Owners of privately held small and midsize companies said providing health insurance for employees is a top financial pressure, according to a recent survey.

Enterprise Bank & Trust (EBT) released a Think Tank survey of 230 businesses that found most small and midsize businesses (SMBs) worry about being able to provide health insurance for their employees.

“Companies that are smaller — 15 and [fewer] employees — their biggest concern in our survey wasn’t the cost [of health insurance], wasn’t was it going to hurt their profitability, it was feeling pressure to provide,” said Jeff Friesen, EBT president for the Arizona region. “Those smaller companies are currently having a difficult time already providing that benefit.”

These are the top three business concerns related to the cost of providing health insurance:

1. The cost of employee health insurance could negatively impact the company’s profitability
2. Potential increases in premiums could make employee health insurance unaffordable
3. Health insurance costs limiting the company’s ability to award bonuses or give raises

Health insurance is often a top line-item expense next to payroll, but it’s the only expense they don’t have significant control over.

“It can be quite frustrating to see cost increases that are two to three times the rate of inflation and feel like there’s not much you can do about it,” Bryon Shultz, MJ Insurance principal, told EBT.

According to Friesen, the most interesting thing about the survey results is that businesses don’t seem to be taking the proper steps to ensure they’re saving money when providing health insurance.

“We do a lot of these Think Tank deals periodically; this one to me was the most insightful one that we’ve had, mainly because of some of those percentages where it looks like people aren’t doing what they need to help lower the cost,” Friesen said.

According to EBT, there are three “big levers” to reducing costs: benefits plan design, preventive care incentives and cost.

Benefits Plan Design

There are ways to reduce premiums.

First, self-funded insurance can lower the premiums for employees while possibly saving companies money through reduced operational costs. However, this option comes with the risk of acquiring a huge bill should something happen to an employee, so companies should look closely to determine if they are able to absorb the cost if necessary, according to EBT.

Shultz said there are creative options for midsize companies with more than 50 employees, such as aligning a risk-financing funding platform that allows the company to mitigate high claims while still capitalizing when overall claims are affordable.

“This is the only way for these types of companies to change their five-year health care trend,” he said.

A third option is choosing a narrow network insurance plan that offers low out-of-pocket costs and monthly premiums for a smaller provider network.

“An increasingly popular choice is to move to a High Deductible Health Plan (HDHP) which lowers premiums by increasing deductibles over a traditional plan. An HDHP makes insurance more affordable for both the employee and the company and tends to be popular with companies who have more young, single employees without spouses and children,” EBT wrote.

If a company has an HDHP, setting up a Health Savings Account, or HSA, can also help the company save costs.

Money deposited in an HSA is not subject to federal income tax and is deposited tax-free to be applied to qualified medical expenses.

“Only 42 percent of companies we surveyed offered an HSA. That told me that companies aren’t doing what they need to do…to help lower costs providing health coverage,” Friesen said. “That told me that companies aren’t doing what they need to do and looking over their plans and figuring out what items they can control to help lower costs within providing health coverage.”

“Employers have the ability, through a comprehensive health and wellness program, to contribute notably to their employees’ well-being.”

Preventive Care Incentives

Many in the health care community are beginning to shift focus to wellness and preventive care, and more than 50 percent of American businesses offer wellness programs to their employees, according to EBT.

Preventive care programs include regular checkups, screenings, smoking-cessation programs and health education training, while wellness includes practices that promote, such as meditation or.

“We are all likely going to experience a wellness issue at some point in our lives,” said Michelle H. Schmidt, owner of PACE Nutrition Coaching. “When this happens, healthy habits can stack the deck in our favor for lowering our risks and aiding in recovery. Employers have the ability, through a comprehensive health and wellness program, to contribute notably to their employees’ well-being.”

According to EBT, 93 percent of survey participants said employee well-being is critical to their bottom line, but only 22 percent offered a wellness program.

Cost

The last, and perhaps simplest, way to reduce health insurance costs is to know exactly what things cost.

