BigU's Tech Transfer Problem
Or What Happens When the Goose Stops Laying Golden Eggs?

A friend has called Mr. B's attention to the following very important article.

Concentrating on biomedical research to the exclusion of other very strong pieces of the portfolio, such as those to be found in the Institute of Technology, may not be such a great idea.

Interdisciplinary work without a strong disciplinary base is not possible. If the core rots, we are doomed in the long run.

Think about it, Bob and Tom.

Time to start facing the very serious problems we have in the here and now rather than worrying about becoming "one of the top three public research universities in the world [sic]." If you can't play with the cards you've got, maybe you should let someone else have a seat at the table?

It is notable that this negative piece comes from the U's good friends at the Strib.

By THOMAS LEE, Star Tribune

April 5, 2008

The anti-AIDS drug Ziagen has been good to the University of Minnesota. Maybe a little too good.

Since 1999, Ziagen, manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline, has generated $290 million in royalties for the university. But take away Ziagen and the university is left with very little else to show for its recent intellectual property investments.

The drug generates 95 percent of the school's annual licensing income. To make matters worse, Ziagen's patents expire overseas next year and in the United States in 2013. That leaves the U scrambling to replace the more than $50 million in annual royalty payments that Ziagen now generates.

Judging from the university's recent track record of converting its vast reservoir of research into cash, the U faces an uphill climb. The school that's known for inventing the pacemaker, the heart valve and one of the Web's first Internet browsers is desperate for a hit.

At a time when the state's economy is slowing and its medical device sector is maturing, the U's long commercialization slump has attracted the urgent attention of lawmakers, venture capitalists and others concerned about where Minnesota's next Medtronic or St. Jude will come from.

One blockbuster product or start-up could reverse the university's fortunes. The school has high hopes for Orasi Medical, a recent university spinoff that's developing technology to help quickly diagnose neurological diseases like Alzheimer's.

But compared with leading national universities and its regional peers, the U's commercialization efforts lag significantly. From 1984 to 2004, the university spun off 101 companies but only three went public, according to a study conducted by MBA students at the University's Carlson School of Management.

That translates to a 3 percent success rate, compared with 8 percent for public universities and 14 percent for "premier" universities like the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford, the study says.

The three start-ups generated just $9 million in income for the university, with $8 million from just one -- Net Perceptions, an Edina-based tech company that went public in 1999 with great fanfare but struggled after the tech bubble burst and moved out of state in 2004.

"The U is one of the greatest assets the state has," said Vance Opperman, president and chief executive of Key Investment Inc., a Minneapolis-based venture capital firm that funds real estate, publishing and young technology companies. "But there has not been as much [start-up activity] as I would like to see.''

Since he arrived in 2005 as the university's vice president of research, Tim Mulcahy has won praise for his efforts to professionalize the university's tech transfer office. And the U continues to invest in research. In 2006, it spent $595 million on research, placing ninth among all public universities.

An immense challenge

But the school generated only $56 million in license income that year, most of it from Ziagen, according to an annual survey by the Association of University Technology Managers. In a field where commercialization lead times are measured in years, the U's challenge is immense.

"The university has had success in research and fundraising but less success in translating that research into an ongoing revenue stream," said Michael Gorman, a managing director with Split Rock Partners, an Eden Prairie-based venture capital firm that specializes in start-ups.

Research universities are critical to a region's economic development because they produce the cutting-edge technology that attracts investors. California's Silicon Valley and Route 128 near Boston owe much of their economic vitality to the presence of Stanford and MIT.

But some venture capitalists view the University of Minnesota as a liability rather than an asset to the state.

The university "provides all sorts of disincentives to new technology," John Alexander, president of Twin Cities Angels, a local investor group, recently told the state's House Committee on Biosciences and Emerging Technology.

The school is more interested in protecting its intellectual property than collaborating with the business community, he said: "It is a pleasure working with MIT; the same can't be said of Minnesota. I think that's the widely held consensus of the business and venture capital community."

Stifling innovation?

Alexander, who is also chief executive of Plymouth-based Chameleon Scientific, suggested that the university's near monopoly on high-tech research in the region is stifling innovation. The state should think about dividing the school or creating a second research university, he said.

Faced with shrinking state budgets and declines in federal research money, universities have aggressively pursued licensing deals and start-ups, hoping to find the next Google or Gatorade.

Midwest states, in particular, have tapped their public universities hoping to produce high-tech industries to replace lost manufacturing jobs, said Leslie Norins, editor and publisher of Technology Transfer Tactics, an industry newsletter based in Naples, Fla.

Business and scholarship

Historically, the U has been uncomfortable mixing business with academia, fearing that the quest for profits could sully the school's mission to educate students, observers say.

