreted by the board of directors as the best,” Fear said. “We’re very excited about this. We look forward to working with Iowa State, too.”

The idea behind the centers, of which there are four in different regions, is to coordinate and focus activities of land grant universities and extension programs. These include agriculture, natural resources and rural development.

“I would be shocked not to see a focus on rural revitalization,” Fear said. “A significant focus will be on economic rural development. This program historically has been focused on rural development.” Issues such as health care, the elderly and rural poverty will be a part of that focus.

Budget problems within the state may make administering the center more difficult, however, if Gov. Jennifer Granholm’s proposed cuts to MSU and its partner programs become law.

“If that takes place, it would have a devastating impact on Michigan State’s activity,” Fear said. “Her budget really targets ag and extension. We’re fighting it, obviously.”

He said Granholm is looking at cutting $32 million from the Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station and related programs, in addition to the 3 percent cut she is proposing for MSU across the board.

He stated that a lot more money will be lost for the state if the cuts go through, because for every dollar cut several more dollars will be lost in matching funds from the federal government and other sources. He said the total amount lost would be around $90 million.