America's Great Universities and How We Live Our Lives

America's research universities represent 65 percent of the top 100 and 80 percent of the top 20 universities in the world. Their faculty members dominate the receipt of Nobel Prizes; their scientists and scholars produce discoveries and scholarship that receive the lion's share of citations in the published literature. American universities have become the engine of our national prosperity, and will become of even greater importance for the nation as the 21^st century moves on. Why, then, are they so underappreciated and poorly understood by legislative leaders and even by much of the educated public?

When most Americans think about our great universities, they don't think that lasers, FM radio, magnetic resonance imaging, bar codes, the algorithm for Google, the fetal monitor, the nicotine patch, the discovery of the insulin gene, the origin of computers, improved weather forecasting, cures for childhood leukemia, the pap smear, scientific agriculture, Viagra, public opinion surveys, the concept of the self-fulfilling prophecy, our understanding of foreign cultures, had their origins at our great research universities.

While high quality undergraduate education is essential to our universities' mission, and improving graduation rates is critical for the nation, it is not the transmission of knowledge that defines our greatness. It is the production of new knowledge that distinguishes American universities.

How have we in only 75 years come to dominate higher learning in the world - and become perhaps the only American industry with a favorable balance of trade? In my book I discuss how a set of values and structures evolved through interactions between universities and the larger society. Core values included: a strong belief in meritocracy, an incessant questioning of claims to fact and truth, free and open communication of ideas, free inquiry and academic freedom, and a peer review system to assess quality. Additionally, our universities' commitment to a high level of autonomy from government control, a willingness to welcome exceptionally talented people from anywhere in the world, a set of enlightened early leaders, and a vast infusion of taxpayer dollars by the federal government after World War II, were ingredients needed for preeminence.

The economic payoff can be seen in a few statistics produced by Stanford University and the University of California system. Stanford reports that its faculty members, students, and alumni have founded more than 2,400 companies, including Cisco Systems, Google, and Hewlett-Packard. In 2008, they generated $255 billion in total revenue for the "Silicon Valley 150." - equivalent to one of the top 40 economies in the world. Spending roughly $5 billion per year on research, the University of California and has been instrumental in the growth of the biotechnology, information technology, and telecommunications industries. Yet, the California state legislature seems determined to spend more on its prisons than on higher education, and seems truly ignorant of the fact that it is far more difficult to recreate world class universities once destroyed than to maintain their excellence once achieved. In short, to paraphrase Walt Kelley's wonderful cartoon character, Pogo, "The enemy is us."

* Jonathan R. Cole is the John Mitchell Mason Professor of the University and was from 1989 to 2003 the Provost and Dean of Faculties at Columbia University. His recently published The Great American University: Its Rise To Preeminence, Its Indispensable National Rose; Why It Must Be Protected (PublicAffairs, 2010)

Introduction to Our Fall 2010 Author in Residence, Jonathan R. Cole

On Monday, our Fall 2010 Author in Residence will begin to post about issues in higher education that arise from his book, The Great American University. Jonathan Cole is best known for his fourteen years (1989-2003) as Columbia's provost, holding the position for the second-longest tenure in the university's 250-year history. During his career in higher education, which includes having the role of dean of faculties and vice president for the arts and sciences at Columbia, he has gained great insight into the important role the university plays in American culture.

The themes from his book that are planned for discussion are: the crucial role a strong university system plays to national prosperity and security, the role of universities in bringing social issues and discourse to the forefront, the future of government/industry/university partnerships, and how best to move forward from the anti-intellectualism of the 2000's and position U.S. universities for continued global pre-eminence.

These are serious topics that impact the careers of all in higher education, and we look forward to reading what you have to say about these topics.

In the meantime, here is a portion of what The Economist magazine had to say about The Great American University.

The real dangers facing America's most important universities
Jan 7th 2010
From The Economist print edition

WHAT do the following have in common: the bar code, congestion charging, the cervical Pap smear and the internet? All emerged from work done at America's pre-eminent research universities. The central contention of Jonathan Cole's book is that these mighty institutions are "creative machines unlike any other that we have known in our history." They stand at the centre of America's intellectual and technological global leadership, but are now under threat as never before.

Professor Cole has worked all his life at one of these institutions, Columbia, where he was provost for 14 years from 1989 until 2003. His book is really three, each a magisterial work. First, he sets out an admirably comprehensive history of how America's great universities came into being. Then, he trawls for examples of the enriching inventiveness of these institutions, listing the extraordinary range of innovations in technology and in thinking that have sprung from their research. Finally, he outlines the forces that threaten America's research universities.

Read more at http://www.economist.com/printedition (subscription required).

Out of Whack in the New Normal

A recent article by Michael Luo in The New York Times described the plight of 99ers, those who have been unemployed for 99 weeks or more in this terrible recession. One of the people he profiled in his piece was Alexandra Jarrin, "a late-in-life college graduate and onetime business school student who owes $92,000, as she put it, for 'an education which is basically worthless.'"

The same statement is likely being made by at least some in the field of higher education. They invested the time and effort to earn academic credentials that don't seem to qualify them for the kinds of openings they had been led to expect in the academy. They're well educated with seemingly no place to go.

Luo's article concludes that 99ers are apt to become 129ers or more if the nation doesn't begin to create new jobs. While there is undoubtedly some truth to that statement, it is incomplete. As noted in Bloomberg Businessweek, there are -- at this very moment -- some 2.6 million unfilled positions in the U.S. These aren't stimulus money construction jobs; they're largely vacancies in professional fields.

What's keeping them open? Economists describe the problem as a mismatch in skills. A less esoteric but more accurate description is that the demand for talent is out of whack with its supply.

While there may be a mismatch between available candidate skills and the requirements for a given position in a given location, there is almost never such a mismatch on a national basis. The converse of that statement is also true. While there may be a mismatch between available jobs in a given location and a given individual's skills, there is almost never such a mismatch on a national basis (unless the individual's skills are obsolete).

Now, don't get me wrong. I know that there aren't as many tenured positions or even as many non-tenure track opportunities as there used to be. I also am very respectful of how unsettling it can be to have to move from where you want to live to where you have to live in order to work. Nevertheless, the fact remains that there are millions of jobs available right now and at least some of those positions are in higher education. They may not be in your home town or offer the kinds of salary and security you would like, but they are genuine opportunities for employment.

Economists are calling this situation the "new normal." Whether we like it or not -- and please don't shoot the messenger -- today's reality presents us with a choice: we can remain true to our original goals and desires and wait for the old normal to return, or we can accept that the workplace has changed and adjust to its altered dynamics.

For those who choose to follow the latter course, Exercises III and IV in the Career Fitness System will help you accomplish the necessary adjustment. They involve:

• Developing all of your muscle groups -- those ancillary skills that can reinforce and extend your primary area of expertise

and

• Increasing your flexibility and range of motion -- your willingness and ability to accept other than old normal working arrangements.
  

Yes, of course, it would be better if everything had worked out exactly as we had expected in the job market. And certainly, it would be better if everything had lined up in the most beneficial way possible for our careers. But, the new normal didn't. That doesn't make it a disaster. That just makes it abnormal ... and only for awhile.

Thanks for reading,
Peter