That ambivalence has translated into "mixed signals about whether the university is serious about entrepreneurship," said Stephen Parente, an associate professor of finance at the Carlson School who is also director of the Medical Industry Leadership Institute. "The university has gone back and forth over on this over the years."

A scandal at the university's renowned medical school in the 1990s only deepened that ambivalence. In 1995, a federal grand jury indicted Dr. John Najarian, a renowned transplant surgeon, on charges of fraud, theft and tax evasion relating to the illegal sale of ALG, an experimental anti-rejection drug.

Although the Food and Drug Administration never approved ALG, the school's surgery department, which Najarian chaired, sold $80 million worth of ALG throughout the 1970s and 1980s, with much of that money benefiting the U.

A jury acquitted Najarian the following year, but the damage was done. The school paid $32 million in fines, and the National Institutes of Health placed severe restrictions on the university's freedom to use research money.

After the scandal, the school instituted new accounting controls but ultimately shied away from technology transfer, said Rep. Tim Mahoney, DFL-St. Paul, chairman of the House Committee on Biosciences and Emerging Technology.

"The U erred on the side of caution," Mahoney said. "Now it has become institutionalized."

Some blame university policies that jealously guard intellectual property, making deals unattractive to firms interested in licensing technology or collaborating on research.

"It was difficult to get access to intellectual property," said Dale Wahlstrom, a former Medtronic executive who is now chief executive of the BioBusiness Alliance of Minnesota. "It was a one-sided discussion. If they couldn't get the optimal deal, they wouldn't do anything."

Roadblocks to cooperation

For example, companies that want to use the school's animal research labs to test products like medical devices must cede at least some ownership of the technology to the university. As a result, companies have fled to private facilities in Coon Rapids and Wisconsin, Mike Berman, a prominent medical device entrepreneur, recently told the House Committee on Biosciences and Emerging Technology.

Doug Johnson, a former investment banker who runs the Carlson School's Venture Center, said the U's protective attitude stems from its belief that it never received proper financial compensation from technologies it helped invent, like the pacemaker and the heart valve.

"The U has been very instrumental in developing the technology behind very successful companies [like Medtronic or St. Jude] but hasn't gotten paid for it" because the school failed to protect its inventions, he said.

Could have been a gold mine

But Johnson also said that the university traditionally lacked the necessary money and managerial talent to turn promising research into viable companies. That's resulted in several missed opportunities.

In 1991, the university unveiled Gopher, at the time the world's most powerful Web browser. The school unsuccessfully tried to license Gopher, and the technology faded into obscurity after the University of Illinois released Mosaic in 1993.

The team at the University of Illinois that developed Mosaic subsequently formed Netscape Communications. Under chief executive Jim Clark, Netscape launched the Internet era with Navigator, the first commercial Web browser.

"They won," Johnson said. "It was a massive success and revolutionized the world. You can imagine that this would have had a profound impact on [our] area" if the U had maintained its lead and continued to develop Gopher.

The Bonzo Summary - BS09

Where Do We Stand At Big U?

The US News 2009 Edition of America's Best Graduate Schools has appeared. [The numbering scheme is a little odd, because the report issues in 2008 for data that was presumably collected in 2007. But we will stick with the US News numbering scheme.]

These are the rankings that university administrators love to dismiss as meaningless - except of course, if their school does well, then the rankings are very informative or even valuable research.

The Annual BonzoSummary (BS) will keeps track of how BigU progresses along the road to greatness as we are transformed into GreatBigU. This will serve to monitor our progress toward becoming one of the three top public research universities in the world.

Disclaimer: The BonzoSummary will track medical schools, law schools, business schools, and engineering schools. There is (quite) a bit more to a university than these parts, but it is unlikely that one will be in the “top three” without strong performance in these areas. Having said this, some of the best universities in the world do not have medical schools, e.g., Caltech and MIT - despite what the Arizona/Florida rankings claim.

Engineering

University of Minnesota – tied for 24^th overall (23^rd last year)

Public Universities are in bold face.

1 Massachusetts Institute of Technology

2 Stanford University

3 University of California--Berkeley

4 Georgia Institute of Technology

5 University of Illinois--Urbana-Champaign

6 California Institute of Technology

7 Carnegie Mellon University

8 University of Southern California (Viterbi)

9 University of Michigan--Ann Arbor

11 University of California--San Diego (Jacobs)

11 University of Texas--Austin (Cockrell)

13 University of California--Los Angeles (Samueli)

14 Texas A&M University--College Station (Look)

15 Purdue University--West Lafayette

15 University of Wisconsin--Madison

17 University of Maryland--College Park (Clark)

18 Princeton University

19 Northwestern University (McCormick)

19 University of California--Santa Barbara

21 Columbia University (Fu Foundation)

22 Harvard University

23 Pennsylvania State University--University Park

24 Johns Hopkins University (Whiting)

24 University of Florida

24 University of Minnesota--Twin Cities

24 University of Washington

Thirteen public research universities ahead of us in Engineering.

