676 NORTHERN KENTUCKY UNIVERSITY efforts that began with the creation of the TriCounty Economic Development Corporation, or Northern Kentucky Tri-ED, in 1987. Notable achievements for Northern Kentucky Tri-ED include attracting firms such as Fidelity Investments, Toyota, Lafarge, Xanodyne, and Sachs Automotive. The story of Tri-ED actually begins in 1981, when then Kentucky governor John Y. Brown Jr. (1979–1983) brought together a group of Northern Kentucky business leaders to determine how the region could pool its efforts to attract new businesses. Under the chairmanship of Corporex president William P. Butler, the group envisioned an economic development agency that would serve the three counties of Boone, Campbell and Kenton. The agency would be the focal point of cooperative efforts to recruit businesses and promote economic growth that would ultimately benefit all Northern Kentuckians. The group’s vision came to life a few years later, when attorney William T. “Bill” Robinson III, then chairman of the Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce, saw an opportunity to create a unique public-private partnership that would become the economic development agency for Northern Kentucky. In 1986 Robinson presented the Tri-County Economic Development Corporation to area officials, and Northern Kentucky TriED was born. Initially funded by local governments and the private sector, Northern Kentucky Tri-ED, the Northern Kentucky Chamber, and the Northern Kentucky Legislative Caucus obtained passage of state legislation in 1995 that provided the agency with a permanent funding source from rental car license fees. These revenues are shared by the three counties through Northern Kentucky Tri-ED’s regional efforts. Private-sector contributions to the Northern Kentucky Tri-County Economic Development Foundation (Tri-EF) continue to support Northern Kentucky Tri-ED’s mission. Northern Kentucky Tri-ED’s efforts are governed by a 17-member board of directors led by the three judges-executive of the member counties, plus private-sector appointments from each county, Forward Quest, and the Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce. Northern Kentucky TriED’s staff of nine professionals now focus not only on the attraction but also on the expansion and retention of primary industries. Primary industries are those that export products or ser vices from an area and import money into an area from the sale of such products or ser vices. Further, primary industries are not dependent upon the local economy for growth and survival and thus can be located anywhere, making the competition for such industries quite fierce across the United States. Since the creation of Northern Kentucky TriED more than 20 years ago, its success has been astounding. The organization has directly facilitated the attraction or expansion of 428 primaryindustry companies, the creation of 41,000 primary jobs, and new capital investment of $4.1 billion in Northern Kentucky. This success has garnered national attention for the agency, as wit-
nessed by Site Selection magazine’s naming TriED as one of the top 10 economic development organizations in the United States in 1995, 1997, 1998, 1999, and 2005. While the statistics related to Northern Kentucky Tri-ED’s accomplishments are impressive, the agency’s impact on Northern Kentucky goes far beyond the numbers. Perhaps Northern Kentucky Tri-ED’s most enduring legacy will be how its creation ushered in an age of unprecedented community-wide cooperation. Northern Kentucky Tri-ED. “Tri-County Economic Development Corporation of Northern Kentucky Tenth Anniversary Report,” 1997, Northern Ky. Tri-ED, Fort Mitchell, Ky. “Tri-Ed Office Trying to Bag the Big Ones,” KP, February 27, 1990, 8K.
Dan Tobergte
NORTHERN KENTUCKY UNIVERSITY. Northern Kentucky University (NKU) has its roots in a small community college, Northern Community College of the University of Kentucky (NCC), but has evolved into a dynamic university. In 1966 consultant M. M. Chambers, as a result of a study he conducted for the Kentucky Council on Public Higher Education (KCPHE), recommended that one more senior college be established for the state and that it be set in Northern Kentucky. He reasoned that because Northern Kentucky was the second-largest metropolitan region in the state, with a population then at a quarter of a million, it needed a public institution. At that time, the proportion of Northern Kentucky high school graduates going on to college was lower than the percentage doing so statewide. In 1946 the University of Kentucky began a series of extension courses at the Trailways Bus Station in Covington. In 1948 they rented space at First District School in Covington and began a limited two-year college program, thereby establishing the first community college of the University of Kentucky. In 1961 NCC moved
into a newly constructed building in Park Hills, on land once part of Devou Park. It became the largest community college of the University of Kentucky, and the tuition from its enrollment was used to bond other community colleges statewide. A sign erected on the hilltop above the roadway that became interstate I-75 was lit up at night with the letters “UK” for all to see. NCC had a center director, a finance officer, a registrar, and a full- and parttime teaching staff composed mainly of instructors with MA and MS degrees. Often, local high school teachers supplemented their incomes as part-time instructors at NCC, and sometimes local lawyers, accountants, and other businessmen taught a class or two. The two-year nursing program was the most popu lar one offered at NCC, experiencing intense competition for admission. Generally, students at NCC had one of three goals: they were seeking to better themselves in their jobs, or they just wanted to take some courses, or they were completing a two-year program before transferring to a campus where four-year college degrees were offered. Both the students and the staff at NCC thrived in its highly personal atmosphere; enrollment surged to well over 1,000 by the mid-1960s. It was this climate of growth and educational success that converged with need to produce a new four-year state college in Northern Kentucky. The merger of the new Northern Kentucky State College (NKSC) with NCC was approved by UK and the KCPHE but also needed approval by Kentucky’s legislators. The legislators approved, and on July 31, 1969, the land and buildings at NCC (today the site of NKU’s Covington campus) were deeded to NKSC. The site selection committee was still rushed for time because building space was tight in Covington. Several sites were under consideration, one each in Boone, Campbell, and Kenton counties. Each of the counties argued why its site should be selected, but on March 29, 1969,
Northern Kentucky University, Highland Heights; the heart of the main campus around Lake Norse.