The Flagship has energized Anderson University and the community
By Heather Lowhorn
The Flagship Enterprise Center (FEC), the Anderson University Flagship Center (AUFC), and the Professional Development Center (PDC), are three connecting buildings that sit gleaming next to interstate 69 at exit 22, the artery into downtown Anderson. If there were one word to describe the Flagship complex, it would have to be energy. The buildings practically pulse with energy.
The energy can be felt as 60,000 cars stream past daily. It can be felt as trucks drive by on the way to the recently opened Nestlé plant nearby. It can be felt in the broad array of happenings at the Flagship.
On a typical day, many atypical things happen there. In the FEC, a business incubator, men and women pour themselves into their fledgling companies and receive business support services. In the PDC, caterers bustle in the kitchen preparing for a business luncheon while members of local organizations video conference with associates thousands of miles away. In smaller salons upstairs, employees of a local business sit in on a training session to keep their skills up to date. In the AUFC, students in AU’s new residential MBA program are taking a class. Students in the School of Adult Learning grab a cup of coffee at the café and research assignments on their laptops using wireless Internet. The next day, who knows? Possibly a hiring fair for a new company that is moving into the area? Maybe a trade show or chamber of commerce dinner? Maybe the next billion-dollar business idea? At the Flagship, possibilities are truly limitless.
And that optimism, that expectation of success, is a ray of sunshine in a local economy that has seen its fair share of cloudy days.
For decades, the city of Anderson was a General Motors town. Most families had at least one member who worked at one of GM’s plants. Even if no one in your own family worked there, you still knew many friends who did. Cheryl Shank BS ’01, director of conference and performance events at AU, described the way of thinking of many who lived in Madison County during the golden years of the auto maker: “Get your diploma; go to work at Delco Remy; you’ll be taken care of the rest of your life. That was the mindset.” For many years General Motors jobs provided security and prosperity for the people of Anderson.
Then in the late 1970s and early 1980s, General Motors experienced layoffs and cutbacks. In 1980, Anderson was famous for having the highest unemployment rate in the nation. The city was making headlines in the Wall Street Journal and being featured on the nightly news, but not in a positive way. The city lost one-seventh of its population as people left in search of work. “When General Motors sneezed, [Anderson] caught pneumonia,” says Charles Staley, president and CEO of the Flagship Enterprise Center and special assistant to AU President James Edwards BA ’65, MDiv ’70. “It was a difficult time.”
Bringing the intellectual capital of Anderson University to bear on the economy of the city of Anderson is an idea Staley has been focusing on since the late ’70s. Before coming to work for AU in 1980, Staley worked at GM-owned Delco Remy. “You looked to GM to lead the economic side of the community,” says Staley. “You looked to the university to lead in the fine arts.”
As it became clear that General Motors was leaving Anderson, Staley became more convinced that the university would have to help fill the gap. He chaired the blue-ribbon committee that negotiated an exit strategy with General Motors and saw how the local economy was changing. “Over that period of time, not only was there the divestiture of General Motors, but what was local changed,” says Staley. “The Wal-marts, the big corporations [came in]; the small, local-owned organizations weren’t here. The banks merged. They moved out of state. What was local was up for grabs. I came to believe what truly was local was Anderson University. I said Anderson University has to step up and take a role in helping Anderson to revision, rethink, rebuild.”
Staley was not alone in his thinking. He found other leaders who believed the same thing. President Edwards has been on board in coming alongside the city, offering the resources of Anderson University. In Decker Hall, outside of the office of the president, stands a sculpture titled Servant Leadership. The sculpture portrays Jesus washing the feet of one of his disciples. The example that Jesus set of leading through service is at the heart of the university’s core beliefs. It is what the faculty and staff strive to model and to instill in the students who come to AU. And it is servant leadership that the university is offering to the community through the Flagship.
The city and the university partnered in building the Flagship Enterprise Center. The business incubator has enjoyed enormous success and has served more than 40 clients. In 2003, the state recognized the Flagship Technology Park, which houses the Flagship complex, as the state’s second Certified Technology Park. According to the university’s Web site, the Certified Technology Park program seeks to attract high-technology businesses and encourage them to locate within areas identified by local redevelopment commissions. A part of the tax revenues generated by the tenants are reinvested into the park and used for “improvements, operation and maintenance of facilities, payment of interest and principal on bonds, and other business-generating activities.”
“The investment the university has made at the Flagship Center is indicative of our commitment both to this region and to our future students,” says Edwards. “There is little in education to compare to the bold step represented by this very dynamic partnership with community, business, and the university. All we know about the results of such collaborations should bring great hope to all the leadership of this area.”
It took the city of Anderson more than a decade to recover from the economic setback of losing General Motors, but the city has turned it around. The Indiana Chamber of Commerce named Anderson the 2007 Community of the Year, writing in the November/December 2007 issue of BizVoice, “A new form of innovation and aggressive diversification efforts … have Anderson in the positive glow of the spotlight once again.” And they called the Flagship Enterprise Center “the hub of much of that new innovation.”