Business Schools

Tied for 27th, 25th last year

1 Harvard University

1 Stanford University

3 University of Pennsylvania (Wharton)

4 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Sloan)

4 Northwestern University (Kellogg)

4 University of Chicago

7 Dartmouth College (Tuck)

7 University of California--Berkeley (Haas)

9 Columbia University

10 New York University (Stern)

11 University of California--Los Angeles (Anderson)

12 University of Michigan--Ann Arbor (Ross)

13 Yale University

14 Cornell University (Johnson)

14 Duke University (Fuqua)

14 University of Virginia (Darden)

17 Carnegie Mellon University (Tepper)

18 University of Texas--Austin (McCombs)

19 University of North Carolina--Chapel Hill (Kenan-Flagler)

20 Indiana University--Bloomington (Kelley)

21 University of Southern California (Marshall)

22 Arizona State University (Carey)

22 Georgetown University (McDonough)

24 Emory University (Goizueta)

25 University of Rochester (Simon)

25 Washington University in St. Louis (Olin)

27 Ohio State University (Fisher)

27 University of Minnesota--Twin Cities (Carlson)

There are 8 public universities above us.

Research Medical Schools

Tied for 36th overall (last year tied for 39th)

1 Harvard University

2 Johns Hopkins University

3 Washington University in St. Louis

4 University of Pennsylvania

5 University of California--San Francisco

6 Duke University

6 University of Washington

8 Stanford University

9 University of California--Los Angeles (Geffen)

9 Yale University

11 Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons

11 University of Michigan--Ann Arbor

13 Baylor College of Medicine

14 University of California--San Diego

14 University of Pittsburgh

16 University of Chicago (Pritzker)

16 Vanderbilt University

18 Cornell University (Weill)

19 University of North Carolina--Chapel Hill

20 Emory University

20 Northwestern University (Feinberg)

22 University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center--Dallas

23 Case Western Reserve University

23 Mayo Medical School

23 Mount Sinai School of Medicine

23 University of Virginia

27 University of Alabama--Birmingham

27 University of Colorado--Denver

27 University of Wisconsin--Madison

30 Ohio State University

31 Brown University (Alpert)

31 Dartmouth Medical School

31 University of Iowa (Carver)

34 New York University

35 Oregon Health and Science University

36 University of Rochester

36 University of Southern California (Keck)

36 Yeshiva University (Einstein)

36 University of Minnesota Medical School

Fifteen public universities above us in research

Primary Care - (Tied for seventh, last year 13th)

1. University of Washington

2. Oregon Health Sciences

2. North Carolina

4. Colorado

5. Vermont

6. UCSF

7. Baylor

7. Iowa

7. Michigan State

7. Harvard

7. Minnesota

There are six public institutions above us.

Law Schools

University of Minnesota – tied for 22^nd overall

(20^th last year)

1 Yale University

2 Harvard University

2 Stanford University

4 Columbia University

5 New York University

6 University of California--Berkeley

7 University of Chicago

7 University of Pennsylvania

9 Northwestern University

9 University of Michigan--Ann Arbor

9 University of Virginia

12 Cornell University

12 Duke University

14 Georgetown University

15 Vanderbilt University

16 University of California--Los Angeles

16 University of Texas--Austin

18 University of Southern California (Gould)

19 Washington University in St. Louis

20 George Washington University

21 Boston University

22 Emory University

22 University of Minnesota--Twin Cities

Five public Universities Ranked above us.

It remains painfully obvious that the administration's declared goal of being one of the top three public research universities in the world is inappropriate, given any reasonable estimate of our current ranking against US institutions. The "whole world" part smacks of hubris and just makes things worse.

Sure one can argue that these rankings don't mean anything or that there are better rankings (Arizona/Florida, anyone?). However, the US News ranking is very important and is consulted by students and faculty for unbiased information about relative strengths of graduate programs. Google "university rankings" and see what pops up. Mr. B. is not particularly upset about these rankings and in some cases they are quite impressive.

There are some hints here as to how we can improve. Perhaps we should consider them rather than going off on a vainglorious crusade to becoming one of the "top three research universities in the world?" It will be interesting to see how things progress at BigU in the coming decade, the time frame OurLeader has given for BigU's achieving Greatness. The Bonzo Summary (10) will appear next Spring in the fourth year of the Great March. Based on a two-point extrapolation, however, things do not look good.