“I think [smaller companies] need to do their research,” Friesen said. “[Companies] really just need to make sure they’re proactive. It starts at the time when they’re designing their plan — not being afraid to negotiate when they’re designing those plans — make sure that they’re asking a lot of questions and implementing the things.”

According to research, prescription drugs are one of the biggest health care expenses. In the Think Tank survey, the statement “pharmacy coverage is more of an issue than health care coverage” was ranked fourth.

For example, employees might be eligible for Patient Assistance Programs (PAP), which means the employer is no longer paying for prescriptions but rather the drug manufacturers’ foundations pay.

The second cost companies can usually save is in the medical bills themselves, because many times there are errors or opportunities to renegotiate discounts.

“[Small businesses] don’t think about trying to get into the weeds and trying to manage those costs,” Friesen said. “There some larger buy-in groups that they can be a part of. There are a lot of good brokerage companies out there that deal with helping companies work through this process and providing them with the best solutions possible.”

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In its latest move to make college more accessible for Valley students, Grand Canyon University surprised local high school students Wednesday with scholarships to cover the full cost of their tuition.

The private Christian university also announced recently it would be yet again freezing the cost of tuition to reduce the impact of student loan debt.

The Students Inspiring Students (SIS) scholarship, which is in its fifth year, was created in collaboration among GCU, local high schools and philanthropic business leaders to bring better education access to the community.

GCU held a surprise event Wednesday night at the GCU Student Union to award 16 high school students with full-tuition scholarships.

Each year, the university awards full-tuition scholarships to students from inner-city high schools who meet academic criteria, have financial need and received 100 or more hours of academic assistance at GCU’s Learning Lounge, a free after-school tutoring and mentoring program designed to improve skills and confidence among K-12 students, ultimately boosting achievement.

“This scholarship program is in its fifth year at the university and it works,” said Dr. Joe Veres, vice president of student success at GCU, in . “It is rewarding to see these students spend time at the Learning Lounge, get awarded the scholarship and thrive on campus. They are bright, remarkable young men and women who just need a financial boost in order to go to college.”

More than 200 West Phoenix students have received the SIS scholarship so far, and the program hopes to “continuously transform K-12 education and offer 800 full-tuition scholarships,” according to GCU’s .

SIS scholarship winners will pay forward their award by providing 100 hours per year of mentoring and academic support at a Learning Lounge site to assist high school students who also want a chance to attend college.

Future plans for SIS include:

• Expanding the scholarship program,
• establishing more K-12 Learning Lounge locations,
• promoting SIS as a model on a national level and
• graduating ambitious students who are ready to join the workforce as leaders.

Earlier this month, GCU announced it would be freezing tuition costs for the 12^th consecutive year.

The average annual cost to attend a four-year public college rose 2.3 percent to $10,440 in the 2019-2020 academic year, and tuition and fees at four-year private institutions increased by 3.4 percent to $36,880 in the same time period, according to College Board’s “Trends in College Pricing” report.

GCU said it would cap on-campus tuition at $16,500 for the 2020-2021 school year.

But GCU is a scholarship powerhouse — more than 90 percent of its students receive institutional scholarships — bringing the average tuition cost down to $8,700. That’s similar to public universities and less than many private universities, according to GCU.

“GCU’s goal is to make college education affordable to all socioeconomic classes of Americans, and we have taken a very innovative approach to make that happen,” said GCU President Brian Mueller.

The university’s dedication to providing affordable higher education means GCU students acquire less debt than students who graduate with student loans from public, private-nonprofit and for-profit colleges; those students leave college with an average of $26,900, $31,450 and $39,900, respectively, in student loan debt, according to a by the Institute for College Access and Success.

Mueller said tuition freezes have resulted in a high-quality, diverse student body, with 47 percent of students identifying as people of color.

GCU also announced that over the past 10 years it has invested more than $1 billion into new academic programs, technologies, classrooms, laboratories, research spaces, residence halls and other student amenities. Mueller said the school plans to spend an additional $500 million over the next five years.

