Rich Margerum (right),
head of the department
of planning, public
policy, and management
at the U. of Oregon, talks
with a recent graduate
student, Mary Adams,
on a former railroad
bridge remade into a
pedestrian path leading
to downtown Salem, Ore.
10-Week
RON COOpeR
Think Tanks
In Focus
Students at the U. of Oregon,
EUGENE, ORE.
acting as consultants,
test ways to help nearby cities.
The idea is spreading.
MARC SCHLOSSBERG recalls that it all started during a good old faculty gripe session. He and his col-
UNIVERSITY
CITIES
An occasional
series tracking
economic
development
leagues—Nico Larco, Robert F. Young, and
By ScOtt carlSOn
a couple of other professors—were sitting
around at the University of Oregon, airing a
familiar set of complaints: How do we get students to pay attention and really care about
their work? Why can’t that work be more relevant to the world off campus?
