I get to work in beautiful Bloomington, IL next week.  There are only three main employers; State Farm, Mitsubishi, and ISU.  Without them, it would be one giant corn field.  I've heard that ISU is a fairly good university.  Not as good as the University of Illinois, but still a great place to go for some areas of learning.
The Redbirds are kind of a dumb mascot, though.  If they wanted to pick a bird, then why not the Eagles or the Hawks.  The Air Force Academy has the Falcons which I think is cool.  I think that I'd even prefer the Ducks.  I would draw the line at the Turkeys.