Investments at GCU include:

• 22 suite- and apartment-style residence halls;
• more than 1 million square feet of classroom, laboratory, library and office space;
• a new 136,000-square-foot Canyon Activity Center;
• an innovation center with workspace for startups, an incubator, co-working space and more, which currently houses 27 companies;
• the launch of 10 new business enterprises that employ more than 400 people; and
• the approval of 42 new academic programs in the past year, bringing the total to more than 270 academic degrees, emphases and certificates offered in nine different colleges.

Header photo courtesy of Grand Canyon University.

***An earlier version of this story, as well as the description in the Dry Heat email, incorrectly stated the scholarship event took place at GCU Ballpark, and that 25 students received full-tuition scholarships; those details have been corrected in the current version.

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“This is going to rock our world,” said Casa Grande Mayor Craig McFarland. “We are so excited for [Lucid] to be here.”

Electric vehicle company Lucid Motors held a “ground-building” ceremony for its new Casa Grande facility Monday.

The company decided to plant a tree rather than break ground in the traditional way. Lucid Vice President of Manufacturing Peter Hochholdinger said the action represents the company’s dedication to the continuous growth of not only the company but the community as well.

“We are committed to Arizona for a very long run,” Hochholdinger said. “Right here, in just about one year’s time, we will begin the production of the best electric vehicle in the world — the Lucid Air.”

Lucid will build its facility over the next year.

“Our first phase of production…represents over $300 million of capital investment and several hundred jobs,” Hochholdinger said.

“Throughout the course of this year we’ll see this factory going up, and it will go up in a structured, logical way, and I believe very much in baby steps,” Lucid CEO and CTO Peter Rawlinson said. “I think that people will see through the course of this construction that Lucid really is the real deal, that we’re here to stay and we’re going to create an amazing product here in Arizona.”

Once built, the new facility is expected to create a capital investment of more than $700 million, adding $32 billion in economic impact for Casa Grande and Pinal County in the next 20 years.

The facility is also expected to create roughly 4,800 direct and indirect jobs by 2029, according to the Arizona governor’s office.

“This is one of the most significant job announcements in recent memory,” Gov. Doug Ducey said at the event. “Lucid Motors looked at over 60 different markets and 13 states, and they chose Arizona. Make no mistake, as Peter said, this investment can transform the economy in Pinal County and Casa Grande for years to come…We can’t wait to see your state-of-the-art, made-in-Arizona vehicles on our roads.”

Lucid will manufacture its Lucid Air electric vehicles at the new facility, starting with 15,000 units through 2021 and increasing to hundreds of thousands by 2026 or 2027.

According to Rawlinson, the Air is a “world-class” product with a 400-mile range, making it the first inter-city electric car.

“This is one small step for us today; it’s a baby step… But if you put all these steps together, you become an irresistible force,” Rawlinson said.

Lucid’s new facility will be in Casa Grande’s industrial area, which currently has a direct and indirect impact of roughly 6,000 jobs and $327 million in personal income, according to McFarland.

“If you add the 2,200 additional jobs from Lucid, that’s a huge impact in this community,” McFarland said. “Hav[ing] that first car roll off in December of next year, 2020. It’s going to be an amazing thing to watch.”

“We want to change the world and make it a better place, and in order to do that we have to think big. And this is the site that enables that vision to become reality,” Rawlinson said.

Also in attendance were Pinal County Board of Supervisors Chairman Mike Goodman and Gov. Claudia Pavlovich of Sonora, Mexico.

To learn more about Lucid, .

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The Greater Phoenix Chamber (GPC) announced the 2019 ATHENA Award winners last month.

GPC recognized the 2019 ATHENA private sector, public sector and young professional award recipients during the 32nd Annual ATHENA Awards Luncheon Nov. 15.

The ATHENA Awards are named after the Greek goddess of courage and wisdom and is a division of ATHENA International, a nonprofit organization dedicated to creating leadership opportunities for women.