A bright spot is the primary care area of the medical school. In keeping with our land-grant mission, this aspect of the med school is very important and it is great to see that we are increasingly competitive in this area.

Summary (overall/public)

-------------------------------->2008-- 2009

Engineering --------> 22/14-- 24/14

Business----------------> 25/10-- 27/8

Medicine

Research--------------> 39/16-- 37/16

Primary Care------->13/11-- 7/7

Law--------------------> 20/6-- 22/6

Red means things got worse compared to last year, yellow - the same, green - better

Although I don't intend to track the following areas in great detail they are relevant to claims of being one of the top three public universities in the world:

(Overall/public)

Biological Sciences -------> 34/15
Chemistry-------------------> 22/10
Physics ----------------------> 23/12
Mathematics----------------> 17/6
Earth Sciences-------------> 21/11

As I write the proverbial storm clouds are on the horizon for funding at BigU by the State of Minnesota. Is it time to change course and decide how best to spend resources we have available? Or should we continue to prioritize our spending as if we had a chance of becoming "one of the top three public research universities in the world [sic]"?

People are paying attention to what is going on at the University. There will be another Bonzo Summary next year. Smoke and mirrors will not work indefinitely. The clock is ticking.

Bob, Tom?

Change at the Mount

Goings on at the Mount, Edith Wharton's place in the Berkshires, have been the subject of previous posts:


Mount Hopes Its Story Continues

House of Cards Or Life, Once Again, Imitates Art...

The single most important step toward saving the Mount has now occurred, Stephanie Copeland has been made an offer she couldn't accept - and resigned.

Let us hope that the good people still at the Mount can find a way to keep this wonderful house museum going. There are opportunities to make it more than a museum and they should be explored. This will probably be necessary for the institution to survive.

Further articles have appeared in the New York times and the Berkshire Eagle, but there is no point in gloating. The rumor mill has it that a piece will appear in the New Yorker. If this happens there will be another post on the matter.

Ciao,

Bonzo



From the Berkshire Eagle:

Editorial

Tuesday, April 01 There is no questioning Stephanie Copeland's dedication to the Mount, as she was the driving force behind the restoration of the Gilded Age home and gardens of author Edith Wharton. For the Mount to have any chance of digging out of its massive debt, however, the president and chief executive officer of the Edith Wharton Restoration had to step aside, which she did over the weekend.

The Mount is $8.7 million in debt, half of it owed to Berkshire Bank, and all of it is in default. With the bank threatening foreclosure, Ms. Copeland has led a fundraising effort over the past five weeks that has raised about $570,000, which scarcely makes a dent in the organization's deficit.

It is understandable, particularly in this financial climate, that potential donors would be reluctant to contribute to the Mount in its struggle as long as the person who oversaw the building of its debt was still in charge.

Ms. Copeland resigned after the board of trustees made her an offer she couldn't accept, one in which she would forfeit her role in administration and fundraising and remain in charge only of creative management at the Mount. While this action should have come sooner, this board, which is entirely new since late 2006, took the initiative that past boards had failed to take.

It is obvious that, as the board stated, the Mount's management structure needs an overhaul. In keeping with that, it needs to build ties with the Berkshire community that are all but non-existent. If the board can find the right person or people to meet these challenges, the Mount may survive this trauma and remain an important part of the Berkshire experience.

Walking the Talk

From the Iowa Gazette:

Wallace Loh Incoming University of Iowa provost

New provost, wife, commit to University of Iowa Scholarship Gifts



IOWA CITY -- New University of Iowa Provost Wallace Loh isn't on the job yet, but he and his wife, Barbara, have committed to fund five full-tuition scholarships for Iowa residents for the next four years.

Loh, 63, said Monday the need-based scholarships for UI students are part of his desire to give back to the state he credits with starting him on the right path.

Loh lived in Iowa for four years after immigrating to the United States to attend college. "I hope this will be the first installment" of many, he said.

UI officials said the total value of the gift is unknown because tuition will change over four years. UI tuition and fees next year is $6,524 for resident students.

Wearing a UI pin on his lapel and sporting a striped, black and gold tie, Loh said he is honored, thrilled and humbled to join the UI, which he called one of the country's great research universities.

"Iowa sets the gold standard," he said.

Mason said five finalists who interviewed for the provost job had an impressive variety of backgrounds and accomplishments but she "can't imagine that we could have found a more capable and engaging person to fill this than Dr. Wallace Loh."

"He impressed us with much more than his resume," Mason said. "Wallace Loh had that something extra."

Mason said she expects Loh will help the UI continue to extend its global reach and promote diversity and public engagement. She said Loh has a genuine commitment to the state of Iowa while bringing strong national and international perspectives.

