Campus serves as hub for growth

For many North Carolinians, the expected arrival of a Dell USA manufacturing center in the Triad is reason to rejoice: The center potentially could create 1,500 jobs by 2009.

For the more than 24,000 unemployed North Carolinians whose jobs have been outsourced to foreign manufacturers since January 2001, the job openings are even more important.

Yet those people can attribute the promise of new jobs to the very same source that has taken some of them away - Dell thrives because of revenue from foreign markets and currently holds the industry record for worldwide shipments.

This complex situation is just one example of the many convoluted aspects of globalization in the South - a topic in which UNC, a prestigious center for academic research with a mission of serving the state, is at the center of debate.

"It's the role and responsibility of the University to help the state deal with changes that are probably inevitable," said Niklaus Steiner, executive director of the University Center for International Studies. "These are wrenching, hard choices that have to be made, and the University needs to be a part of the conversation."

Under the guidance of the international center, UNC faculty and administrators in many disciplines are fostering research and communication regarding the growth of the global market.

These efforts include funding research, hosting conferences and speakers, and encouraging faculty and students to teach and study abroad.

"What we really want to do is be a bridge between the academic work being done at the University and the people in the field dealing with the day-to-day issues," Steiner said.

To this end, UCIS and the Center for the Study of the American South will hold a conference this March inviting scholars, politicians and community leaders to discuss the impact of globalization in the region.

History Professor Harry Watson, director of the Southern studies center, said the University serves to disseminate information about how North Carolina can reduce the negative consequences and increase the benefits of globalization.

"We need to teach students, encourage courses and offer as much outreach to adult and lifelong learners as we can, so that the state can turn to us for information and insight about all the people dealing with (globalization)," Watson said.

Not everyone at UNC agrees on the best way to do that.

Proponents of globalization within the University argue that in the future, the state could benefit from international markets that would introduce new sources of revenue.

The short-term complications, however, such as unemployed and undereducated laborers, can be much more difficult to deal with.

"We have to help these people find new skills and jobs," Watson said. "If not, all their brains and potential energy will go down the drain."

The Southern economy has long been based on these low-skill, low-wage manufacturing jobs supported by the textile, tobacco and furniture industries.

Many of these factories have shut down because of overseas competitors. Jobs also have been lost to foreign labor markets, where wages are much lower.

The problem is made worse by a financial downturn, said Robert Connolly, professor of international finance and economics.

Connolly said that while some North Carolinians want to ignore or avoid the problem, others are working to find a solution.

"We see clear evidence across the South of people who have said, 'We can meet the challenge and here's what we have to do.' But it doesn't happen overnight."

Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.