“We are incredibly proud to celebrate an inspiring group of leaders as this year’s recipients of the Greater Phoenix Chamber’s ATHENA Awards,” Todd Sanders, GPC president & CEO, said. “These influential women are dedicated to building a brighter future and ensuring our community remains strong. They embody the best of the Arizona business community and we look forward to seeing how they will carry on the legacy of ATHENA through their work.”

GPC named the following award winners:

• Cindy Dach, CEO of Changing Hands Bookstore — and co-founder of MADE art boutique and the Roosevelt Row arts district — won the ATHENA Businesswoman of the Year Award for the private sector;
• Sherri Collins, executive director of the Arizona Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, won the ATHENA Businesswoman of the Year Award for the public sector; and
• Reyna Montoya, CEO and founder of Aliento, won the ATHENA Young Professional Award.

Cindy Dach

“The ATHENA Awards empower and connect a network of impactful women who are shaping the future,” said Dach. “As leaders, it is important for all of us to simultaneously link arms and hold out our hands. We must lead with kindness because kindness creates hope. And hope brings us to our next task at hand, to listen, and then ask how can we help?”

GPC said Dach won ATHENA Businesswoman of the Year in the private sector because during her nearly 20 years at Changing Hands Bookstore, she not only set a national standard for successfully operating the “art of being an independent bookstore” but also transformed the business by curating an elite speaker series, fostering community connections and increasing annual sales by $5 million.

Dach also established diverse and innovative revenue streams for her business by “breathing life” into the arts and culture scene of Phoenix as an instrumental player in the creation of Roosevelt Row.

Dach said her advice to women just starting their career is: “Be humble and confident. Listen. And be fearless.”

Sherri Collins

Collins said, “This is a recognition of the hard work I’ve done in the community. I hope that with this recognition that I can be a community partner with everybody to remove barriers and improve [people’s] quality of life.”

As executive director of the Arizona Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing for more than a decade, Collins has been a lifelong advocate for the deaf and hard of hearing and has moved mountains in order to raise awareness for the community.

She also serves as the President of the Board for the National Association of State Agencies of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. She recognizes herself as the first and only deaf lobbyist in the country, and has championed regulatory changes to improve the lives of individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing.

“The ATHENA Award is a special recognition. And, I’m so honored to have been selected as a candidate. I am just humbled to have been considered for this award. I am so fortunate to have the opportunity to return the favor through my career,” said Collins. “I wish every woman could benefit from the ATHENA Award as I have. The ATHENA network, connecting with women across the valley, and industries. It creates a stronger community across the valley.”

Reyna Montoya

Montoya said continued success means “being able to stay true to your values and being able to share your gifts with others.”

According to GPC, Montoya is a “fierce advocate for justice in her community” and is a dedicated social entrepreneur who founded Aliento, an Arizona community organization that harnesses resources to educate and empower immigrants, in 2016.

Through her work at Aliento, Montoya is redefining what it means to fight for social justice using her experiences as an undocumented student herself to convene communities and develop collaborative solutions and create spaces that support immigrant students and their families.

“As I walk away from this stage, I hope that you remember my story—that you remember the contributions, creativity and humanity of all immigrants,” Montoya said. “I hope that you remember that we have a choice to nurture, to serve, and to lead with love in so much darkness. You have a voice to be a light.”

Montoya was also named on Forbes Magazine’s 2018 edition of its 30 Under 30 list of budding business leaders in the social entrepreneur category.

Dach, Collins and Montoya were chosen from 11 ATHENA finalists.

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History of Mexican manufacturing

In the mid-1960s, Mexico launched the Maquiladora Program as an assembly platform for United States manufacturing. 

Under the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA, the program grew, and by 2006 it employed 1.2 million workers.

In 1990, Mexico established the Programa de Importación Temporal para Producir Artículos de Exportación (PITEX), which by 2006 included 3,620 firms as well as all motor vehicle assembly plants and most of their parts suppliers in Mexico by 2006.

In 2006, the Mexican government merged the two programs to create IMMEX — the Industria Manufacturera, Maquiladora y de Servicios de Exportación.