Loh succeeds Mike Hogan, who left in September for the University of Connecticut presidency. Loh, dean of the college of arts and sciences and a professor of public service and psychology at Seattle University since 1999, will earn $350,000 a year.

Born in China and raised in Peru, Loh speaks Spanish, Chinese and French in addition to English. He has a doctorate in psychology from the University of Michigan and a degree from Yale Law School.

Everything That Rises Must Converge
Jean Nouvel Wins Pritzker, Ralph Rapson Leaves Us

Word over the weekend went out that Jean Nouvel, the brilliant and and inventive French architect, had won the Pritzker prize for architecture, one of the profession's greatest honors.

And then we learned today that over the weekend our own Ralph Rapson had died. Ralph Rapson was the architect for the old Guthrie theater, the original one that he worked on with Tyrone Guthrie to complete. I loved the Guthrie and its open, thrust stage. Many wonderful plays were done there. It was deeply disturbing to see it destroyed; further evidence of our throwaway culture.

The old Guthrie was torn down to be replaced by...what? Meanwhile the new and enlarged Guthrie went up in the mill district. A massive erection points toward the Mississippi and the building contains enough theaters that the rest of the Minneapolis theater community is worried about finding enough actors to put on their own shows. There is also an escalator system that reminds me of the ones that feed the tubes in London.

Don't get me wrong. It is a great building and has been mentioned as one of the pieces of Nouvel's work that was cause for the Pritzker. There are some huge pictures of famous playwrights, including August Wilson. Those of us who know the history of the old Guthrie and Wilson enjoy the irony.

Ralph Rapson did many other buildings in the Twin Cities including on the university campus. He also did homes. To my great regret I once had the opportunity to buy a Rapson house and passed on it. Truly one of the stupidest things that I have done.

But there was some kind of a weird, cosmic, connection between the works of Rapson and Nouvel that I can't quite identify. The thrust stage in the new Guthrie is eerily reminiscent of the one in the old Guthrie. Great architecture by people like Nouvel, Rapson, Gehry - he did the U of M Weisman museum - (Julie) Snow, and I.M. Pei, for example, are awe-inspiring and remind us how lucky we are in Minneapolis to have so many fine buildings.

To Ralph Rapson: “An architect is the drawer of dreams”

Rapson's son [Rip] described his father as a "Forrest Gump" of architecture, explaining that his father was born with a birth defect that eventually resulted in the loss of his right arm. However, his disability did not prevent Rapson, who was artistically inclined from a young age, from pursuing a love for drawing.

From Jean Nouvel: "Each new situation requires a new architecture."

Looking at pictures of many of the Nouvel buildings from articles about the Pritzker, it is striking how different they are. It is a lot easier to spot a Gehry, or Rapson, or Philip Johnson building than it is to positively identify a Nouvel.

Ciao, Bonzo

Law School Rankings
The Daily's Take

An earlier post on this topic has appeared.

USNews Law School Rankings - U Slips
Live by the sword, die by the sword?

Today the Daily reports:

fter spending the past 12 years in the U.S. News & World Report's top 20, the University's Law School dropped from 20 to 22, according to rankings released Friday.

David Wippman, dean elect of the law school, said the factors of the drop in rank were mainly technical; for example, the LSAT scores of the entering class.

"It took (the ranking) down a little bit," he said. "We are looking at how to address those factors so that we can reverse that decline, but more importantly we're really focused on continuing to build the quality of the law school, overall."

For the past two years, leadership at the University has been in limbo after the 2006 resignation of former dean Alex Johnson, who had a year left on his contract. Wippman is scheduled to officially begin his position in July.

Third-year law student Bree Richards said the lack of a stable dean could be a reason for the drop in ranking.

"It's not surprising," she said. "We haven't had one dean for how many years now? I don't think we are admitting stupider students or anything like that."

Pre-law senior Libby Smith, president of the pre-law society, said she used the rankings when she looked at law schools.

"I think rankings are a good place to start if somebody is wanting to kind of get an idea of what types of schools will allow them to seek jobs nationally versus schools that are more focused with alumni in the region," she said.

To reclaim the University's top 20 status, Wippman said he will look at how to improve the U.S. News & World Report factors, but he doesn't want to over-emphasize their importance.

"I think we have to have our own assessment of what makes a quality law school and quality legal education," he said, "and really need to maintain our focus on keeping and maintaining that quality as we define and understand it."

Amen.

We have to use a little common sense with respect to "ambitious aspirations to become one of the top three research universities in the world [sic]."

We also - Tom, Bob? - have to decide whether ratings matter. Mixed messages continue to be sent out on this point.

Iowa also took a hit in the rankings. [The previous sentence has been modified to reflect a comment below.] Some believe that this is because their LSAT scores also went down as a byproduct of a commitment to diversity. Playing the ratings game can be a two-edged sword. Public law schools in general are at a big disadvantage because money talks.

