Stafford
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IPFW’s Community Research Institute (CRI) has a new director and an expanded mission. John Stafford accepted leadership of the institute on Oct. 1.
The CRI has served local businesses and individuals for nearly 20 years and the campus now intends to expand that role into the entire region.
According to Barry Hancock, assistant dean and director of the Division of Public and Environmental Affairs at IPFW, the institute will serve as a portal, linking the needs of the community with the services of the university. Assistance in training, continuing education, grant writing, program evaluations, research and more will be available. Hancock added that if someone comes up with a project the university is unable to complete, CRI will find someone in the community to help.
Stafford, well known as a former chief of staff and director of strategic planning for the City of Fort Wayne, has been involved in economic development planning and project implementation, urban planning, downtown development, municipal finance and infrastructure financing for nearly 30 years. He has served as an associate faculty member in the Division of Public and Environmental Affairs for nearly 15 years.
Stafford said he is pleased with the challenges facing the CRI. “Much is changing in the world of economics and in Fort Wayne. The ability to merge the resources of the education sector with the needs of the public and private sectors is key to the success of the region’s economic growth.”
Under previous director Tom Guthrie, the CRI grew from a local effort to track Fort Wayne’s economic progress into a well-respected institute that serves the region in many research-related areas. With Stafford comes an expanded mission, which includes combining the Community Resources Development Center (CRDC) with CRI to expand IPFW’s capability to serve.
“It’s exciting to merge the efforts of the CRI, which did primarily data analysis, and the CRDC, which dealt with social sciences, into the new CRI,” said Marc Lipman, dean of the School of Arts and Sciences. “The center will expand IPFW’s capability to serve the public sector and streamline our ability to get the right people on the right project for the best results possible.”
For more information on the CRI, contact Stafford at 260-481-5401 or
E-mail stafforj@ipfw.edu
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