“Mexico’s contribution of high quality at a lower cost has made it a primary source for manufacturing in a variety of industries, including electronics, aerospace and automotive,” according to NAPS International, an organization that specializes in outsourced administrative and compliance management services. “The IMMEX is a program that enables foreign companies to operate in Mexico under a preferential, low-tax cost structure, while still taking advantage of Mexico’s lower-cost labor.”

According to the University of Arizona, 82 percent of maquiladora plants are located in border states — including Sonora, Mexico — while only 35 percent of PITEX establishments were located in border states.

By creating IMMEX, the Mexican government introduced a single entity responsible for more than 60 percent of Mexico’s total manufacturing employment.

In 2014, IMMEX included more than 6,000 establishments with more than 2 million employees, according to UArizona. The program’s third-quarter revenue in 2014 was roughly $7 billion, making it the second-most important source of foreign currency in Mexico after the exportation of crude oil.

However, IMMEX does not just help Mexico; it also helps Arizona and the U.S.

“The significance of the IMMEX sector for Arizona’s economy is primarily as a destination for Arizona manufacturing products and as a market for Arizona business services,” Vera Pavlakovich-Kochi, senior regional scientist and associate professor of geography at UArizona. “About 30 percent of maquiladoras in Sonora are owned by Arizona parent companies and through a production-sharing model remain competitive in global markets.”

The maquiladora industry

According to NAPS, the Maquiladora Program originally started as a way of alleviating unemployment in the U.S.- Mexico border region.

Since 1965, Mexican maquiladora factories have been run and owned by foreign companies that manufacture products in Mexico and export them to other countries. The factories operate under preferential tax and fiscal programs established by the Mexican government and the foreign company’s nation — primarily the U.S. — which allows most production equipment and materials to temporarily enter Mexico tariff-free.

In 1985, maquiladoras were the largest source of foreign exchange in Mexico, but the industry did not truly boom until after NAFTA was approved in 1994.

According to Made in Mexico, Inc., maquiladoras can save international companies up to 75 percent on labor costs for several reasons:

• The entry-level wage for low-level jobs in Mexico is approximately 25 percent less than the hourly wage paid to workers in the U.S.,
• Mexico has a standard work week of 48 hours,
• Companies can have fast and easy startups with little capital investment, turning projects that would be cost-prohibitive in the U.S. into lucrative possibilities.

And Sonora is the Mexican state leading the way.

According to Mexican company Tetakawi, the state has a climate “ripe for investment” because of its location as well as its labor market.

“Sonora’s propinquity to the U.S., large pool of qualified bi-lingual, Mexican labor, competitive infrastructure, and considerably lower manufacturing operating costs are catching the interest of investors. Sonora represents [and] is characterized by a multitude of reputable and up-and-coming opportunities for businesses, both foreign and domestic,” the company said on its .

Sonora’s principal industries are aerospace, automotive, metal mechanical, mining, renewable energy, electronics, agribusiness, medical and informational technology.

Nogales, Sonora, just across the border from Nogales, Arizona, leads the state in manufacturing, with the largest number of maquiladoras in Sonora. The border city has roughly 34,000 jobs and more than 100 manufacturing plants.

Computer and electronic product manufacturing make up the majority of the industry in Nogales — about 23 percent — and next come apparel manufacturing and transportation equipment manufacturing, including parts for the aerospace industry, according to UArizona.

On the other side of the border, Arizona manufacturing has been influenced by maquiladoras.

“About 35 percent of Nogales, Sonora, maquiladoras are owned and operated by out-of-Arizona parent companies (including those in California); about 11 percent has parent company in Phoenix or Tucson, while only 20 percent of maquiladoras have parent company (or an outpost of parent company) in Nogales and Santa  Cruz County,” UArizona .

To learn more about Sonora’s manufacturing sector,

IMMEX and maquiladoras under the USMCA 

In 1994, the U.S., Mexico and Canada approved NAFTA — the world’s leading free trade pact.

