Pictured, (front row, l-r) Joel Deuterman, president/CEO, Velocity Network, Inc.; Marco Monsalve, chief executive ofcer, McManis and Monsalve Associates; Mike Batchelor, president, Erie Community Foundation; Mercyhurst President Michael Victor; Cal Pifer, Mercyhurst vice president for external relations and advancement; (back row, l-r) Mercyhurst Trustee Chair Richard Lanzillo, Esq., and Perry Wood, executive director, Erie County Gaming Revenue Authority. The check represents “Shaping Tomorrow” grants totaling $10 million, including $4 million to Mercyhurst. Mercyhurst takes lead in creating Downtown Erie Innovation District
When Michael Victor said he was going to shake things up at Mercyhurst University, he wasn’t kidding. In just his frst year as president, he brought in a record-setting freshman class and celebrated a milestone year in fundraising. Now, he’s turned his eye toward the challenges facing the City of Erie as it attempts to rechart its own path toward growth and prosperity. Victor, who has touted achievement through partnership throughout his presidency, announced late last year that Mercyhurst would take the lead in creating a Downtown Erie Innovation District. Mercyhurst’s plan is to drive a new knowledge-based economy, focused on safety and security, with three of the city’s most innovative corporate partners: Erie Insurance, McManis and Monsalve Associates and Velocity Network, Inc. The partners intend to execute joint projects related to safety and security, specifcally in the high-demand felds of data science and cybersecurity, where their combined skills will
create a powerful business alliance to catalyze economic growth.
which prepares students for intelligence careers in national security, law enforcement and the private sector. More than 1,000 alumni work in every major industry sector and 17 agencies of the U.S. intelligence community. A new master’s degree in data science complements the intelligence studies program and many others at the university. Presently, the Ridge College enrolls 600 students and administers $12 million in public and private sector grants and contracts. Increasingly, these funded opportunities involve cyber and corporate security projects. Provost Dr. David Dausey, project leader, noted, “Innovation districts have shown that both American and global corporations are interested in being centered in proximity to trained talent. By focusing heavily on the emerging felds of data science and cybersecurity, Erie will be well positioned as a hub for companies to make investments.” Visit innovationdistricterie.com to keep up with the project as it unfolds.
Fueling the project is a $4 million “Shaping Tomorrow” grant Mercyhurst received in October from the Erie Community Foundation with support from the Susan Hirt Hagen Fund for Transformational Philanthropy and the Erie County Gaming Revenue Authority. In awarding the grant, those donors noted that the Innovation District plan dovetails with the goals of Erie’s Comprehensive Plan and is designed to serve three critical community needs:
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Stop brain drain and enhance brain gain. Replace low-wage jobs with family- sustaining jobs.
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Revitalize downtown Erie.
Victor said Mercyhurst is uniquely positioned to drive the innovation district’s strategic focus of safety and security as home to the internationally renowned Tom Ridge College of Intelligence Studies and Applied Sciences,
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