By Eric Heisler

Coming soon to a college near you: Corporate America.

It's a twist on the economic development game universities play, and it's being

pioneered at the University of Missouri at St. Louis.

For decades, schools such as UMSL have built research parks to help launch

small startup firms that were created from a professor's discovery.

Now, UMSL and a few others are upping the ante. Last year, the university in

north St. Louis County took the aggressive step of luring to its campus the

headquarters of Express Scripts Inc. and its 1,200 employees. In striking a

deal with the $15 billion-a-year company, UMSL joins a tiny group of

universities playing host not to small research firms, but large corporations.

With this strategy, schools hope to supply jobs for their alumni, win

consulting deals for their professors and create a real-world laboratory for

their business schools.

"When you consider a state university, creating a research park is just part of

their service to the region," said Bill Drohan, the executive director of the

Association of University Research Parks in Reston, Va. "This is a maturing use

of the research park."

UMSL's deal with Express Scripts follows a recently set goal to make economic

development a priority for Missouri's public universities, right alongside

teaching and research.

UMSL Chancellor Thomas George had hoped to reach that goal through a research

park planned for the site of a rundown apartment complex next door to the

campus. But the park never got off the ground.

So when fast-growing Maryland Heights-based Express Scripts began to hunt for a

new headquarters last year, George jumped at the chance to bring the St. Louis

area's No. 2 public company to the site of the park.

"It was a no-brainer that we should try for it," said George. "Then, once we

got Express Scripts, we could do more than just talk about (the park)."

George envisioned a partnership where executives would appear before class and

workers would undergo university training.

The idea of bringing big business to academia comes out of a shift that took

place in the mid 20th century, said John Gardner, vice president of research

and economic development for the University of Missouri system.

Before that, most technological developments came from private individuals or

private companies. Think Edison and the light bulb or Bell and the telephone.

But in the second half of the 20th century, new federal grants for university

research meant that universities would instead take that role, Gardner said.

"The university became the major generator of U.S. research," Gardner said.

"That caused an opportunity and an obligation to turn that research into

results, putting research and education together."

Two early research parks paved the way, one in today's Silicon Valley and the

other in North Carolina.

The success of Stanford University's research park and of the Research Triangle

Park caused a wave of universities to jump into the game in the 1980s and '90s.

Generally, the idea was to create a place to foster the growth of small startup

companies -- or to become the research arms of larger companies.

But in the case of UMSL, the university has eyed a company that's No. 137 on

Fortune magazine's list of the nation's largest.

For George, even entering a bid for Express Scripts was no simple process.

First, he had to run the matter by a board of faculty members, who he says were

more enthusiastic than he thought they would be.

Then, he turned his attention to securing land, which meant forcibly acquiring

a few final plots through condemnation.

His goal was realized in September, when Express Scripts, lured by millions of

dollars in incentives, committed to the move. Gov. Matt Blunt attended the

announcement.

The company's $50 million building will stretch into what is now UMSL's sports

complex and be within walking distance of classrooms.

A glimpse of what's to come could be in Raleigh, N.C., where in 1999 North

Carolina State landed Red Hat Inc., an information technology company, almost

by accident.

At the time, a building had been erected at the school's Centennial Campus to

house the research division of Lucent Technologies. But Lucent backed out. To

fill the space, Red Hat, which had been based in Durham, N.C., stepped up.

Now, Red Hat hires computer science students as interns and cooperates with

faculty members on research, said Odessa Montgomery, spokeswoman for the

university.

While Express Scripts also eyed a site at Southern Illinois University

Edwardsville, "We didn't go in specifically looking to locate on a university

campus," said Steve Littlejohn, a spokesman. But as the company considered the

idea, "A realization grew that there was something special that might happen

here."

George expects a large number of students to accept internships at Express

Scripts and later full-time jobs. The hope also is that existing employees will

take courses and pursue degrees at UMSL.

"There are a lot of opportunities for people development," said Keith Womer,

dean of the College of Business Administration. "People say, 'I always wanted

to go back and get a degree or take a course. ... But it's inconvenient.' When

you're right next door, that inconvenience factor goes away.

"Right now, there's a lot we don't know about this relationship, but I think

that's what makes it so exciting," he said.

UMSL hopes to return to the more common use of university research parks by

luring smaller firms to nearby sites.

To consider all possibilities, a task force of university and company officials

is discussing ways the two can work together.

"Think of the impact that this is going to have on that university," said

Gardner. "It's not only a ready-made employer, it's also a proving ground, a

place where students can hone their skills ... And for the company, it's like

having a well-trained work force at their back door, literally."

Express Scripts Inc.

Founded: 1986

Size: $15.1 billion in sales in 2004; ranked 137th on the Fortune 500 list

Employees: More than 10,000

Stock: Trades as ESRX on Nasdaq; went public in 1992

Business: Manages pharmacy benefit in health plans

University of Missouri at St. Louis

Chancellor: Thomas F. George

Founded: 1963

Enrollment: 15,548

Faculty: 1,046

Colleges include: Arts and Sciences, Nursing, Business Administration