Technology creates opportunities by encouraging information sharing. Some of KU's greatest challenges are the obstacles to communicating across the whole institution-the "one university" called the University of Kansas.
So, beginning today, every two weeks on Monday, you will receive an e-mail update from me about KU happenings. So much at KU depends upon communication and I want to reach you directly.
Part of e-mail's attraction is the ease of response, so please let me know what you think. I invite your feedback, advice, and criticism. I hope to share with you the KU story created daily by our collective efforts, and offer a chancellor's perspective on the events that affect us all.
Rankings
I am often asked, what are KU's goals? I believe strongly that KU should strive to be a "Top 25 public university". What does this mean?
A university is defined by its ambition. What do we aspire to be? Do we want to compete at the national level, or simply be known as the best university in Kansas?
KU's capacity for strength-the power that arises from all of us focused on a single goal-enables the University to strive for a first tier national ranking. We all know what national rankings mean in athletics, and we hope the Jayhawks are near the top. But how do we measure universities?
There are a number of national rankings of universities. The most famous are the annual U.S. News and World Report rankings. There are other rankings from the National Science Foundation, the National Research Council, the University of Florida's Center for the Study of Higher Education, and other organizations.
These rankings are controversial. Many argue against them, claiming that they are not a true measure of an institution.
In some ways they are not, and rankings must be used cautiously. But controversial or not, I believe rankings are here to stay. The general public understands the concept of rankings, and they want to know where their university stands. Rankings also respond to the public need to be reassured about the quality of higher education. Finally, rankings are a way for us to take pride in various successes of our university.
Because KU has been such a strong university for such a long time, people inevitably look for KU in these rankings. If we are not there, people ask why. Many second and third tier universities are not included in the rankings, and never really think much about how they fare nationally. KU, because it is a national university, will always be expected to appear.
In the U.S. News rankings, KU is usually ranked somewhere between 30 and 40 among public universities, the number varying according to that year's legislative support. In other rankings, twenty KU departments rank in the top thirty in their discipline nationally. Two KU departments are ranked number one in the country by U.S. News-Special Education and Public Administration (City Manager's program). All of these rankings are a tribute to the strength of KU faculty and staff.
KU's current ranking by U.S. News, plus the fact that so many KU departments and schools rank highly, suggests that a consistent ranking for KU among the top 25 of public universities is an achievable goal.
To reach that goal, however, we must build on our strength as a teaching institution, known for the quality of our undergraduate education, and add to it the enhancement of our research and graduate programs. We have strong graduate programs in the arts, humanities, and social sciences, and clear strengths in the sciences-including the medical sciences--and engineering.
Some of our greatest opportunities for the future lie in strengthening our research efforts in the life sciences and information science, broadly defined. Fortunately, these are the two areas identified by the Kansas Technology Corporation as KU's responsibility in the state's plan to grow research in order to stimulate Kansas economic development.
Thus, the very areas where the state of Kansas wants us to invest more effort are the same areas that can help us most in achieving a higher national ranking for our university.
Even more fortuitously, these are the two areas the federal government has made a priority as well, doubling the National Institutes of Health budget so that it now totals $21 billion, and declaring information and telecommunication technology a "critical technology" for the country's economic future. Information technology is the currency of the so-called "new economy," so much so that the shortage of skilled workers in information technology has reached crisis proportions for the whole country.
What does this all mean for us in our daily jobs? It means that life sciences research will be an area in which we will vigorously seek federal research grants. As witness to these efforts, Dr. Gunda Georg and a host of her colleagues in the life sciences, both from Lawrence and the Med Center, recently competed for and won a $9.9 million grant to search for clues to the cure for cancer. This is the largest basic science grant ever received by the university. It is the kind of effort that will cause KU's research reputation to grow.
Similarly, the Provost has appointed a task force to explore the feasibility of creating a School of Information Science and Technology, which would be housed on the Edwards Campus. Such a school would draw on faculty and research efforts from all KU campuses and contribute newly skilled workers to the IT work force in the entire state of Kansas as well as the Greater Kansas City region.
Both the life sciences research initiative and the idea of a School of Information Science and Technology represent the kinds of initiatives necessary if KU is to rise in the national rankings.
But we should be clear about our ultimate goals. Improving KU requires a commitment from every department, every school, every faculty member, every staff member, and every administrator. We all must find ways to be more creative and effective in whatever our specialty or job. But there are also particular areas-like the life sciences and information technology-where KU needs to make special investments, and secure special funding from outside the institution.
I think there is little question that building on our many strengths as a teaching institution, enhancing our research and graduate programs, and making special efforts in life sciences research and information technology will cause KU to rise in whatever national ranking we see. Will this mean we are a better university? Only if each of us can say every day, "What I did today improves KU." That will be the true measure of our commitment to excellence, without which our rankings will certainly decline.
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