Describing the Flagship complex can be, well, complicated. The Flagship Enterprise Center is a business incubator that has helped more than 40 fledgling companies grow and thrive by offering support services and technologically innovative conference centers. Next door is the Anderson University Flagship Center, the educational portion of the complex. Between and connecting the two buildings is the Professional Development Center (PDC), a dynamic facility with state-of-the-art conference capabilities that are available to the FEC, the AUFC, and the business community at large. Nearby is the Flagship Business Accelerator, the next step for growing companies that have graduated from the incubator. Apart from the Flagship complex, the university and the city have also partnered on the Anderson Business Incubator in downtown Anderson.
“We have an incredibly flexible, well-located building that has tremendous potential for this university to reach beyond the borders of our campus,” says Sena K. Landey BS ’75 MBA ’05, vice president of finance and treasurer. Landey’s involvement with the AUFC began at the earliest stages. Landey worked with a committee called the Exit 22 Strategy Team in developing an idea of what AU’s presence there would mean. Carl Caldwell, vice president for academic affairs; Terry Truitt, dean of the Falls School of Business; Mike Collette, vice president for enrollment management and information systems; and Staley were part of the team. While fulfilling her MBA requirements, Landey researched and wrote a paper on what the exit 22/I-69 location would mean to AU. She found the location to be a terrific match for AU’s educational goals.
“If you picture people from the north side of Indianapolis traveling into Anderson University versus [stopping] at that exit, it’s just a seven mile difference, but there’s a huge mental barrier to driving into Anderson,” says Landey. “And with the Flagship Enterprise Center located there and its early success in attracting new businesses, it seemed to make sense to look at locating an education center there that would incorporate a connection to the Flagship Enterprise Center for our students.” She presented her paper to President Edwards and the Exit 22 Strategy Team presented their ideas. “He took the next step, did some costing on it, and took it before the trustees,” she says. “I am not aware of an idea that had that kind of excitement and energy behind it as the idea of an AU presence at that site. There is an understanding of what the Indianapolis factor and Fishers’ energy brings to that side of Anderson.”
At the AU Flagship Center, the School of Adult Learning oversees both credit courses and the Professional Development Center. As Landey predicted, the convenience of the location off of I-69 has drawn students. “It’s nice to have another venue where folks who work up and down the I-69 corridor are able to take classes,” says Aleza Beverly BA ’83, dean of the School of Adult Learning. While adult students may still take classes on the traditional AU campus, the SOAL offers three programs at the AUFC: a bachelor’s degree in organizational leadership, an associate’s degree in management foundations, and a certified manager’s program. Adult students have found the location makes working toward a degree that much easier, especially for adults who live and work on the north side of Indianapolis or along the I-69 corridor.
As the workday winds down, the classes in the AUFC fill up. Students grab a bite to eat at the café or work on their homework using the building-wide wireless Internet access. “It’s very convenient,” says Beverly. “It’s well thought-out to meet the needs of the students.” As the SOAL celebrates its 20th anniversary, the Flagship location increases the SOAL’s ability to meet adult students where they live. “We want to be accessible, and the Flagship helps us to be accessible and meet their needs,” she says. “It’s all about meeting the needs of students.”
Many adult students also find the business-like environment to be less intimidating. Some adults who want to earn a degree can find a campus filled with young, technologically savvy full-time students frightening. But a building that reminds them of their own office seems a little friendlier. “When an adult [who hasn’t been in school for a number of years] comes into the building and looks around and says, ‘You know, I think maybe I could go back to school in a place like this,’ it brings tears to my eyes,” says Landey. “That’s exactly what we wanted. … They come into this space and look around, and it looks like an office building. It’s kind of like where they work. And they say, ‘Maybe I could go back to school. It doesn’t look all that scary.’ That was my favorite surprise.”
Besides offering for-credit classes toward degrees, the SOAL also offers professional development services for organizations in central and east central Indiana. Kerrie Aborn MBA ’07 is the director of professional development services. “We can help companies streamline their training process so that they’re not just throwing dollars and [manpower] at training,” says Aborn. Professional development services can design specific training programs for organizations and track their employee’s progress with transcripts. These services can help large companies with the volume of training that they need and can also help smaller companies who don’t want to be burdened with having to design their own corporate training.
There is a certified job profiler and curriculum specialist on site who specializes in putting together corporate training programs for businesses and organizations. She can also help individuals work toward a position within their company with job profiling. “People can be assessed to find out what their current skill level is,” says Aborn. “Then they can match it and see where the gaps are for the job that they want.”
Aborn says the highly visible location of the AUFC is an advantage for students and businesses. “We have people stopping in here daily,” says Aborn. “[They say,] ‘I was driving by and I saw this building. I’m interested in taking classes. I want to know what you offer.’”
The Professional Development Center is an 8,000-square-foot conference center that is available to the AU community and to the business community at large. The range of possible uses is vast. A 159-seat auditorium offers a professional setting for meetings. The circular design and stadium seating allows all the attendees to have a direct line of sight to the speaker. “Every station has a button in front of it so the person sitting here can touch a button and their voice can be heard on the speaker,” says Aborn. “We have complete video conferencing technology here so they can talk to anyone anywhere in the world who has video conferencing equipment.”
