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In the first year since its strategic plan was announced, the highly touted 11-county Metro Little Rock Alliance did not land companies in what it decided were the most desirable categories of aerospace, biotechnology, automotive, software, telecommunications and financial services. Two call centers and a peanut-butter jar factory announced plans for the area. Yet those involved in the alliance say they are encouraged. And no small part of that optimism — and maybe the most critical news in the next half-century, according to one expert — is the $6 million endowment given to the University of Arkansas at Little Rock’s engineering department in May. The gift from the Trinity Foundation of Pine Bluff allowed UALR to add mechanical and electrical engineering programs. “I think a college of engineering will do more for the local economy than any single client they land, no matter how large it may be,” said Angelos Angelou, chief executive officer of AngelouEconomics of Austin, Texas, the consulting firm that made recommendations for the alliance. “I said [last year] that if the region is successful in getting a college of engineering, that would be the most important economic development announcement in the next 50 years.” When Angelou - more available