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Vint Hill, Universities Close to Deal
Vint Hill, Universities Close to DealBy Bill Walsh
Times-Democrat Staff Writer
There is, to be sure, many a slip twixt cup and lip, as the old adage has it, and while George Mason University, the University of Virginia and Vint Hill have not yet formalized a deal, Vint Hill Director Rich Reiss is feeling increasingly confident that the three will come together.
Reiss has been working with George Mason officials for about a year, he said last week, "and while there is nothing formal yet, things are starting to percolate in a number of different areas," he said.
Meanwhile, George Mason's progenitor has also grown interested.
"We do have a signed collaboration agreement with the University of Virginia School of Architecture Foundation," Reiss said. "They have assigned to us four leading faculty members. These are people of international caliber, one of whom was written about in The New York Times as 'the world's leading urban thinker.'"
On Jan. 30, Vint Hill sponsored an all-day conference at the former U.S. Army base, gathering about 30 representatives from the Vint Hill Economic Development Authority (EDA) and from the two universities. The brainstorming session definitely had a 'green' tint, Reiss said.
Vint Hill, he said, offers "a particularly good opportunity to do something along the lines of what is really happening in the rest of the world," in terms of renewable energy and sustainable development.
"George Mason," he said, "is very interested in pursuing some sort of academic presence here and some sort of research presence here.
"The University of Virginia has indicated a real desire to have some sort of research presence here. Their students are a little bit further away, so it might be a graduate student presence rather than an undergraduate presence, as might be the case for George Mason."
Nothing is set in stone, Reiss reiterated, but documents "are circulating."
See the March 25 Times-Democrat for the complete story.
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