This article is from the EMU News Archive. Current EMU new is available at www.emu.edu/news

EMU Helps Make Economy Go

EMU President Loren Swarzendruber notes that the university benefits the community both directly and indirectly. And the broader community benefits "economically, culturally and socially."
Photo by Michael Reilly

By Dan Wright, Daily News-Record

EMU spends millions of dollars in the Shenandoah Valley, provides hundreds of jobs and helps hundreds of people improve their business skills.

Of its $28 million budget for fiscal 2005-06, EMU pumped $20.6 million into the Shenandoah Valley’s economy, according to the university’s Office of Institutional Research.

EMU has 360 employees, which puts it among Harrisonburg’s top 10 employers.

The university spends $16.3 million on salaries and benefits, a direct impact on the local economy, the report said. That creates an indirect economic impact due to demand for goods and services.

President Loren Swartzendruber said that while EMU cannot compare to the giant next door, a reference to James Madison University’s $292 million impact, it makes a significant contribution.

"The broader community also benefits from EMU," Swartzendruber said. "Economically, culturally and socially."

Swartzendruber spoke Friday at a luncheon of the Harrisonburg-Rockingham Business Professional Club at the university’s Martin Chapel.

Beyond The Briefcase

EMU’s newest graduate program is the Master of Business Administration program, which has 41 students, according to Director Allon Lefever.

Most of those students work full time and go to school in the evening, he added.

"We structured the [MBA] program to serve the working professional," Lefever said. "The program takes a little over two years to complete, but you only have to come to campus one night a week."

That makes for a long Thursday evening, he explained, but students find it to be an advantage.

Another avenue to business is EMU’s adult-degree completion program, which has awarded nearly 300 bachelor’s degrees in business and nursing in the past five years.

"The heart of the EMU business degree is to give students all the skills they need to be successful in business," Swartzendruber said. "And, to make sure they have strong ethics."

The university has a growing relationship with the business community, he added.

"We have a lot of business leaders in this community, some from out of state," Swartzendruber said. "They came to EMU and stayed here to establish businesses."

— article by: Dan Wright, Daily News-Record; posted April 23, 2007