The auditorium also offers light and sound production capabilities, LCD data projection on two large screens, wireless Internet connectivity, and TV/DVD/VCR access. Businesses using the auditorium also enjoy technical support so that their presentations run smoothly and professionally.
More intimate conference rooms are available on the second floor for breakout sessions or smaller meetings. “The type of facility that we have, it’s really not met by any other facility in the area, I would say the state,” says Shank. “I know in our region there is no other facility like it with regard to the technology present there.”
The PDC also has a full commercial kitchen and offers professional catering for awards banquets or business luncheons in the spacious banquet area. From continental breakfasts to filet mignon dinners, organizations have the flexibility to choose the atmosphere and cost of their meals. “We can do anything anyone would want,” explains Aborn.
The flexibility of the PDC is a draw for businesses in the area. It can be used for job fairs, trade shows, corporate meetings, banquets, seminars, even social functions such as wedding receptions. “There is just little that can be asked for here that can’t be accomplished,” says Shank. Corporate neighbors are the people at the Flagship business park such as Nestlé and Affiliated Computer Services. They are among the businesses taking advantage of what the PDC has to offer.
For more than 22 years, Purdue University has offered classes on the AU campus. Tucked away on the edge of campus, though, their presence was not highly visible. Sitting on the edge of I-69 with the name Purdue University on the side of the building, visibility is no longer a problem.
Jody Pierce MBA ’94, assistant director of Purdue University college of technology in Anderson used to find that lots of people didn’t know that Purdue offered classes at AU. When she told people she worked at Purdue, they would assume she drove to West Lafayette. “Now when I say I work at Purdue, they say, ‘Oh, that new building out on the interstate,’” says Pierce.
“Our partnership with Anderson University has just skyrocketed,” says Pierce. “We always got along with AU, but since we’ve come out here … we’re right with the AU people. We work with them every day.”
AU provides the general education courses to students earning technical degrees through Purdue at the Flagship. “AU is the liberal arts side, and Purdue is the technical side,” says Pierce. “It’s a super marriage.”
The new location has also opened up new possible collaborations between Purdue and AU and the community. “I think because of the visibility, there are a whole lot of things we can do for the community besides teach classes,” say Pierce. She says that when Nestle needed an expert to assist with their milk pasteurization at the new plant, they were in position to provide a link to the experts on the main Purdue campus.
Purdue and the Falls School of Business are also discussing how Purdue could offer technical minors to AU business students. “It is so great having Purdue here. They really round out what Anderson University has to offer,” says Aborn. Pierce agrees, “There are all kinds of things that we’re working to do together, and the city and the county can profit from that.”
Even before the AUFC was built, AU’s Falls School of Business already had an impressive reputation as an elite business school. But with the new residential MBA program at the Flagship, “innovative” and “groundbreaking” can be added to the list of descriptors.
The third floor of the AUFC contains 19 apartments for students enrolled in the 11-month RMBA program. Designed for students who have just finished work on their bachelor’s degree, the students in the RMBA program are completely immersed in the program, working in the business community on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays and taking classes at the Flagship on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
The unique and intensive program is exactly what Terry Truitt, dean of the FSB, had in mind. “We wanted a chance to develop a community that involves education, work, and lifestyle,” says Truitt. “We’re developing a lot of things that would be wonderful separated but together add so much more. It really has a multiplying effect.”
The students in the program begin and end the program together, working through the requirements as a group. This is described as a cohort-based program. Truitt has found the cohort element enhances the students’ experience. “The thing we find helpful in this is that students have a sense of community,” says Truitt. “They face challenges together, they overcome obstacles together, and there is a bond there, even when there is conflict.”
The students will also take an international trip together. The first class is traveling to Europe in the spring. “The idea is to expose them to different cultural environments,” says Truitt. All of the aspects combined offer graduates an amazing education.
“They’ll be one year removed from graduating as undergraduates and they’ll have a year’s work experience, an MBA, and have traveled internationally,” says Truitt. “That’s pretty good.”
Along with the RMBA program and the business opportunities such as the incubator and events at the PDC for students to learn from and be exposed to, there are plans for a center for entrepreneurship at the Flagship. Truitt sees all these exciting things combining to offer incredible opportunities for both AU and east central Indiana business. “The Flagship has made a direct impact,” says Truitt. “With the incubator, with the Professional Development Center, with the residential MBA program and the center for entrepreneurship, our hope is this will be a magnet for those who want to start a business. We want to be the place people look to, for this to be the think tank, for this to be the source of information for those who want to start a business.”
With the addition of the Flagship, Anderson University continues to grow and innovate, but it remains true to its mission of Christian education. Landey says that even though the campus is changing technologically and branching out geographically, the spirit of the AU community remains the same. “I can’t think of a better place to send a student,” she says.
Edwards agrees. “We hear most often about the quality of teaching, the commitment of faculty to their students’ success, the mix of the students we attract who have the character and values that are consistent with the Christian mission of the university. But most of all, we hear about this openness to discovery that is both academically rigorous and values grounded. Few institutions have this combination that comes right out of the heart of the faculty and is sustained by the sense of mission pursued by those who teach and serve at AU.”
