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Role of universities in technology development addressed

Nov. 12, 2004

KALAMAZOO--Dr. Michael I. Luger, director of the Carolina Center for Competitive Economies, speaks on "New Roles for Universities in Regional Technology Development" in a free, public lecture Wednesday, Nov. 17, at 3 p.m. in Room 3508 of Knauss Hall at Western Michigan University.

Luger is professor of public policy, business and planning at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, in addition to his role as director of the Carolina Center for Competitive Economies in the Kenan Institute for Private Enterprise at UNC. His areas of interest and expertise are regional economic development, state and local policy, infrastructure finance, and science and technology policy. His research in the Carolina Center addresses critical problems of state and local governments, federal agencies, private businesses and some foreign clients.

Until 1999, Luger was the Carl H. Pegg Professor of City and Regional Planning and chairman of the UNC Department of Public Policy. He also has taught in the economics departments of Duke University and the University of Maryland. He holds a Ph.D. in economics and a Master of City Planning degree from the University of California Berkeley and a Master of Public Administration degree in public and international affairs and from Princeton University.

Luger has served as consultant to many organizations, including the Asian Development Bank, USAID, the North Carolina Department of Transportation, New York City, the World Bank, RTI International, the National Center for Economic Alternatives, the Business Development Board of Palm Beach County, and the Urban Institute. His research projects have been funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Economic Development Administration, Maine Science and Technology Foundation, North Carolina Department of Commerce and National Science Foundation, among many others. Luger has published more than 100 books, articles and major reports.

Luger's lecture is part of the Werner Sichel Lecture-Seminar Series in the WMU Department of Economics. The series is co-sponsored by the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research in Kalamazoo.

For further information about the Werner Sichel Lecture-Seminar Series, visit the Web at <www.wmich.edu/economics/sichelsem.htm> or contact Dr. Bassam Harik at (269) 387-5535 or <bassam.harik@wmich.edu>.

Media contact: Thom Myers, 269 387-8400, thom.myers@wmich.edu

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