This was the second annual retreat in the series: The Research Mission of Public Universities. Thirty-two administrators and senior faculty scientists attended the retreat. They represented three Midwest institutions: the University of Kansas, the University of Missouri at Columbia, and the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. They talked about the research mission of higher education and how to compete for new funding. They discussed ways to enhance research productivity and identified regional initiatives that are competitive nationally.
Our keynote speaker was Dr. Michael Crow who was Vice Provost for Research at Columbia University. He encouraged university administrators to identify niche areas for research focus because the entire institution benefits from selective areas of investigation that are developed at the very highest levels of excellence.
We were also pleased to be joined by U.S. Senator Pat Roberts.