I am amused by the fact that some departments here at the U of M, including the med school for all I know, believe that if they keep up the grades and scores for admission that somehow this will help them in the rankings. Pretty arbitrary basement figures are set up. Below a GPA of x.xx the applicant simply won't be admitted.

Personally, I know two cases where I had to argue most strenuously - and in one case unsuccessfully - for the admission of a student who had less than stellar grades or scores. Both of those people went on to do very well in graduate school and professionally.

But of course this takes a little bit of backbone and judgment and a refusal to kowtow to rankings...

Tom? Bob?

Bonzo

Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors

Or, Are We Here To Protect and Serve?

There was a war protest last week.

I walked out of my building to meet friends for lunch on Thursday and ran into what seemed like a great many police. Had a chat with one of them. Not too pleasant a guy. Seemed pretty defensive.

Nearly forty years ago I was on the roof of Kolthoff Hall - the new chemistry building at that time. There I witnessed a police riot in response to another anti-war protest. Police were beating students mercilessly with clubs - students who were simply limp and prone on the grass, offering no opposition.

The scene was Orwellian forty years ago and it was again last Thursday.


And so it goes.

From today's Minnesota Daily

I was at the anti-war rally at noon in front of Coffman on Thursday, and I listened to several impassioned and eloquent speeches. Thank you to all of the student groups who joined together to organize the rally, and to the students and staff who stood together in an intimidating atmosphere.

Why did we need so many police officers to keep an eye on a few hundred people? Is this what free speech on a college campus looks like?

• 15 bicycle cops in yellow vests milling around the East entrance of Coffman Union

• 2 mounted police officers on the grass in front of Nils Hasselmo Hall

• 1 marked police car parked on the grass across Washington Ave. (between the footbridges)

• 1 unmarked police car parked in front of Ford Hall

• 1 helicopter overhead

One of the speakers quoted George Orwell, which seems even spookier now.

Renee DeLong
University graduate student

Mount Hopes Its Story Continues

From The Berkshire Eagle

Editorial

03/26/2008 08:22:37 AM EDT

Unlike Spice, the Mount is still in business, but the historic Lenox mansion and gardens of 19th century novelist Edith Wharton can't be reincarnated in some other form. Burdened by $8.7 million in debt, half of which it owes to Berkshire Bank, the Mount must dig itself out or face foreclosure.

Speaking in general terms at yesterday's meeting at The Eagle, Berkshire Bank head Michael Daly said the bank extends credit to any customer only with confidence of positive results. Extrapolating that to the Mount, the bank's confidence has not been justified, as the Edith Wharton Restoration only dug itself deeper into debt as its line of credit was extended through three years of increasingly larger operating deficits. The foreclosure notice was a needed if belated wake-up call.

It is noteworthy that the Mount has not generated the visible public support that Spice has. It has not tied itself closely to the Berkshires and has not made a concerted effort to overcome the bad feeling generated by its eviction of Shakespeare & Company. The newly reconstituted Board of Directors may be sharp financially but its members as a whole don't know the Berkshires or the state, and the movers and shakers therein who might help the Mount get out of its dilemma.

Trustee Gordon Travers told The Eagle via conference call that the Mount needs a seasoned development director to rebuild the financial base if it "makes it through this crisis," suggesting dissatisfaction with current management.

The Mount will need that director, along with the kind of Berkshire connection Edith Wharton would recognize. With the summer tourist season approaching and the Mount planning on opening its doors to visitors while engaging in emergency fundraising, we hope it survives this crisis and emerges refocused, if not reincarnated.

US News Law School Rankings Decline at BigU
How the Star-Tribune Handles It

"Hamline law school gets a bump in rankings list"

This is hilarious. The Strib of the Red Telephone handles the U law school's decline in the US News rankings in a most amusing way. Puhleeze... Let's restrict Homerism to the sports page. The PP runs rings around the Strib as far as honest coverage of goings on at the U. And they have a Pulitzer to prove it.

By the way, the rating change for the law school is in fact trivial. But the U made such a big deal out of this ranking that in decline they ought to at least acknowledge it. Live by the sword, etc. Either rankings matter, ... or they don't. Which is it, Bob? Tom?

By JEFF SHELMAN, Star Tribune

March 27, 2008

Hamline University law school dean Jon Garon acknowledges he doesn't agree with how U.S. News & World Report ranks law schools.

That said, he knows the role that rankings play both in the ability of graduates to get jobs and in students' school selection process.

Because of that, Garon is pleased that Hamline moved from the fourth tier of law schools nationally to the third tier in the rankings that were released today. Hamline's dispute resolution program also ranks fourth nationally.

