I've been watching this development for awhile. Iowa *desperately* needs a public policy center. The DOT and the DOR and some other state agencies are pretty advanced in terms of their in-house analysis, but there's nothing at UNI, UOI, or ISU that can even shade towards much of what similar centers do in states like Utah, Georgia, New Mexico, Michigan, or even small-fries like Mississippi. Yes, I would know, given that this is my space in the working world. There are things independent academics can do outside the political and bureaucratic constraints of the state government, too, so this would be a good way to go about it.
The macro/regional professor at ISU just retired, too, so getting something like this up and running between the agriculture, engineering, and vet med assets and the social sciences, economics, and history would definitely be a good thing for ISU (and, again, help keep the set us apart over Iowa). It kills me my home state doesn't really have a CEBR. This would be a huge step in the right direction, assuming this launches on the right foot with proper backing. Seeing it dragged into a silly fight like this one isn't a good sign, unfortunately.
