Chamber serves up appreciation to ASU

By Frank Ruggiero

ruggiero@wataugademocrat.com

The Boone Area Chamber of Commerce treated Appalachian State University to lunch.

Chamber members invited members of the ASU family to dine at the Broyhill Inn & Conference Center Thursday, Sept. 28, as part of the chamber’s ASU Appreciation Week.

The luncheon was only part of the special week, with the chamber having served up ice cream for students on Monday and hosting a special “Wake Up, Watauga” breakfast  on Friday with Chancellor Ken Peacock.

“We have an annual event at the chamber, where we want to show our appreciation to the university,” Dan Meyer, chamber president, said. “The reason we do that is they’re the bedrock of the economy here in the High Country.”

Apart from economic development, Meyer said the university offers an array of educational opportunities, as well as cultural and athletic events.

“So, they permeate every facet of our community, and it just seems appropriate that, at least, once a year we just say ‘thank you’ for it,” he said. “We ask our chamber members to ask a member of the ASU family, whether it’s their neighbor who happens to be an employee or staff member, or maybe it’s a student employee in their business.”

Chamber members invited the lot on Thursday, with Meyer asking trustee Jeannine Underdown Collins and vice chancellor for student development Cindy Wallace to join him.

John Cooper, owner of the Mast General Store, invited Dennis Scanlin, who heads ASU’s wind energy  program. Cooper’s wife, Faye, invited Roseanne Peacock, the first lady of Appalachian.

Mike Hall, owner of Bandana’s Barbecue and Grill, invited student Bryan Ball. Hall met his student friend when Bandana’s catered for Ball’s fraternity, Gamma Beta Phi.

“Obviously, Boone wouldn’t be what it is without ASU, and I think maybe in the past we’ve been a little remiss in expressing that appreciation to those on campus, so this is our opportunity to do so,” Hall said.

County commissioner Keith Honeycutt invited ASU Police officer Larry Foster and Peacock.

“We have a great partnership here,” Peacock said. “I can’t imagine living or working anywhere else than this great community.”

Peacock brought a guest of his own — the Mountaineers’ 2005 Div. NCAA Div. I-AA championship trophy. The football championship, he explained, is shared with the community.

“Appalachian wants to work with you on other issues, other championships … to strengthen this area of our wonderful state,” he said, mentioning issues like sustainable development, affordable housing and “sharing the resources we have.”

One such resource is the university’s up-and-coming allied health program.

“We want to work with you,” he said. “We’ve only just begun.”

Meyer then introduced the luncheon’s guest speaker, John Merritt. For the last six years, Merritt has worked as a business consultant in the areas of tobacco and economic development, and he served as Gov. Mike Easley’s senior policy advisor for economic development.

Merritt started his career on Capitol Hill in 1972, where he served as administrative assistant to U.S. Rep. Charlie Rose and as staff support for the Subcommittee on Tobacco of the U.S. House Agriculture Committee. He left Washington in 1981 and became a business consultant in 1995, representing a number of clients, including the state of North Carolina.

Merritt told how the Golden LEAF Foundation will most likely distribute $30 million this year in grants, the funding coming from the state’s tobacco settlement. The foundation, he said, is looking for innovative ideas to bring entrepreneurship to the forefront. University of North Carolina system president Erskine Bowles’ idea is to utilize the university system and its abilities, Merritt explained.

Universities are charged with three tasks — to teach, research and offer service — and Merritt asked the question, “How do universities provide the kind of service commitment to help grow the economy?”

Universities are a key asset, as business and industry like to locate near them. People are not only moving to urban centers, but to the rural parts of the state, he said. These people, though, require intellectual stimulation that’s only a short drive away, and universities offer that.

Merritt posed two more questions – what needs does the university have from the state, and what can be done to take this particular university to the next level. “Golden LEAF wants to be your partner in that,” he said, adding the foundation will eventually distribute $100 million in grants. “We appreciate the payroll of the university, the size of the university … the construction, the jobs, the customers it provides us as business people.”

Merritt encouraged the chamber and university to get “everybody engaged” in the process, so they, too, can be part of future prosperity.