"The overall validity of U.S. News is so poor that you have to take it with a huge grain of salt," Garon said. "But it's nice to not be in the fourth tier.

"If it didn't affect the lives of our students, I would be able to totally ignore it. But it does. ... At the end of the day, my job is to make our students as successful as possible and this helps me do it."

The rankings of Minnesota's other three law schools remained stable. The University of Minnesota dropped two spots from No. 20 to No. 22 among the nation's 185 fully accredited law schools. The University of St. Thomas remains in the third tier (schools ranking from 105 to 141) and the William Mitchell College of Law remains in the fourth tier (schools ranking from 142 to 185).

The Law School co-deans reaction:

Dear Faculty, Staff and Students:

Some local newspapers reported this morning that the current U.S. News Rankings show us in a tie for 22nd place. Many law schools are closely ranked and a slight shortfall in any one of the technical categories can lead to a shift of one or two places, as happened this year. The U.S. News ranking is a combination of many factors (e.g., reputation among other legal educators and practitioners, LSAT scores of the entering class, what percentage of applicants we accept, how many books are in the library, etc.). We plan to address the particular factors that have caused a decline this year.

One key factor is our reputation among the leaders of other law schools. On that measure we remain in the Top 20. We expect to build on this academic reputation, and to address the technical factors that have caused a slight decline. We also believe that the arrival of a permanent dean - Dean Wippman - this summer will also help in bolstering our rankings.

Dean Wippman is committed to maintaining and improving the quality of the school. We look forward to working with him to address this question.

Fred Morrison and Guy Charles

US News Law School Rankings - U Slips
Live By the Sword, Die By the Sword ?

We have the St. Paul Pioneer-Press to thank for their role as a watchdog over activities at the U. The PP got, as I recall, a Pulitzer in 2000 for their coverage of the basketball scandals at the U. This is amusing since a certain Strib reporter has served, essentially, as an adjunct professor of athletics at the U. That would be Sir Sid.

The U adminstration may be whining about the PP's coverage of the U, but at least the PP keeps the U honest - or tries to - unlike their much larger competitors, the Strib. That would be the Strib of the red telephone.

Thank God for real journalists.

The St. Paul Pioneer-Press, as usual, is on the case:

The University of Minnesota Law School has slipped out of the top 20 in the influential rankings published by U.S. News & World Report, a move that could cost the university some prestige and make it tougher on law graduates seeking jobs.

The university now ranks 22nd among national law schools, according to the 2009 rankings due to be released today. That's down from a rank of 20 in 2008 and 19 in 2007.

While many experts attack the U.S. News rankings as a poor and superficial way to judge an institution's quality, the numbers carry tremendous weight with prospective students and law firms looking to hire top graduates. The university has promoted its law school as a "top 20" destination. In December, as it named David Wippman its new dean, the university referred to its law school as "consistently ranked in the top 20."

There's been a love-hate relationship for years between law school deans and the U.S. News rankings, with many deans decrying them but then applauding when the numbers fall in their favor. Some 40 percent of a school's rank is based on the opinions of law school officials and faculty, lawyers and judges who score schools from 1 ("marginal") to 5 ("outstanding").

Of the University of Minnesota's rankings slip, Garon said: "There's no question it's going to have an impact and create more work for their incoming dean."

The U law school has been in flux since former dean Alex Johnson stepped down in 2006 with a year still on his contract. He has returned to the University of Virginia.

Wippman, a Minnesota native, is a vice provost and law professor at Cornell University. He is expected to take over the U law school July 1.

March 28, 2008

U. of California Board Picks President

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The University of California’s governing board has named Mark Yudof, the University of Texas chancellor, as the next president of the 10-campus system.

Mr. Yudof’s appointment was approved by the Board of Regents on Thursday, a week after a search committee recommended him to succeed Robert Dynes, who has said he plans to leave before June.

A lawyer and expert in free speech, education and constitutional law, Mr. Yudof, 63, spent five years as president of the University of Minnesota before assuming the chancellorship in Texas in 2002.

He is the first system president to come from outside California in two decades. The system, with more than 220,000 students and 170,000 faculty and staff members, is one of the world’s largest and most prestigious public university networks.

New Provost On Improvements at Purdue

Woodson, currently the dean of the College of Agriculture at Purdue, will take over as provost May 1. Provost is the top academic officer at the university.

Among the topics Woodson wants to discuss are a core curriculum and the idea of admitting students without assigning them to a school or college right away.

"I fundamentally believe that Purdue University, as a globally engaged university, ought to have some common aspirations for our students. We can get there by having a core curriculum, or we can get there by having a set of shared values," Woodson said. "A Purdue education ought to have some common themes across all colleges."

