| academic credentials, Taylor also brings his experience as a small business publishing entrepreneur and his experience helping the Urban League of Greater Madison develop its plans for a new building to be located in South Madison. Taylor has seen how small enterprises and disenfranchised people are often crowded out of the resources that are readily made available to the large players in the game. And as a native of Milwaukee, Taylor has seen how areas -- and people -- get pushed to the backwaters of the economy where they languish indefinitely. "One new program that I want to bring to the table is a degree in rural and urban economic development," Taylor said during an interview with The Capital City Hues in his office below the Oscar Rennebohm Library. "I want to bring students to campus; give them the skill set they need; go back into rural and urban areas; and help transform those communities. Typically, business schools, unfortunately, have served the interest of larger corporations. I want us to really serve the needs of the community. I want to see what we can do to close some of these economic gaps, the wealth gap and all of these gaps that we talk about." While the economic woes of Milwaukee's inner city are well documented and often discussed in the media, Taylor sees some rural trends that may also affect Wisconsin's well-being in the future. "The rural areas are suffering just as much," Taylor said. "They have their own set of problems in terms of economic development as inner cities. What you don't hear too much about is rural flight. You have a lot of kids who when they graduate from these rural areas they leave. So now, you no longer have a labor force. That segment of the economy declines." "Another phenomenon that is happening is that now you have a number of people of color who are moving to these rural areas, especially the Latino and Hmong populations," Taylor observed. "So you have a number of dynamics going on. You have the White population aging and you have the younger White population moving out. You have a younger, more minority population moving in. So you have tremendous types of opportunities and synergies that could be developed if you have the right people at the table who take a long-range view of things and ask how the people can work together to develop these areas and attract more people so that we don't have ghost towns ten years down the road in Wisconsin." Taylor sees a lot of potential in a business program like this. While many people look upon economically depressed areas as filled with problem people and insurmountable problems, Taylor sees a land of opportunity. "We don't see all of the gifts and talents that are there," Taylor emphasized about these areas. "If someone can come in and bring all of that together, you'd be surprised what happens. We know that there are people in those communities who can paint and can be carpenters and all kinds of things. If you can bring those talents and resources together, then you can begin to transform a block at a time or a neighborhood at a time or a family at a time. That's what I'm trying to do. Those people who want to go into the traditional, corporate line of business will still have an opportunity to do it here. We still have the traditional program. But now, we're bringing more balance. We're saying that if that's really not your focus -- the larger corporate world -- and you want to do something that is in line with your values and your beliefs and Edgewood's mission, this may be an alternative for you to consider." While traditional MBA programs prepare their students to become the stewards of corporate America, Taylor sees this initiative as preparing students to become the stewards of economic development, almost in a consultant w about development. They will know things that they normally may not get in business schools. So when they go back into their communities, be they rural or urban areas, they will know how to tackle the problem and they will have looked at some best practices from around the country. They will have looked at the kind of barriers they need to address. They will look at the government structure and the people they need to sit down with, development people and all of those kinds of folks, so that they can bring them to the table and say "Let's take a block at a time of this urban area or let's take this piece of land and what can we do to not only preserve the environment, but also make a living off of it." "This program will be like a clearinghouse so that people can take a course and now begin to find out whether there are resources where they are at," Taylor continued. "And they can look at what Magic Johnson did in Los Angeles. And then look at what they have done in Baltimore and other places. So we'll take a look at the best practices and say 'That probably won't work in Milwaukee or that might work. Or that probably won't work in rural Wisconsin or it might work.' Now we have some models and some legislation and some resources on the state and federal levels that we have all identified. By the time the students finish their degrees, they could almost be like consultants. They can go into the mayor's office and say 'Here's something that we can try based on the degree that I've earned from Edgewood College. It might work in your community.' That's the goal." So far, Taylor has not come across any other business school program like this in the country. For the next year, he will be determining if the program is feasible, and if it is, he will begin to put the foundation of the program in place utilizing the expertise of the current business school faculty and an advisory committee he has established. He hopes to begin to offer the degree no later than January 2009. "I think this program will be unique and innovative," Taylor said. "When I see all of the challenges that exist in the inner cities and rural areas, I don't really see a business program that's addressing the challenges in a way that the community needs to have them addressed. I'm hoping that this program will be one where the community can see that there is finally a program that is coming at this from an angle that makes sense to them. We want to be a part of that." And that is good news for rural and urban Wisconsin. |
| Dean Charles Taylor of Edgewood College's Business School Community businesses By Jonathan Gramling |
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| It was an opportunity too good to pass up. Dr. Charles Taylor had a good thing going at Herzing College as its dean of student affairs. Taylor was helping Herzing increase the diversity of its student body. But last spring, Taylor was approached by some Edgewood College faculty to see if he was interested in competing for the dean position at Edgewood's business school. It was an opportunity for Taylor to pursue some long-standing interest in business development and he jumped at the chance. Taylor brings a unique perspective to the dean position at the business school. Outside of his |