The University of Arizona will become a permanent presence in the Verde Valley thanks to a donation of land by the Steele Foundation.

The UA plans to use the gifted 45-acre DK Ranch in Cornville to expand its College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and newly established Veterinary Medical and Surgical Program.

CALS is the university’s largest and most established program, meaning thousands of university students will be able to study in the Verde Valley in the years to come. With those new students comes the potential for local jobs to build and maintain facilities, serve students and work in support positions on the property site as well as provide educational opportunities to Arizona undergraduates that will hopefully keep some in the Verde Valley after graduation. The university has already budgeted $200,000 per year just to maintain the property, not even including what other potential capital improvements may be made.

“UA is investing in the future of Arizona’s economy by investing in the Verde Valley,” said Shane Burgess, the vice president of Veterinary Sciences and Cooperative Extension and dean of CALS. “Our schools and departments will utilize DK Ranch to complement existing programs at the UA and to create new ones specifically related to the region.”

Those are welcome words to hear, and we hope they echo over Mingus Mountain into the halls of Yavapai College and the ears of President Penny Wills, who needs to hear them more than anyone else in Arizona’s higher educational network.

The Steele Foundation did not indicate why Yavapai College did not win the bid, but at a July 9 board meeting, Wills blamed this newspaper, specifically one editorial cartoon drawn by our longtime cartoonist Rob Pudim and one editorial written by me, both of which criticized the college’s complete disregard for Sedona and Verde Valley taxpayers’ contributions to our local college.

While it would be arrogant to claim Pudim and I wield Illuminati-esque power over multi-million-dollar land deals as Wills suggests, the fact is our humble publications reflect the opinions of the 77,000 people who call Sedona and the Verde Valley home.

The fact is the majority of our taxpayers feel Yavapai College does not serve our interests with the same passion it does Prescott. Yavapai College has chosen to instead waste our tax revenue on a new campus in the undeveloped Prescott Valley area rather than invest back into our communities, leaving a gap in the Verde Valley’s ability to provide higher educational opportunities. The UA Wildcats pounced on our region’s potential to expand its offerings and the Steele Foundation has awarded their farsighted vision.

Yavapai College will be able to use the UA’s new land in partnership in much the same way Chester the Terrier rode on the coattails of Spike the Bulldog in “Looney Tunes” cartoons, but the bottom line is Yavapai College’s loss is the UA’s gain.

Now that the UA has a foothold in Northern Arizona, it may be high time for Verde Valley taxpayers to seriously consider seceding from the college taxing district and working with UA to build a satellite university campus in the Verde Valley. After all, the University of Arizona Cancer Center already partners with Verde Valley Medical Center’s cancer center.

A UA campus in the Verde Valley could focus on Medicine, Tourism and Hospitality Management, Small Business Administration, Filmmaking, Agriculture and Forestry. We already have millions in tax revenue to fund such a site.

Perhaps the DK Ranch is merely the start of that transition.

Welcome, UA Wildcats, to the Verde Valley.

Christopher Fox Graham

Managing Editor