USC Upstate opens Center for Applied Economic and Community Research

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The George Dean Johnson Jr. College of Business and Economics at USC Upstate has launched a new academic center designed to leverage the university’s resources to advance the economic development and well being of the Upstate.

The University of South Carolina Upstate says the Center for Applied Economic and Community Research will enable the college to conduct economic impact studies, community indicator projects, survey and focus group studies, collaboration with local businesses and nonprofit organizations, and other relevant business and community projects.

“We are delighted to announce the launch of the CAECR,” Johnson College of Business and Economics Dean Mohamed Djerdjouri said in a news release. “This new center will provide opportunities for USC Upstate and the JCBE to increase their engagement with the Upstate community. … We are committed to building deeper collaborative relationships with community partners — both for-profit and non-profit — for the betterment of our local communities.”

Djerdjouri said the center is in line with a key principle of the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, which states “business schools are a force for good.”

“The Johnson College is fortunate to have exceptional intellectual resources and a leadership team with a strong desire to engage in applied, solutions-generating research that creates positive societal impact, thus serving the aforementioned ‘force for good’ in our local economy and communities,” Djerdjouri said in the release.

Djerdjouri said reciprocity will be a top priority of the center because the college’s leadership recognizes the importance and necessity of bringing together the knowledge and resources of the community to discover solutions to real problems. He said the center intends to be an ally and co-participant in research, policy information and implementation, and solution discovery in the Upstate.

USC Upstate Provost David Schecter said the center will be a catalyst for change in the community.

“It brings together under one umbrella a number of outstanding functions the JCBE is already undertaking in addition to adding a number of new services to the mix,” Schecter said in the release. “We thank Dean Djerdjouri for having the vision to get a center of this kind up and running and we are excited about what the future holds.”

Intended functions of the center include data analysis to inform decision making in the private and public sectors and expansion of the community’s entrepreneurial ecosystem through the Johnson College’s Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation.

Sam Cooper, director of strategic initiatives and special projects for the Johnson College of Business and Economics, will lead the center. Cooper, an economist, has participated in multiple community research projects and economic impact analyses, the news release said.

“The CAECR represents a meaningful expansion of the JCBE’s involvement with the community — one that seeks to truly partner with local organizations in a mutually beneficial manner,” Cooper said in the release. “The JCBE will begin partnering with these organizations immediately.”