WARRENSBURG, Mo. — President Barack Obama said the University of Central Missouri’s “Innovation Campus” should be a model for the nation, in remarks during his first visit to the state in over a year.
Speaking to some 2,000 gathered on the Warrensburg campus, Obama said the state established model of merging resources of high schools, businesses, and universities to encourage a faster and more efficient process through college should be looked at by other American colleges.
“That is the kind of innovation we need when it comes to colleges,” Obama said, “And I want the entire country to notice it.”
The University of Central Missouri established the program list year with a grant from the state of Missouri, distributed by Gov. Jay Nixon. Earlier this month, Nixon signed legislation sponsored by Lee’s Summit Republican Will Kraus designating the school as an “innovation campus.”
“Missouri’s Innovation Campus initiative is now a national model for reducing college costs and preparing today’s students for the jobs of tomorrow,” Nixon said in a statement. “The strength of our economy and the future of our state are directly tied to ensuring that higher education remains affordable and provides students with the knowledge and skills they need to succeed in the global marketplace.”
Kraus, speaking with reporters at the event, said he was “really glad” the president gave credit to the University of Central Missouri, adding that he thought the innovation campus model is a “great model to be rolled out across the country.”
Obama’s remarks, the second in a series of economic addresses he planned to give in the coming months as lawmakers move through their August recess period. U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill, a Missouri Democrat, spent the day traveling with the president and said if Republicans want to criticize Obama’s message, they should similarly lay out their own ideas.
“I think he is frustrated because he wants to do more for the middle class and he keeps hitting a roadblock called house Republicans,” McCaskill said. “He is trying to reset the table and say, lets really get to wrok on what is important to Americans, which is having ar eal job, having a house you can afford, having a good retirement, and decent health care.”
Sen. Roy Blunt, a Missouri Republican who spoke to reporters earlier in the day following Obama’s first speech at Knox College in Illinois, said Wednesday’s speech was just another in more than a dozen “pivots” back to the economy undertaken by the Obama White House.
“I have a list of almost a dozen pivots the president has had back to the economy,” Blunt said. “I’d like to see him get there and stay there until we get the private sector job growth we need in the country.”
Obama returned to Washington after Wednesday’s midwest swing. On Thursday, he has a similar event scheduled in Jacksonville, Florida.
“This has to be our core project for the next decade,” he said. “I want to lay out my ideas … and I want the Republcians to lay out theirs.”