For Virginia Universities, Amazon's QG2 has arrived at the perfect time

When George Mason University learned that Amazon.com was looking for a site to open a second seat, officials immediately made contact with Virginia state leaders.

Public school has experienced dramatic growth in informatics and related programs over the past five years as enrollment has doubled. Directors were already working with the state to develop these initiatives.

Virginia Tech was ready too. The engineering program at this school was large and expanding and, more importantly, the university had nurtured the idea of ​​an innovation campus in northern Virginia for several years.

And for government officials, the announcement of Amazon's expansion came just as they were finalizing a strategic plan that envisioned technology at the heart of new job opportunities. This would require a significant investment in order for the talent pool to meet current and future demand. (The general manager of Amazon, Jeffery P. Bezos, is owner of the Washington Post.)

Higher education, said Stephen Moret, chairman of the Virginia Economic Development Partnership, "was right in the bull's eyes." Especially in a state about to strengthen its commitment to technology education.

"With Amazon," he said, "it seemed like an imperative."

The Amazon draw therefore took place at an ideal time. Suddenly, the leaders of the state were ready to inject money into higher technological education – more than a billion dollars over 20 years. This commitment, which is not officially part of the final agreement with Amazon, was announced at the same time as it was revealed that Northern Virginia had been chosen as one of the two winning sites, with New York. State leaders said the commitment to higher education played a key role, ensuring a continuous supply of workers with technical skills to society.

It was not included in the formal agreement because the state pledged to invest with or without Amazon, said Moret. But that was part of the speech they presented to the company for over a year.

[Here’s how Virginia officials found out Arlington won half of Amazon’s HQ2]

The Virginia Tech Innovation Campus – a $ 1 billion site for graduates inspired by Cornell Tech on Roosevelt Island in New York City that would be located near the new headquarters of New York City. Amazon in northern Virginia – is the most striking symbol. However, state schools are expected to face increased demand and significantly increased funding for technology education.

Early in the process, state officials made contact with the State Board of Higher Education for Virginia and individual schools to ask them if they would think about how whose higher education could be taken into account. They want to be sure to approach education in a very important way, said Moret, making it the centerpiece of the proposal.

His background in higher education and his Ph.D. focused on the intersection of education and the labor market. He heard the same message from tech companies: they needed talent.

Moret held a teleconference with schools to explain that the Virginia Economic Development Partnership and a consulting firm were leading efforts to coordinate a proposal from Virginia.

"There had to be 50 or 60 people" on call, said Deborah Crawford, vice president of research at George Mason. "It was a very complicated conference call, you could ask questions, but there was no way to synchronize who could talk when people were talking to each other."

Then they dug. The Virginia Economic Development Partnership then asked about how schools could contribute, particularly in developing technical talents at the undergraduate and master's level. Crawford also hoped for questions about PhD and research capabilities, but the proposal focused on the production of master's degrees and degrees.

The agency questionnaire asked what level of expansion would be possible with and without the state's money.

It included the notion of a campus similar to Cornell Tech and asked the institutions what they thought.

Virginia Tech officials responded that they were ready, with state support, to raise hundreds of millions of dollars to fund such a project, Moret said.

Strengthening Virginia Tech's presence in northern Virginia is something that school leaders see as essential to its mission as an institution that provides land, said Brandy Salmon, who will take over as Chief Operating Officer on the campus of planned innovation.

When the school was founded nearly 150 years ago, serving the Commonwealth involved training farmers and workers in mechanical science, said spokesman Mark Owczarski. Now, Tim Sands, the university's president, is thinking about his mission in 2018 and in the decades to come. Technology and the campus of innovation are at the heart of this vision.

Virginia Tech has been a leader in discussions with a large team of people actively working on their projects. But George Mason of Northern Virginia Community College, the University of Virginia and the College of William & Mary are all part of it, Moret said, and many more took part in the process.

Schools submitted their questionnaire responses in September of last year, Crawford said.

Then they waited.

One evening in January, Crawford received a message from Moret asking if she had a brief moment.

"At first I said to myself" Oh, shoot, "" think "quickly" announced bad news, she said. "When Moret called, he told Crawford that Virginia was one of the 20 finalists, and that Amazon was focused on northern Virginia, she started jumping up and down.

And then, she was eager to know the next step. Amazon would visit the site in the next two weeks, Moret told him.

In February, George Mason was informed that the site visit was imminent and that it was hoped that Mason President Angel Cabrera could meet the team. It was a kind of "do it all" message. Cabrera was there. "He did not have a lot of time to get ready, but it was a very important priority for us," Crawford said.

A few days later, in a hotel in Arlington, a few people from educational institutions and other organizations met with the site visiting team. It was clear that other schools, including K-12, would be involved, which, according to the Virginia team, would attract Amazon.

Moret said that when Sands and other Virginia Tech executives had met with representatives of Amazon, he felt they were on the right track.

At George Mason, they did not hear anything for two or three months. In the early summer, Crawford learned that northern Virginia could be part of a shorter short list. She was excited, thinking for the first time that it might be a loss for northern Virginia. It was at this point that they began to prepare detailed data on computer enrollment projections, on the number of additional students they could possibly enroll on how many years in which programs, in calculating the running costs of a fast acceleration.

Amazon wanted to see more degrees awarded in fields related to computer science and Virginia universities were asked to provide forecasts for the next 20 years.

As some state universities were already working on a cyber-initiative with similar goals – increasing the number of computer science graduates – Crawford felt he had a significant length of time ahead.

They refined the data and the cost forecasts. George Mason's focus is on adding a building on his Arlington campus, "a jump, a jump and a jump" from the site that Amazon envisioned, and the site's programs graduate studies in politics, law and commerce that would be complementary.

State officials were refining the financial model to produce between 25,000 and 35,000 additional undergraduate and master's graduates over the next 20 years.

At George Mason, while they were looking for the number of professors to hire and were continuing to refine their cost estimates, they began in August and September to get an idea of ​​what the Commonwealth could bring.

In September, media reports revealed that Northern Virginia was a powerful leader. Moret held a meeting with presidents of higher education – not just the best schools, but everyone – about items likely to be included in the course offerings superior.

The state has committed up to $ 125 million over the next 20 years to expand George Mason's campus in Arlington, with a focus on research and advanced training in technology, a figure equivalent to 'school. Virginia Tech plans to launch its innovation campus by matching a $ 250 million commitment from the state.

[Amazon HQ2 arrival spurs Virginia Tech to build innovation campus in Northern Virginia]

Crawford heard a lot of rumors and read a lot of stories, but she did not know it until Monday night. Cabrera received a call, she said: Be ready for Tuesday.

"It was a happy phone call," Crawford said.

Virginia Tech officials saw the news on television and celebrated it. "It was uplifting," said Salmon, director of operations at the new Virginia Tech campus, "it's one of the most exciting opportunities of a lifetime."

It was not until Tuesday afternoon, however, that it really became a reality for Crawford. She saw all the blacks in the suburbs idling outside, a sign that officials from Richmond had arrived, and headed for the warehouse. It was already packed and the room was buzzing.

She saw Moret and hugged him. "You did it!"