An institute of technology would look good in Everett

Hot pursuit of a four-year college by Snohomish County and the city of Everett should target establishment of a Washington Institute of Technology.

Students, business and industry and the economic health of the state deserve nothing less. Create the missing polytechnic link in state higher education: baccalaureate degrees in technologies that inspire innovation, attract and hold employers and create high-wage jobs.

In fact, the state Legislature should put first things first. Empower the concept of a stand-alone polytechnic institute, and have Snohomish County and Everett, Vancouver, the Tri-Cities and others compete to provide it a home.

I think the need for a four-year college in Snohomish County and environs and the employment dynamic of aerospace, biotechnology, biotech manufacturing and other flavors of high-tech make it a powerful, logical competitor.

The working model is thriving to the south, where the Oregon Institute of Technology (OIT) owns the bragging rights to the highest starting salaries for its graduates in the whole Oregon University System.

Snohomish County legislators did well this past session of the Legislature to keep fanning the embers for higher ed for their constituents. Rep. Mike Sells, D-Everett, secured 250 full-time-student slots for Everett Community College and its University Center, upper-division and graduate programs at the downtown Everett Station.

State Sen. Jean Berkey, D-Everett, worked with Sells, with a powerful assist from Rep. Hans Dunshee, D-Snohomish, Capital Budget committee chair, to find money to relocate the community college's University Center to the main campus.

So much about a Washington Institute of Technology coming to fruition is about an attitude change and vision shared by the whole state, not just Snohomish County Executive Aaron Reardon and Everett Mayor Ray Stephanson, who are pushing the idea hard.

Sells and Berkey worked to pass legislation that emphasizes a state priority on access, enrollments and degrees in science, math, engineering and technology. Mayor Stephanson calls that one bill a significant reaffirmation of what is needed in the county and state.

A lot of the debate reminds me of an Episcopal bishop commenting years ago about the impediments to closer ties to the Lutheran Church. He suspected the real difficulties would be over real estate and pensions and precious little to do with theology.

A fight over a Washington Institute of Technology has the sameechoes: turf, budgets, lines of promotion — and stunted possibilities.

The branch-campus approach that cedes authority to the state's brand-name universities is a complicating factor. Certainly, they provide a sponsoring agency, but I do not see the University of Washington-Everett as the answer for Snohomish County or for the state. UW and Washington State University are two powerhouse research institutions; they have their niche.

Progress toward something new will take more money for higher education. Dividing the existing pie into thinner slices is a disservice to all.

By the way, have you noticed that some of the state's industries that whine the loudest about the sorry state of K-12 and higher education have the fattest tax breaks? Curious. How about rescinding those tax breaks but capturing the savings and funneling it to schooling? Just a thought.

At OIT, the school's biggest majors are medical imaging technology, software engineering technology, mechanical engineering technology and computer systems engineering technology. For the class of 2004, 97 percent of graduates were either employed or in grad school within six months of graduation.

OIT's main campus is in southern Oregon, at Klamath Falls. Sound a little remote? How about Everett, Renton and Auburn? Boeing has teamed with OIT since 1998 to provide on-site bachelor of science degrees for its workers in manufacturing engineering technology. OIT now offers Boeing employees master's degrees in the same field, and an associate degree program is in the works.

The economy, jobs and employers of tomorrow will not stand still and wait for laggards to catch up. A Washington Institute of Technology is a basic investment in education and the economic health of the state.

Lance Dickie's column appears regularly on editorial pages of The Times. His e-mail address is ldickie@seattletimes.com