• Home
  • News
    • Politics & Government
    • Business & Economy
    • Crime / Courts
    • Health / Medicine
  • Sports
    • High School Sports
    • Radio Iowa Poll
  • Affiliates
    • Affiliate Support Page
  • Contact Us
    • Reporters

Radio Iowa

Iowa's Radio News Network

You are here: Home / Agriculture / ISU sociologist says there are ways to reverse the "brain drain"

ISU sociologist says there are ways to reverse the "brain drain"

December 1, 2008 By admin

An Iowa State University dean says while the state’s colleges and universities are sending graduates out of state, there are some ways to reverse the brain drain. Paul Lasley, chairman of the sociology and anthropology departments at I.S.U., says the crucial time frame seems to be after graduates have spent three, four or five years in the “big city.”

“It seems like when they start having children or start thinking about starting a family, of putting down roots…things like community, a safe place to live, good schools become much more important,” Lasley says.

Lasley suggests many young adults who’re ready to leave big metros are searching for a better place to start a business. “I’m not sure that people are looking so much for jobs as they’re looking for opportunities,” Lasley says. Home ownership a very big factor, too, as Iowa’s standard of living is much lower than it is in cities like Chicago and Minneapolis.

“In the economic crisis of the 1980s, Iowa lost about 300,000 people…Many of them were well educated, young, highly mobile. If we would have been able to retain them, they now would be in the prime years of earning, they would be the leaders in our communities,” Lasley says. “…Unfortunately, we let them leave and we probably weren’t active enough or aggressive enough in trying to get them back so now I think we really have to redouble to fill that void that occurred.”

Legislators and the governor appointed a “Generation Iowa Commission” to come up with ideas for state action that could help reverse the brain drain. Lasley made his comments during a recent appearance on “The Iowa Journal” on Iowa Public Television.

 

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Filed Under: Agriculture, Business, Education, Human Interest, Politics / Govt Tagged With: Drake University, Employment and Labor, Iowa State University, Legislature, University of Iowa, University of Northern Iowa

Featured Stories

Iowans 65+ now eligible in next phase of Covid vaccinations

Bill would remove transfer limits in five Iowa school districts

Former Iowa sports talk host sentenced to federal prison for ticket scams

Feenstra only member of Iowa delegation not at Biden’s inauguration

Congresswoman Axne favors Biden pandemic relief plan, Hinson not ruling out a ‘yes’

TwitterFacebook
Tweets by RadioIowa

Unbeaten Drake visits Missouri State

UNI adds two nonconference games to basketball schedule

Iowa State-Kansas postponed

Iowa-Michigan State postponed

Fire damage to Riverfront Stadium electrical system will cost Waterloo thousands

More Sports

eNews and Updates

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

Archives

Copyright © 2021 ยท Learfield News & Ag, LLC