One of the major goals Woodson plans to accomplish as provost is to find ways to increase student retention and graduation rates.

According to the Purdue Data Digest, 71 percent of Purdue students entering the university in the 2001-02 academic year graduated within six years. After the 2003-04 academic year, 85 percent of first-year students returned to Purdue.

"I've made no bones about saying ... Purdue's graduation rates are not high enough for a university of our distinction," Purdue President France Córdova said. "And obviously you don't graduate unless you're retained."

Córdova also wants to see more faculty members in groups such as the National Academy of Sciences, an area in which Purdue has been lacking.

Woodson said his strategy for that is to show people what Purdue has to offer. He said Purdue should be seen as a place to go for answers to research and academic questions.

"We have an outstanding faculty here, and we need to put them in a better position to be in a better national standing," Woodson said.

Vic Lechtenberg, who is serving as interim provost until Woodson takes over, said Woodson will have to work on making sure students are prepared for Purdue before they get there.

"The student challenges ultimately involve working closely with schools across Indiana to increase the educational aspirations and achievement of high school graduates," Lechtenberg said. "There are tremendous opportunities to build partnerships with schools and significantly improve the preparation of students in science and technology, in mathematics and in communications skills. All of these skills are critical to success at Purdue, or any other top university."

Jennifer Jackson, president of Purdue's chapter of the National Society of Black Engineers, said she wants to see the new provost focus on opportunities for minority students and add tutors for more difficult classes.

Hmm... Ambitious aspirations.

Loh Named Provost - From the Daily Iowan

Wallace Loh of Seattle University has been appointed the new UI provost and executive vice president, UI President Sally Mason announced Wednesday.

"It feels wonderful," Loh said. "I'm so thrilled and happy. I feel honored."

He was one of five finalists who interviewed for the position. Mason flew out to Seattle on March 22 to offer the job, said Loh, who is the dean of arts and sciences and professor of public service and psychology at Seattle University.

Mason praised the entire pool of candidates but said Loh's ability to connect in a meaningful way with different groups on campus distinguished him from the rest.

Since arriving at Seattle University in 1999, the school has seen a 60 percent increase in faculty and the doubling in the number of women and minority faculty, the development of new majors and other programs, and $8 million in gifts and grants.

"Given his knowledge base, his vision, and his experience, he will get off to a very fast start," Mason said.

Loh said he is looking forward to working with her and the UI vice presidents and deans as a team. He also called Mason an "inspirational leader" who "walks the walk" and doesn't just "talk the talk."

"I hope to work with President Mason and to take [the UI] to the next level of greatness," Loh said.

Although this will be Loh's first job in Iowa, it isn't his first academic experience here. When Loh arrived in the United States when he was 15, he started college at Iowa Wesleyan College and then transferred to Grinnell College, graduating in 1965.

"He's a very experienced administrator and relates well to faculty, students, and staff," O'Hara said.


Loh said he has many specific things he is interested in at the UI including undergraduate education - a passion of his - and the health sciences - "a crown jewel of Iowa." He also thinks the UI should assist the Iowa City area and its surrounding as well.

"The university should give back to the community that supports it," Loh said.

Amen. Bonzo

Loh Named New Iowa Provost


IOWA CITY - Wallace D. Loh, dean of the college of arts and sciences, professor of public service, and professor of psychology at Seattle University, has been named executive vice president and provost at the University of Iowa, pending approval by the state Board of Regents, UI officials announced today.

He will begin Aug. 1, succeeding Mike Hogan, who left last September to become president at the University of Connecticut.

Congratulations to Dr. Loh and our neighbors for an outstanding choice.

Dr. Loh received a bachelor's degree and an honorary Doctor of Laws from Grinnell College and a master's from Cornell University. His doctorate in psychology is from the University of Michigan, and his law degree is from Yale Law School, where he was an editor of the Yale Law Journal.

"This is a very, very strong university," Loh said in a phone interview today. "The overriding task is to mobilize and inspire the students, faculty and staff to the next level."

Dr. Loh gets it. We could use a little mobilization and inspiration around here, too. But I guess OurLeaders are too busy pursuing other ambitious aspirations.

Purdue's Agriculture Dean Named Provost

STAFF REPORTS

Purdue University has named William "Randy" Woodson as its new provost.

Woodson was one of three candidates who visited the Purdue earlier this month. He is the dean of Purdue's College of Agriculture.

Woodson will take over the job May 1 from Vic Lechtenberg, who has been interim provost since Sally Mason left the post last year to become president of the University of Iowa.

“What pointed me to the position was an interest in continuing to keep Purdue as a very strong academic institution, but also an institution that is responsive to the needs of the state,” said Woodson.

Congratulations to another great public university.

Bonzo