Cornell should renew its commitment to its land-grant mission, particularly outreach, and should back that commitment with a shift in priorities and increased funding, panelists at the Sept. 25 Faculty Forum told faculty and staff in a crowded Bache Auditorium in Malott Hall.
Five panels have been reviewing the university's land-grant mission since February, at the request of President Hunter Rawlings and Provost Biddy Martin. The panels were assigned to review outreach and extension in the four contract colleges -- Human Ecology, Agriculture and Life Sciences, Veterinary Medicine and Industrial and Labor Relations -- as well as in engineering and economic development, in K-12 education and in technology transfer.
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| James Rundle, center, senior extension associate in the School of Industrial and Labor Relations, addresses panelists at the Faculty Forum on "Cornell's Land Grant Missions" in Malott Hall, Sept. 25. Bob Kausner/University Photographer |
"The five review panels were asked to assess current work in outreach and make recommendations for the future," said Francille Firebaugh, vice provost for land grant affairs and special assistant to the president. "The board of trustees has taken a real interest in this," added Firebaugh, who moderated the forum. The panels' final reports and recommendations will be presented to the Land Grant Committee of the Cornell Board of Trustees in late October. Preliminary reports are available electronically at http://www.provost.cornell.edu/land_grant/mission_review/.
Cornell, which was designated the state's land-grant institution in 1865, receives both federal and state support for organized-research and extension-outreach programs that serve the people of New York state.
But changing times, technologies and funding patterns necessitate that Cornell make substantial changes in its outreach approach and efforts, the panelists agreed.
Ronald Ehrenberg, the Irving M. Ives Professor of Industrial and Labor Relations and co-chair of the panel on Outreach/Extension: Colleges of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Human Ecology and Veterinary Medicine, said that if the trustees are serious about outreach activities, they need to make it a funding priority. He added, "Not only does there have to be funding, but the university must also provide visible evidence of support in terms of changing attitudes and a staffing pattern that indicates that they care about it."
David Butler, dean of the School of Hotel Administration and chair of the panel on Outreach/Extension: Industrial and Labor Relations, said his panel "found a very vigorous set of programs with very committed people," but with "serious funding erosion."
He gave several recommendations from the panel, including: initiating an aggressive lobbying effort for state and federal funds; reviewing the overall ILR outreach structure and possibly establishing regional centers of expertise for greater efficiencies, investing in a marketing arm, and more closely linking outreach programs and the work being done by faculty members.
Clifford Pollock, the I. and C. Lee Professor of Engineering and co-chair of the Engineering Outreach: Economic Development panel, said Cornell's complexity and the lack of a centralized outreach office have hindered outreach efforts. He said entrepreneurs became frustrated trying to make the appropriate contact at Cornell. His panel recommended simplifying and coordinating access to Cornell's expertise, while encouraging entrepreneurs to utilize Cornell's research and intellectual property.
Ronnie Coffman, professor and chair of the Department of Plant Breeding and chair of the Technology Transfer panel, said New York state lags behind other states in funding for technology transfer.
"We need to move Cornell inventions out the door faster, without regard to royalties and income to Cornell," Coffman said. He explained that if Cornell helps seed companies, they will return the favor and reward Cornell and the state. He noted that philosophy has worked well for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
He said the panel recommended establishing a new, high profile office of Cornell outreach, led by a vice provost, that would include the Office of Economic Development and the Cornell Research Foundation.
Martin, co-chair of the K-12 panel, said she "lobbied hard for the inclusion of K-12 in the land-grant mission review because I believe strongly that research institutions have an obligation to help improve K-12 education in this country."
Marianne Krasny, associate professor of natural resources and a K-12 panel member, said Cornell can take a leadership role in helping to set K-12 curricula. Currently, she said, "Nobody has a handle on this."
She also pointed out that Cornell can gain from this effort in two ways: by getting better-trained students and by strengthening the education department with additional research and teaching opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students.
Charles Walcott, professor of neurobiology and behavior, summed up the panelists' presentations, saying, "There are a lot of common elements in what we have just heard." Those elements included:
In closing, Martin stressed that the reports are not final and asked participants for feedback.
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