Art Institute poised to open Triangle campus in Ambacco

Catching up on the daily fishwrap, we'd be remiss not to tip the hat to Monica Chen for her H-S story covering the opening of the Art Institute of Raleigh-Durham, the latest in the series of for-profit AI campuses opening around the country.

No doubt some will grouse at the concept of for-profit colleges, particularly given the sales tactic mentality alleged to take place in some corners of the industry. (Todd Nelson, the former president of the parent company of the University of Phoenix and now-president of AI corporate parent EDMC, gives some intriguing comments on the industry in this article from Career College Central.)

Still, institutions like AI are at their best intended to fulfill a useful, valuable niche in a number of fields, patterned somewhere between a vo-tech/community college education and a traditional four-year college. Degree programs will include programs in graphic, web, interior and interactive media design, fashion, and the culinary arts.

The institute, which has more than 40 locations nationally, received approval from the UNC Board of Governors to operate in Durham earlier this month. Today, it's kicking off its marketing and advertising push to announce its arrival in the Triangle.

It has set its opening date as Aug. 21. By then, the school will have moved into 34,000 square feet in the Fowler Building. Just a shell space right now, the school is planning to build lecture halls, multimedia labs, kitchens for the culinary arts students and various amenities.

From a downtown Durham perspective, as we've talked about here before, the most exciting element of AI's arrival seems to lie in the sheer presence it brings of students coming downtown, and needing in turn places to live, dine, drink, and play. Downtown's renaissance to date has been spurred primarily by the renewed presence of office workers patrolling complexes like American Tobacco during the daytime.

The presence of a different demographic in many cases should ideally open up demand for a wider range of business and residential options than exist in the urban core these days. A key question: how many students in the AI programs choose to call central Durham home, versus living at home with parents and/or nestling down in suburban outlets like South Durham or Brier Creek for the night.

Comments

[katuah]

so, if it's in downtown Durham, why is it being called the Art Institute of RALEIGH-Durham? Why not just Durham? or DURHAM-Raleigh? It's stuff like this that makes my teeth grind. Too bad we can't make a law that says, if you are in Durham, you can't call yourself "The ____ of Raleigh".

[Andrew Edmonds]

kaytuah, you might want to hook up with the group of volunteers at DCVB who keep an eye on "Raleigh Durham" entanglements like this.

http://www.durhamimagewatch.com/

Also, you could email the AI people directly to voice your dissatisfaction. I just did.

webadmin@aii.edu

--ASE.

[MrsSteel]

This afternoon I finally saw a television ad for the "Raleigh-Durham" campus. The funniest thing is that it repeats "Raleigh-Durham" over and over again, but the website featured on the ad is AIDurham.com. Seems a bit confusing, no?

[Durhamresident]

The name R-D really bothers me as well. I hate the perception that something in Durham needs to be linked to Raleigh to be successful. Anyone know if they got economic incentives of any kind to come to Durham? If they did, they should have to take RALEIGH out of the name.

[Brittany]

Okay its the name of a school, not your kid or even yours for that matter. Really is it that serious? The Raleigh Durham Airport is in Morrisville....think about it!

[Bertha34Curtis]

Have no a lot of money to buy a building? Do not worry, just because that is possible to get the mortgage loans to solve all the problems. So take a sba loan to buy everything you require.