chancellor@ku.edu
A convocation to mark the beginning of the school year has been a KU tradition for 140 years. I like to think of it as a ritual testimony to our perseverance. Yes, KU has been here for a long time - 140 years, and KUMC has been here for a long time, too, as it celebrates its 100th anniversary this year.
But in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and the images of pain and suffering in New Orleans that we have seen for the past week, we are reminded that no matter how long we have been holding convocations, nothing is as permanent or certain or as settled or as safe as we think it is. Our circumstances can change quickly, and we should not be so arrogant as to believe that we know what lies ahead.
I was particularly struck by the need for health care in New Orleans, and how people were affected immediately, not just by injury or harm from the storm, but by the inability to access the health care system which they had come to depend upon.
Medical institutions are essential to survival and health, and a university, particularly an academic health center, is especially critical for our stability as a society. To face such challenges, a university must be strong, and I believe KU, as an institution, has never been stronger.
It has the highest enrollment ever, 29,590 students and the strongest student body in its history, judging by GPA and standardized tests. We also have the most skilled faculty ever, judging by teaching awards and ability to compete for research funding. And we just finished last year the most successful fund drive in KU history, "KU First," which brought $653 million into KU Endowment, $150 million to KUMC.
With the help of such private funds, we have added $286.6 million in new buildings and renovations to the University over the last three years, and you can see one of those new buildings, our Biomedical Research Center, at 39th and Rainbow.
A public university should educate its citizens, and KU conferred a record 6,129 degrees last year. We enrolled more Kansas residents than any other university in the state, 20,379, and they will soon join the 138,000 KU alumni working in Kansas. In that group are a large percentage of the professional classes of Kansas: Because of your efforts, almost 4,000 doctors, 3,000 nurses, 3,300 allied health professionals, as well as 1,841 pharmacists, 3,533 lawyers, 12,729 school teachers, 5,127 engineers, 9,607 School of Business grads, 4,427 journalists, and 3,348 social workers, all KU grads, all contributing to the success of this state.
A public research university also has a responsibility to provide world-class faculty to teach its students and lead its research efforts. KU's faculty has earned 269 Fulbright grants since that program began in 1950 to send the best U.S. faculty abroad to share their knowledge with the world.
Our faculty has also competed for and won $274 million in research grants this year, the most ever, demonstrating that KU competes at the very highest levels of American research.
In fact, these figures demonstrate why KU is near its goal of becoming one of the 25 best public research universities in America by 2010. Five years ago, when we announced this goal, we had 17 departments among the top 25 in public universities. Today, we have 26 departments designated as among the top 25.
This evidence of KU's strength is one reason why, earlier this year in delivering my convocation address on the Lawrence campus, I spoke of the power of dreams. I recounted the remarkable accomplishments of students who came to KU to pursue their dreams. And I spoke about how the education they received at KU empowered them to convert their dreams into reality. My message attempted to underscore the importance of the transformative power of higher education - a power that best illustrates the majesty of what we do as a university. It is a power I have the privilege of seeing at work every time I come to KUMC.
Today, in coming to the Medical Center, I want to speak of a particular dream. This is a collective dream--the dream of a community and state. And a dream of a Chancellor, and I hope a dream of yours. Like those dreams I spoke of in Lawrence, this dream will come true because the University of Kansas is uniquely positioned to make it a reality.
My dream for this medical center, for this community and for our state is to provide this region with the comprehensive cancer treatment center its citizens deserve. My dream for Kansas is nothing short of ending suffering and death from cancer.
We have the ability to eventually alleviate pain, suffering and death from cancer. Within our grasp are the tools and talent necessary to transform what the cancer patients of this region think of when they hear the word, "cancer".
Too many families have experienced the fear and pain that accompanies a diagnosis of cancer. The statistics are indeed sobering. Over one million, three hundred thousand people are diagnosed with cancer each year in the United States - nearly 13,000 in Kansas. Approximately one out of every two American men and one out of every three American women will have some type of cancer at some point in their lifetime. Cancer kills one out of every four Americans, making it the second most common cause of death in the US. In Kansas, over 5,300 people die of cancer each year with an overall cost in medical expenses and lost productivity of $1.6 billion. In fact Kansas ranks 41st highest overall in cancer mortality rates among the 50 states.
While these statistics are stark reminders of the magnitude of the impact cancer has - they fail to represent the real cost of cancer - the real cost has to include the moms and dads stolen from their children, the children whose lives ended far too soon, the friends and neighbors who are no longer with us - behind each cancer statistic is a person - a person we have to remember as we fight this disease.
Under the leadership of Roy Jensen, we are engaged as a university in the all out pursuit of building a world class cancer center. This initiative is not our university's only priority, but it is our university's number one priority - notice I did not say the medical center's number one priority. This initiative will require the resources of our entire university. Calling on the expertise and innovation of colleagues on the Lawrence, Kansas City and Wichita campuses - we will act as one university to make this dream a reality.
The National Cancer Institute has the goal of eliminating suffering and death due to cancer by the year 2015. That should be a goal we help achieve for Kansans and for those who live in our region.
Cancer is a complicated set of diseases but, with a focused approach that seeks to develop new and better ways to prevent, detect, eliminate and control the cancer process, great strides can be made.
Much progress has already been made by those working in this field, with people like Carol Fabian and all of you who are researching and treating cancer. Since the enactment of the National Cancer Act in 1971 the number of cancer survivors in the United States has increased from 3 million to almost 10 million. I am one of those survivors. I received excellent care from Brant Thrasher and his colleagues in Urology, after Nortie Greenberger diagnosed my prostate cancer.
The University will build its cancer center not as a fortress but as a broad network of resources - a network that will encompass our entire state and region. Additionally, we will make sure our center addresses the needs of traditionally underserved populations that reside in the inner cities and in rural areas of our region. We will capitalize on the proven expertise of our School of Pharmacy and scientists like Gunda Georg on the Lawrence campus to create a drug development pipeline whose benefits will include the development of new and improved oncology agents. This initiative will not only serve to enhance the health of patients but it will also revitalize the economic health of our region through the commercialization of the therapies discovered.
The University is prepared to devote the full measure of its energy to accomplishing this dream but we will not be able to accomplish this goal alone.
In the months ahead I will be working with our Congressional delegation, state legislators and our governor to identify additional resources to help us in this fight against cancer. We must have sustainable funding to assist with the recruitment and retention of the superb scientists necessary to staff this initiative. We will also be asking private citizens, foundations and corporations to become our partners in this fight. I will be working with our endowment association leaders to provide meaningful opportunities for private donors to connect to this dream.
Finally, I ask for your continued help, support and advocacy. It is so easy to lapse into a mindset of scarcity, instead of focusing on our surplus of possibilities. I believe we would be shirking our obligations to this state if we failed to take advantage of the opportunities that have aligned themselves in this cancer initiative. No other institution is positioned to effectively address this need - it is our job to do and the people of Kansas deserve nothing less than our best effort to capitalize on this opportunity.
Chancellors are expected to worry about a lot of things - but thankfully, Chancellors are also expected to dream. Imagine a world in which cancer no longer implied suffering and death. As Chancellor of this university I want to assure you that this is a dream which can come true. With your help, we can be successful. I ask that you join me in this dream of a lifetime.
