Published: June 11, 2009 10:56 pm      

Mike James: Reaching for the stars: 6/12/09

Morehead State University President Wayne Andrews promised “a tour of the known universe” Thursday to visitors attending the opening of the university’s new Space Science Center.

A bit of levity, to be sure, but Andrews could have gone further. The opening of the center, which houses one of only five undergraduate space science programs in the country, holds an even greater promise for its students — and for the state.

Through their studies and the research of which they’ll be an integral part, space science students at Morehead will probe the limits of the known universe. Little by little, they will stretch those limits, adding to the sum of scientific knowledge.

They will help launch and track satellites. They will work on NASA projects. They will explore the heavens. And all from the campus of a small state college buried in the hills of eastern Kentucky.

The center is a very visible symbol of a modern social and economic reality — that top-notch science, research and education is no longer the exclusive province of metropolitan areas. That’s largely because fiber optics and satellites and other technological wonders have made location increasingly irrelevant.

And the work done at the center will further dissolve those barriers.

The trend reflects the mission of universities like Morehead, doesn’t it? The time was that a rural life and higher education were not compatible. But just as scientists are probing the limits of space, so is the small university challenging students to test their limits.

For the past half-century, we’ve watched the exploration of space both in manned rocket ships and via telescopes and satellites.

We’ve seen the progress from the pinging ball that was Sputnik and glass-lensed telescopes to Mars landers and radio telescopes that peer out hundreds of light years into the universe.

A regional institution like Morehead is sort of like that — it reaches out into the furthest hollows with the promise of education.