Law and pharmacy schools have created pride, jobs and hope in Buchanan County.

By Albert Raboteau
Photos by Josh Meltzer
Roanoke Times

August 12, 2006

GRUNDY -- Amanda Blankenship planned to move away from this coal mining region because she wanted her children to have more opportunity.

She changed her mind, and her career path, when the University of Appalachia College of Pharmacy opened just outside town last year.

Blankenship enrolled, and her husband withdrew his request for a job transfer.

"Now we not only intend to stay, we hope [our children] will stay in the area," Blankenship said.

In their ongoing effort to diversify their county's economy and stop the exodus of people like the Blankenships, officials in Grundy and surrounding Buchanan County have benefited from the arrival of two new higher education institutions in less than a decade.

Beyond their economic benefits, the law and pharmacy schools have been a source of pride, jobs and hope in a county where unemployment is nearly double the state average, the population declined by 17 percent between 1994 and 2004, and the median household income in 2003 was $24,317.

It is common for institutions of higher learning to be viewed as anchors in struggling regions because of the comparatively well-paying jobs they provide and the students with disposable income they attract.

In Buchanan County, the schools are credited for higher property values, new homes being built, and stores opening.

"It has really uplifted a lot of people in terms of seeing maybe a future for the county," said Roger Rife, who chairs the county board of supervisors.

Both schools are private, but together they have received or been promised about $15 million in public money, nearly all of it from the county, said Frank Kilgore, a pharmacy school trustee who until recently also had that role at the law school.

Officials estimate the Appalachian School of Law, which opened nine years ago in buildings donated by the public school board, brings $12 million a year to the region.

The much-younger University of Appalachia, which for now has just the pharmacy college, should eventually generate $20 million a year, Kilgore said.

Evidence of a school-related housing boom lies next to the pharmacy college on Virginia 83, also known as Slate Creek Road, where construction of a $4.6 million apartment complex is under way. The Place at Slate Creek's 72 units range from $750 to $950 a month.

Randy Matney and his brothers decided to build the apartments on family land because of the proximity of the pharmacy school.

"The law school and pharmacy school and plans for additional colleges associated with the University of Appalachia is going to really be important for the county and its long-term growth," Matney said.

The law and pharmacy schools both have expansion projects under way. They each are looking to increase their offerings.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Virginia Department of Transportation are engaged in a roughly $175 million flood control and road improvement project in downtown Grundy, increasing the amount of buildable land in a mountainous area where flat lots are hard to find.

In Grundy, numerous old, flood-prone buildings are being razed. The side of a nearby mountain was cut away to create room for a new retail center featuring a Wal-Mart. It is expected to open next year.

"It seems like there's new energy in the town with the two new schools, old buildings going down and new ones coming up," said Eural Viers, a pharmacy student who grew up in the county. "I'm just excited about our town growing."

Wal-Mart and other new stores that will open as a result of the flood project are expected to employ 400 people.

"They're retail jobs, yes, but the majority of them are full time with hospitalization [benefits]," said Chuck Crabtree, director of the Grundy Industrial Development Authority.

"Most of the country would look down at that, but we don't have any jobs here."

Despite all the changes under way in Buchanan County, mining remains its largest employer, according to figures from the Virginia Employment Commission.

While coal has been doing well of late, officials recall past downturns and say that diversifying the economy is vital. They welcome the growth of higher education in the county as a means toward that end.

"Anytime you put about 460 students in a small community such as ours it has a good economic uplift," said W.J. Caudill, county administrator.

The actual number of students at the two schools is expected to be more than 500 when classes start this month.

The number of pharmacy students is due to grow by another 65 next year, when the three-year program welcomes its third class of students.

The university, which has space in the Buchanan Information Park, is renovating a vacant high school and plans to educate its first-year students there starting this month. Its longer-range plans include building a new wing on the high school.

Meanwhile, university officials are talking with King College, located in Bristol, Tenn., about collaborating on a new forensic science program that could bring in even more students.

For the moment, that project hinges on a $1.4 million grant the Virginia Coalfields Economic Development Authority is considering, said Kilgore, the pharmacy school trustee.

The law school is also looking to grow. Its president, Lu Ellsworth, said there is discussion of adding a master's program with a focus on mediation.

A new $6.1 million facility is under construction directly behind the school. Scheduled to be finished in a year, it will be named for Alex Booth, a donor.

The project will create a 38,000-square-foot building and 19,000 square feet of parking to be shared by the law school and Southwest Virginia Community College.

The community college, headquartered in Richlands, plans to use its share of the space to expand its presence in Grundy. Southwest will maintain its facility in the Grundy Plaza shopping center, said Charles King, college president.

"Companies go and come but colleges and universities usually stay," he said. "A lot of areas [looking] for economic development go out and bring in industry. We're making higher education the base for the future economic growth of the region over there."

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