NAFTA led to growth in many industries, including manufacturing, among the three countries.

The U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), which would modernize NAFTA in several ways, could have a significant impact on manufacturers in Mexico, primarily those in the automotive industry.

The automotive industry

Under the USMCA, passenger vehicles and light trucks must have 75 percent of the car’s contents made in North America by 2023.

The U.S. and Mexico will also be maintaining a side agreement that protects both from tariffs on $108 billion worth of automotive parts, and an allowance of 2.6 million cars shipped across the border, according to .

Creating new labor value content

Another provision in the USMCA states that 40 percent of automotive products must be made by workers who earn at least $16/hour. Mexico agreed to give its workers the right to seek union representation as well as other labor protections to comply with the increase in automotive labor.

E-commerce and digital trade

Another part of the USMCA addresses e-commerce regulations, digital trade and intellectual property to bring the agreement into the 21st century.

Under the new agreement, Mexico and Canada would raise their de minimis shipment value levels to $50 USD in Mexico and $40 C in Canada. Duty-free shipment values will increase to $117 USD for Mexico and $150 C for Canada.

The new de minimis levels will make it easier for digital and e-commerce companies to reach new markets in both Mexico and Canada, which will benefit both small businesses and consumers by allowing them to import and export more goods without requiring a formal customs transaction, according to “,” a paper published earlier this year by the Arizona-Mexico Commission, the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and the Arizona Chamber Foundation.

All three countries’ legislative bodies must ratify the agreement, something Mexico has already done. U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the U.S. will be addressing the agreement in Congress soon, but has wavered on whether Congress will act before the end of 2019.

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Cox Communications recently announced it is partnering with Arizona State University to create the Cox Connected Environments Collaboratory at the university.

The collaboration, announced at the 2019 ASU Smart Region Summit, is expected to drive the development of Arizona’s “smart region” infrastructure.

“Cox currently powers several smart city initiatives and communities today as the preferred data network of residents and business owners,” said Steve Rowley, executive vice president of Cox Business. “Cox Business, combined with Cox2M, will bring new experiential capabilities to the campus and provide a space for all to innovate.”

The partnership will also deliver on ASU’s Smart City Cloud Innovation Center (CIC) promise to build smarter communities in the Valley by providing solutions to community challenges.

According to Cox, the Cox Connected Environments Collaboratory at ASU will serve as an incubation center and convening space that engages ASU students, staff and faculty to design the “next wave of Internet of Things (IoT) solutions” in hopes of solving real challenges within the Greater Phoenix area and beyond.

“Through our Cox2M business line, we will bring ASU students, staff and faculty the tools and capabilities to develop end-to-end solutions that can really make a difference,” said Sujata Gosalia, executive vice president and chief strategy officer at Cox Communications. “We are excited to build the future together in this new collaborative environment.”

The Cox Connected Environments Collaboratory will reside in an Innovation Zone at ASU, one of several spaces across the Valley and ASU campuses dedicated to creating innovative solutions. Other Innovation Zones include SkySong, ASU Research Park, the Novus Innovation Corridor and more.

Cox will be deploying a comprehensive wired and wireless network on campus as part of ASU’s NextGen Network to power the Collaboratory.

“Cox is a trusted partner, and we are eager to see the Cox Connected Environments Collaboratory at ASU drive smart region applications that combine people, connected devices, data and processes to improve community operations and the citizen experience,” ASU Chief Information Officer Lev Gonick said.

Earlier this month, ASU announced a  to develop a “Smart Campus” and eventually a “Smart State.” The two will work together to bring 5G connectivity and Sprint’s Curiosity IoT operating system to the university’s campuses.

“The spirit of innovation permeates everything we do here at ASU, and that philosophy extends to the ecosystems and resources we make available to our collaborators,” said Sethuraman Panchanathan, executive vice president of Knowledge Enterprise and chief research and innovation officer at ASU. “New ideas and solutions to grand challenges are discovered when we partner at this level. Our Innovation Centers and Innovation Zones are prime examples of how these relationships are cultivated, and how the resulting benefits are realized by our communities.”

