The President of Dickinson State University says even though the Strom Center has been closed, the efforts of the entrepreneurial and innovation center will carry on. President Thomas Mitzel delivered the message during a public forum Wednesday morning. Mitzel says instead of working through grants and the University the Strom Center will be partnering with local governments and foundations to advance activities…
“…And our hope is actually that we will take better care – And this is not disparaging the Strom Center at all – but having the City involved and having those people resources involved, we believe we can actually take the program ahead in a stronger fashion than it sits today.”
The Strom Center opened in 2007 with an endowment and was expected to be self-sustaining through grants. It closed earlier this month after developing tremendous debt with not clear path forward. Mitzel says the Strom Center was not closed due to a lack of activity. He says there had been projects and events outlined by the management of the Strom Center, but no budgets developed to show how the plans would be carried out.
“…There was no old business plan within the Strom Center and there was no current business plan within the Strom Center and that was very surprising. That’s when I realized the Center itself might be in large trouble. There was no mechanism within the Center put forward to get it out of the economic troubles into which it had fallen.”
Mitzel says closing the Center was a difficult decision but was the right one to make. He says by teaming up with the City of Dickinson the Center will gain additional outreach and should put the Center in a much stronger path.