Building Cross-University Alliances that Enhance Research
no. 103 - July 1999

Remarks: Panel of Chancellors

Robert Hemenway
Chancellor, University of Kansas

The noble expression of the mission of the university is research. When we say that our goal is to seek the truth and to seek new knowledge--that's research.

To conduct research costs money, and there is never enough money. I've never seen us have enough money to fund all the research. This is good; our aspirations should exceed our resources. It is the responsibility of the Chancellor to increase revenue in order to achieve the aspirations. And you must show the implications of research to legislators. There are many forces which would deny us those aspirations as a research university. For example, when a reporter interviewed a legislator in Colorado and told him that a professor had made an important discovery that could win the Nobel Prize, the legislator responded, "so what?" There are forces in the societies in which we live that don't share our aspirations.

When we talk about "coastalization," those are real forces at work. That is why we become caught up in the rankings game. It validates our ambition. The University of Kansas has two #1 programs in the country: Special Education and Public Administration. When we have a chance to tell alumni and supporters that we are #1, this is a way to validate our ambition to be a university operating in the major leagues.

If you are going to play in the major leagues, you must recognize that you will provide a quality undergraduate education. We are constantly able to do what we do as a research university because of the quality of our undergraduate education. We have committed $75,000 - $100,000 to undergraduates who are doing research. They see themselves as Nobel Prize winners from this experience, and the opportunity for undergraduate research is what sets us apart from other institutions.

If it is the Chancellor's job to raise revenues, what are the ways?

1. Increase state appropriations
   Midwestern states do not often appropriate large increases.
2. Increase efficiency and save money; reallocate the money saved
   This is positive but you can't reallocate your way to excellence.
3. Raise tuition
   We are from a state (Kansas) that believes in high access, high quality, and low cost education.
4. Increase and improve private giving
   KU has the 14th largest endowment among public universities. KU couldn't be a research university if it weren't for this giving. Our new capital campaign will be 500-600 million dollars.
5. Increase federal grants and contracts
   We've re-organized at KU in this way, and we're seeing some success. We improved the infrastructure to support research across campus. The idea is to support young professors.
6. Increase federal earmarks
   KU and MU are in the top 20 for earmarked funds. An example in Kansas is the Dole Institute for Public Service and Public Policy.
7. Form university-industry partnerships
   This is an important source of revenue for research. In the spring of 1999 alone, KU generated 10 million from these sources. Examples are the public-private partnership between Farmland Industries and KU in which we train middle managers, and the 21 million dollar deal with Coke that provides scholarships to KU employees and their children.
8. Form public-public partnerships or university alliances
   KU has an alliance with Midwest Research Institute in Kansas City.

It's easy to see the benefits of crossing university lines, but bureaucracies, distance, and competition make it difficult. KU has a medical school and K-State is a land grant institution with a cooperative extension service. I've long thought that the way to deliver preventive healthcare to an aging population is to use the extension system and build a cross-university alliance between KU and K-State. This would take a full university effort. There are also opportunities in the Kansas City area with MU. The civic leaders, the chamber of commerce, and the area development council all support health sciences and life sciences research in Kansas City. The founder of American Century has designated 400 million dollars to support a world class institution for biology and genetics. When the human genome is fully mapped, the Kansas City area wants to participate in this research. It takes bi-state investment and both governors to achieve it.

When two universities join together, there is a tendency to see it as an incremental collection of resources, assigning an increment of faculty to a specific problem. This multiplies by two our leveraged capabilities, but it is possible to get ten times leverage with industry alliances.

Allen Greenspan says that a conceptual economy is based on information, knowledge, and ideas, not on product. As an example, I have an ad from Merrill Lynch offering a grant competition for recent Ph.D. candidates who can explain the market-based benefit of their dissertation. Part of this deal involves introducing the researcher to leading entrepreneurs and venture capitalists. It proves again human intellectual capitol is our single most valuable currency-in other words, it proves the value of research. Ideas have value and currency. They are powerful.

This is the best environment for research that I've seen in my lifetime. What the Internet has bone for business is the best example of the economic engine generating new ideas. E-bay has a market value of 17 billion dollars. This is a new idea. People are excited about new ways of doing things. Research universities must take advantage of this resurgence.