To learn more about the Cox Connected Environments Collaboratory, .

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Northrop Grumman and Phoenix-based general contractor Willmeng Construction Inc. hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the aerospace and defense company’s new Chandler campus last week.

The 633,000-square-foot office and manufacturing facility will provide a home for Northrop Grumman’s launch vehicle business, supporting defense and aerospace development.

“We have a rich heritage here in Arizona that spans more than three decades, and our business here continues to grow rapidly,” said Blake Larson, president of Innovation Systems at Northrop Grumman, at the ribbon-cutting. “This beautiful new facility will provide an improved work environment for our employees, provide a clean slate to work from to improve our efficiencies and give us more room for growth. I extend my gratitude to this incredible team who came together for mission success.”

Northrop Grumman has 2,500 employees at its Chandler campus and more than 3,500 employees across that state, with more than $30 million in payroll and benefits, according to the Office of Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey.

“Northrop Grumman has helped make Arizona a national leader in defense and aerospace manufacturing — and this expansion will only further add to that reputation,” Ducey said at the ribbon-cutting event. “My thanks goes out to Northrop Grumman for continuing to invest in Arizona, and to everyone who worked to make this announcement possible.”

Northrop Grumman will build equipment at the new campus to support the United States missile defense program, including interceptors and targets. It will also help with satellite launches for the U.S. Air Force, National Reconnaissance Office, NASA and commercial customers.

The campus is located in the 180-acre Park Place Business Plaza developed by the Douglas Allred Company and brought to life by Willmeng Construction, Balmer Architectural Group and more than 300 subcontractors. The facility was built and delivered in only 17 months.

“The facility is a reflection of the vision that the team at the Douglas Allred Company has to strategically create appealing and unique campus environments,” said James Murphy, president and CEO of Willmeng Construction. “We were proud to take on the challenge of building this facility at a speed that is truly unparalleled in the market, achieving the unachievable to ensure there was no disruption to the important work accomplished at Northrop Grumman. We were truly working to support a launch schedule.”

Park Place is estimated to generate an annual economic impact of $1.4 billion once completed, according to Elliott D. Pollack & Company. It will also create more than 2,000 construction jobs during the initial build and another 9,691 during the subsequent build-out.

“Northrop Grumman’s investment in our ‘Community of Innovation’ will continue the city’s trajectory of economic competitiveness for years to come,” Chandler Mayor Kevin Hartke said. “I commend Douglas Allred Company’s vision to develop the Park Place Campus, and Willmeng Construction for their professionalism and efforts to get a project of this magnitude completed on time.”

The Price Road Corridor of businesses, which runs along the Loop 101 Price Freeway through Chandler, Tempe and Mesa, is one of the fastest-growing labor bases in Metro Phoenix.

The new Northrop Grumman campus is located at 1575 S. Price Road.

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Grand Canyon University has been recognized as a National Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense (CAE-CD).

The private university was designated as a CAE-CD by the National Security Agency (NSA) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for working to reduce vulnerability in National Information Infrastructure through higher education.

“Oftentimes, the government sector will recruit from schools that have this designation because they know they have been vetted by the NSA and DHS as an approved program,” Grand Canyon University (GCU) Associate Dean of the College of Science, Engineering and Technology Heather Monthie said. “This opens up opportunities within the government sector, like the Department of Defense, NSA, DHS and organizations like the CIA to our students.”

There are currently more cybersecurity jobs available than people to fill them, according to the White House’s National Cyber Strategy. GCU is working to combat that through multiple online and on-campus programs.

The programs that help produce qualified cyber defense individuals include the school’s CAE-CD designated Bachelor of Science in Information Technology with an emphasis in Cybersecurity and its state-of-the-art Cyber Center of Excellence, which gives students and the public a hands-on learning opportunity.

“This is a big deal. This is essentially the NSA and DHS’s stamp of approval on our cybersecurity program,” Monthie added. “They approve of everything that’s in our program and the fact that we have cybersecurity integrated into other programs.”

