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| Our Research Road Map Podcast (you must have iTunes installed on your computer) Listen online (Click on the "Administration & Governance" button and then "Office of the Chancellor" to locate "Chancellor's Plenary Fall 2008") Thank you. Considering the season, I appreciate that so many of you have weathered the wind chill to join us today.In the past few years, we’ve frequently talked together about our institution’s key research-related ideas and issues; today, I’d like to focus on the issues and ideas specific to funded research to describe what I hope is a cohesive and realistic strategy to advance this part of UWM’s mission, to assess our progress to date, and to chart our course for the future. From early on, UWM has had research in its mission. The university was created in 1956 and in 1963 offered its first doctoral programs. With the formation of the Graduate School in 1965, it was able to establish itself as Wisconsin’s second public doctoral institution. Our purpose, in addition to providing accessible, high-quality undergraduate education, is to greatly expand graduate-level education and conduct both basic and applied research that spurs innovation in the community and economy of southeastern Wisconsin. As you and I know well, UWM has never been funded by the state to excel at this part of our mission. We have been funded comparably to Wisconsin’s comprehensive campuses, not to UW-Madison. Currently, the total operating budget (from all sources) for UW-Milwaukee is about $500 million; for UW-Madison, it is $2 billion. UW-Milwaukee generates about $32 million a year in research support; UW-Madison generates more than $830 million. With a long history of state support commensurate with its mission as Wisconsin’s first public doctoral institution, Madison was able to build critical mass of faculty and research-support infrastructure, particularly in applied sciences, that led to licensed technologies and business development. It took a long time to do this, and (as you can see from their $2 billion operating budget – much of it from non-state sources) they have been very, very successful. But we are not UW-Madison, nor should we be. We are two very different types of research universities located in two very different communities. We do not live in Madison’s shadow. We live in the same sunlight; we’re just neighbors 80 miles further southeast. Advantages of place Make no mistake, however: location does matter. Madison has had the good fortune of close proximity to state government and of a long running start at developing a funding base for research. Milwaukee has the advantages of being the demographic and business center of the state (45 of Wisconsin’s top 100 companies are in the Milwaukee area); of physical location on Lake Michigan; and of working in an increasingly dense corridor of commercial and intellectual connection extending through southeastern Wisconsin to Chicago. What we need is a strategy for research success, a road map if you will, that doesn’t just accept these differences, but that embraces them, that thrives on them. I state again my commitment to research and scholarship at UWM across all disciplines, regardless of the source or amount of funding support. We are a university, not a technical institution, and our research and creative activity in the humanities, social sciences, the arts, and professions is equally important to that conducted in natural sciences and engineering. Richard Lester, professor of nuclear science and engineering at MIT, has written the following in a report entitled, “Universities, Innovation, and the Competitiveness of Local Economies”: “A strategic approach to the local economic role is compatible with the pursuit of excellence in the university’s traditional primary missions in education and research. Indeed, success in these primary missions is a necessary condition for contributing effectively to innovation and growth in the local economy.” I agree: I see no dichotomy between good research and good teaching. The great potential of funded research As I’ve mentioned in other plenary talks, I am highlighting our need to grow funded research in the sciences and engineering at this time because it is the area most in need of new investment; it has the greatest potential to create a large, ongoing revenue stream that will benefit the university as a whole; and it is essential to the revitalization of our regional economy. What sets a research university apart from one without a core research mission is that its students, graduate and undergraduate, receive a research-based education that promotes creativity and discovery. Creating the innovators of the future is its primary mission, and it must be ours. Gordon Moore, the Chairman Emeritus of Intel, has stated: “The most important contribution Stanford makes to Silicon Valley is to replenish the intellectual pool every year with new graduate students.” Our institutional mission here in Milwaukee must continue to be to create a premier research university in an urban setting in order to generate and sustain innovation. In a global, knowledge-based economy, success in this mission is essential to enhancing the standard of living and quality of life of all Wisconsin citizens. Milwaukee and much of southeastern Wisconsin have been in a sustained economic decline over the last 35 years. In fact, until the mid-1970s, Milwaukee County actually had a higher per capita adjusted gross income than Dane County. But that has changed drastically: Dane County now enjoys, at last count, a 41 percent higher per capita adjusted gross income. UW-Milwaukee is the only institution in this region that can take the lead as a catalyst for economic development. If we do not step up to this role, the quality of life of Wisconsin’s citizens will continue to decline compared to other states. Twenty years ago, the per capita income in Wisconsin and Minnesota was approximately the same. Today, Wisconsin lags well behind and the largest difference is between the urban centers of Milwaukee and Minneapolis. Milwaukee and the state desperately need a premier research university in Milwaukee. UWM and its community supporters have begun to make this a reality. But we cannot do it alone. Before talking about the funded-research road map needed for UWM, let me quickly review where we are now – the steps we have already taken toward bringing more resources to this campus. Campaign brings major investment First, the campus and the community have raised $125 million and surpassed the goal of our Campaign for UWM a year and a half earlier than projected. These resources will be invested where they are needed the most, to generate:
