Center bridge to myriad benefits

WELL-OILED MACHINE: Professor Bahram Nassersharrif, pointing, shows off URI's Wales Hall machine shop to Amtrol employees, from left: Vice President Chris Van Haaren, graphic designer Lisa Lamothe and Associated Product Manager Peter Silverman. / PBN PHOTO/RUPERT WHITELEY
WELL-OILED MACHINE: Professor Bahram Nassersharrif, pointing, shows off URI's Wales Hall machine shop to Amtrol employees, from left: Vice President Chris Van Haaren, graphic designer Lisa Lamothe and Associated Product Manager Peter Silverman. / PBN PHOTO/RUPERT WHITELEY

The concept of a college-based center to engage with business seems like a simple one.

Companies, as they cycle through various stages of growth, stagnation and development, inherently require access to resources and human capital – while colleges, for their part, have both at their disposal.

Since its inception two years ago, the Business Engagement Center at the University of Rhode Island has worked to foster this natural symbiosis, which has been particularly spurred of late by economic conditions.

“One of the reasons for the rise in business-engagement centers is that, as federal funding is going down, universities have to find other resources. Opening their doors more to industry is one way to do that,” said Katharine Hazard Flynn, the center’s executive director. Still, she noted, “it’s surprising that universities haven’t done this long before now.”

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Established in fall 2013, the center is modeled after what is considered the prototypical program at the University of Michigan – which started at its flagship campus and has since spread statewide. The center helps companies by:

n Providing access to graduate and undergraduate students seeking internships and employment opportunities.

n Aiding with research, career services, workforce training, licensing and technology needs.

n Collaborating on sponsorships, corporate affiliations, facility usage and charitable giving, among other services.

Since opening in 2013, the center has facilitated roughly 100 company visits to campus. Of those, more than 75 have since hired students or taken them on as interns. Through various services such as the University of Rhode Island Research Foundation, Polaris MEP, the state Small Business Development Center and the College of Engineering’s Capstone program, the center also has fostered firm partnerships, including with Rhode Island-based Navatek Ltd. and Amgen Inc., and Shimadzu Scientific Instruments of Japan, which has an office in Marlborough, Mass.

As Hazard Flynn noted, the program is “the first of its kind in Rhode Island, where a business can make one phone call and get what it needs.” •

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