GCU has also started hosting virtual career fairs for students who attend a school that has a CAE-CD designation. The fair will include employers such as the NSA, IBM, Air Force Civilian Service and the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

Photo by GrandCanyonU via Wikimedia Commons.

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Sprint recently announced it has partnered with Arizona State University to develop a “Smart Campus” and eventually turn Arizona into a “Smart State.”

The telecommunications giant made the announcement at the MWC Los Angeles 2019 summit. Sprint will work with ASU to bring 5G and the Curiosity Internet of Things (IoT) operating system to ASU’s campus, offering new and immersive experiences for students.

“Having a strategic partner like Sprint at the table is invaluable,” said Chris Richardson, deputy chief information officer for development, mobility and smart cities at ASU. “This isn’t just about technology, even though their mobility focus for 5G is a game-changer. It is about know-how, an ecosystem, and an accelerator to our ASU Smart Campus, Cities and Regions initiatives. We fully expect this relationship to enable the co-creation of visible solutions that benefit our students, staff/faculty, and the broader community.”

The two entities will be creating a “Curiosity University” that offers an advanced degree centered around IoT development as well as research and development opportunities for blockchain technology.

“While 5G has proliferated, there does not yet exist a living lab of a mobile 5G smart city or smart campus, making this partnership the first of its kind in the country,” said Lev Gonick, chief information officer for the University Technology Office at ASU.

The two organizations will work to contribute to a larger expansion of internet connectivity in the Phoenix metro area as well as underserved rural areas in Arizona.

“The Internet of Things is driving the fourth industrial revolution right before our eyes, changing how we interact with everyday items and increasing the possibilities of technology and data,” said Ivo Rook, senior vice president of IoT and product development at Sprint. “We are proud to work with Arizona State University to help create an entire smart region ready to pave the way for the future.”

Sprint and ASU will be offering the following services:

• Fast 5G service and IoT applications at the university;
• a new ‘Curiosity University’ for ASU employees, meant to foster a new generation of IoT experts;
• a Sprint 5G Incubator at ASU’s Novus Innovation Corridor; and
• ongoing joint research and development.

“Our collaboration with Sprint exemplifies the broad benefits of a university-corporate relationship,” said Sethuraman Panchanathan, executive vice president of ASU Knowledge Enterprise. “The entire university community and those throughout the greater Phoenix metropolitan area will benefit directly from this collaboration by having access to Sprint’s network and through the educational and research aspects that will usher in new innovations in technology.”

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The University of Arizona was recognized recently as one of the top universities in the world by U.S. News & World Report.

UArizona was listed No. 85 among 1,500 higher education institutions across 81 countries in U.S. News & World Report’s Best Global Universities ranking in October.

“The University of Arizona is recognized throughout the world as a premier academic research institution,” UArizona President Robert Robbins said in a statement. “That reputation is due entirely to the consistently excellent work of our faculty and research staff and the university’s long-standing commitment toward supporting world-class scholarship and research across all fields of study.”

The report also ranks institutions among 28 distinct subject areas, and UArizona made the list for 26 categories.

UArizona tied for No. 11 in the space science category because of its research reputation and frequency of publication, according to U.S. News & World Report.

“This research reputation comes from a long history of astronomers and space scientists who came to this place in Arizona where they could see farther and more clearly,” said Elizabeth Cantwell, senior vice president for research and innovation at UArizona. “That vision has helped propel the University of Arizona and our people to stellar achievements.”

Currently, UArizona holds leadership positions in the OSIRIS-Rex mission to retrieve and analyze particles from asteroid Bennu and is working to capture the first direct image of a black hole, according to the university.

UArizona’s overall score in the rankings increased from 69.7 in 2018 to 70.6 this year.

Arizona State University ranked No. 146, with a global score of 65.7. Northern Arizona University ranked No. 688, with a global score of 42.9.

The Best Global Universities list aims to provide insights about how U.S. higher education institutions stack up globally.

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