Specifically, one-third of the amount raised, $41.5 million, is dedicated to support academic departments and faculty. Another $40 million is destined for our campus expansion and special initiatives such as radio station WUWM. There has been $29 million dedicated to support student scholarships and fellowships. And more than $14 million will enhance our research infrastructure. Many of these resources are immediately available to our campus, and others will continue to support UWM in the future. The state’s historic reinvestment Second – with the support of Gov. Jim Doyle, the State Legislature, Board of Regents, and UW System – the state of Wisconsin has begun a process of historic reinvestment in UWM that must continue for the next six years. We have taken a significant step with the 2007-2009 biennial budget to increase state support for science and engineering at UW-Milwaukee that will support the hiring of faculty beginning in fall 2008. The competitive cluster hiring process is well on its way. It is absolutely essential that we continue to advocate for and receive $10 million from the state in each of the next two biennia to help build our faculty and infrastructure in those research areas with the greatest prospects for growing our funded research and its underlying infrastructure. By the end of the 2011-2013 biennium, our campus must have grown its faculty by 100 additional positions. For 2008-2009 alone, we anticipate growing net faculty by 45 individuals. We must recognize, however, that the state of Wisconsin does not have the financial resources to support research at UW-Milwaukee as it supports UW-Madison. New support from the state, while an essential investment, is also precarious. The current economic downturn and strong possibility of a recession looming ahead have the potential to decrease state revenue. But it is critical that the state continue to make important investments in higher education, because it is higher education that will be the force that powers Wisconsin’s economy. The state, however, is only one part of the required funded-research model for Milwaukee. Research initiative brings more resources Third, our Research Growth Initiative (RGI) was developed and designed to substantially expand UWM’s research enterprise through investment in proposals of exceptional quality, and there is growing evidence that it is doing just that. The 2006-2007 academic year concluded as our most successful ever, with more than $33 million committed. This trend continues upward – due certainly in some part to the RGI. For the first six months of this academic year, the good news includes:
I believe we are on pace to surpass last year’s record figure. Especially significant research expenditure increases are being reported by the College of Nursing, up an amazing 157 percent in two years, and the College of Health Sciences, up 71 percent. The increases in expenditures and awards are the result of the hard work of our faculty and leveraging the RGI. The reallocations for the RGI have been invaluable in persuading the community and legislators that we are serious about moving UWM to the next level and making a major difference in economic development in Southeastern Wisconsin. In collaboration with governance, we will continue to evaluate the benefits and value of the RGI process. We know that it is broadening our research base and has brought new opportunities to a greater subset of faculty and academic units. We must be certain that RGI does indeed grow the indirect cost return to campus, which is an important long-term benefit to the university. The early analysis of individual projects supports that point. Preliminary data says the Research Growth Initiative is leveraging increased external funding on a 4:1 ratio. The $4.4 million redirected in year one of the RGI has led to more than $18 million in external grants and contracts. And since the inception of the Research Growth Initiative, the number of proposals for funding has increased. UWM’s first catalyst grants Fourth, The UWM Research Foundation – which was created both to foster research and to commercialize discoveries – has just awarded the first grants through the Catalyst Grant Program. These grants, in the area of advanced automation, illustrate how regional companies like Rockwell are partnering with UWM to strengthen their global competitiveness and our local economy. The Research Foundation in its infancy has already distributed nearly $1 million and will award up to $500,000 in additional catalyst grants by this coming summer. It also has added capability through the addition of a licensing manager to its commercialization team. This will meet the increased demand created by our growing research program. And, one other brief note about the UWM Foundation, its Real Estate Foundation this week officially opened its doors at the RiverView Residence Hall, with room for almost 500 freshmen. RiverView has dining, fitness and laundry facilities, a coffee shop and convenience store, and classroom space and faculty offices to support its Living Learning Communities. Significant progress Clearly, we have made significant progress in bringing new research support resources to the campus:
Significant progress. But what is our road map for the future? The concept of ‘radical cooperation’ What’s needed, I believe, is to leverage these resources in the context of what a recent Milwaukee Journal Sentinel editorial termed “radical cooperation” among the state, the regional business community and the university. To repeat: radical cooperation. The state provides the facilities and the flexibility to lease or build those facilities quickly in concert with the private sector (as we have done with Kenilworth Square and RiverView Residence Hall). Companies co-locate with the university in these facilities and provide substantial equipment investment. And the university provides the human resource talent to make it all work. While this will be a radical departure from business-as-usual in Wisconsin, the idea of a revitalizing public-private-university partnership has been successful elsewhere. We are not the first university to embark down this road and while we have our skeptics, other research universities have been able to successfully grow their funded research in a relatively short period of time. What is most needed is initial investment and focused use of resources based on an institutional “research culture” that promotes and fosters creativity and innovation. Look at the University of Illinois at Chicago. A recent article in College Planning and Management observes: “Fifty years ago, Chicago was one of only three major cities in the United States without a comprehensive, public university. The University of Illinois filled this gap while …strengthening the city’s economic engine and proving a catalyst for social change …all the while serving the educational needs of Chicago’s working families. The resulting University of Illinois at Chicago represents a model urban campus, with dynamic, multi-use spaces. How did UIC get here and where will they go next?” Will observers in the future be able to substitute UWM for UIC in this quote and ask, “How did UW-Milwaukee get here and where will they go next?” This can be done. Risk and planning It will require calculated risk and thoughtful planning. Companies risk substantial capital investment; the state and regional governments risk tax dollars and land; the university and its donors risk both human and financial resources (as we are doing through the RGI program, the Campaign for UWM, and initial “cluster hiring”). In this process, the university must guard its academic freedom and commitment to open inquiry and integrate our research with our broader educational mission. We must, as I stated in the fall 2007 Plenary, “grow with quality.” But this can be done. Our greatest risk would be to not take this risk. I have stated publically before that the academic research and development (R&D) in this part of the state is too low to be truly transformative in the region. However, the non-academic R&D is substantial and significant. UWM can play an important role in growing academic research by leveraging its scarce resources with the existing non-academic research being generated in the region. This means working strategically with private and nonprofit entities to grow our research infrastructure and enterprise. As Richard Lester notes: “Universities engaged in the local innovation process must approach their role strategically, seeking a fit between local industry needs and internal university capabilities.” In good measure, this is why we are focusing on advanced automation, biomedical engineering, health care and freshwater sciences. Will a net growth of faculty in those areas with the greatest potential to enhance extramurally funded research alone allow us to meet our goals? The answer is, unequivocally, no. If we measure our aggregate campus-funded research productivity as the amount of research dollars the campus brings in for each FTE faculty member, that number stands at approximately $26,000. If we only add more faculty at that same level of funding, we would not reach our goal anytime soon. Adding faculty alone is not enough. We must also grow our funding by ensuring that our faculty and staff have state of the art equipment and facilities and a cadre of exceptional students to support them. Thus, if we add more faculty and ensure that our research funding grows at a constant rate as it has over the last year, we will certainly reach our goal. And if our productivity increases exponentially while adding more faculty, our growth will be truly phenomenal. I can assure you that in either of the latter two scenarios, this institution and this region will be fundamentally transformed. Challenges faced We do have many challenges. For example, we face serious salary compression. The current salary package is, to put it kindly, non-competitive and increases the gap between academic salaries in Wisconsin and those of our peer institutions. We also have a challenge to secure additional state investment in the next biennial budgets. Campus space and decompression continue to be factors critical to our future. We need more strategically matched business partners. We need successful cluster hires and the infrastructure support necessary to increase faculty research funding and to enhance our research culture. But we will work together to meet these and other challenges. This can be done. The directions on our road map In conclusion, I wish to expand on the earlier observation of Richard Lester, his thought that the university’s role of being a catalyst for regional economic growth and innovation enhances the university’s traditional education and research missions. In my inaugural address to this university in 2005, I stated that “our greatest resource is a well-educated populace; people who think critically and creatively, who can look at problems in new ways, and who can devise new solutions that have a widespread positive impact.” By integrating our research with our pedagogy, we graduate thousands and thousands of such people who live and work in this region. So, while our research road map directs us outward toward new partnerships with business, organizations, and government, it simultaneously directs us inward to our core mission of education. The essence of both our research and our instruction is, and must remain, open inquiry, discovery, and innovation.
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