San Diego Community College Chancellor Augie Gallego has been selected as the new chairman of the American Council of Education, only the second community college executive to hold the position since the organization's founding more than 80 years ago.
Rod Linton has been tapped to lead Utah's new Office of Science & Technology within the Dept. of Community & Economic Development. Mike Keene is the new State Science Advisor and Director of the Centers of Excellence Program.
Shaye Mandle has resigned as president of the Illinois Coalition to accept a position as the new executive director of the East West Corporate Corridor Association in DuPage County.
George Newstrom was sworn in as the Virginia Secretary of Technology. Newstrom succeeds Don Upson, who is returning to the private sector for technology consulting.
Gov. Don Siegelman has named Anne Payne to director of the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs. Payne has been serving as ADECA's assistant director since last August.
Stan Sokul has been named executive director of the PCAST, the President's Council of Advisors on Science & Technology. Sokul formerly served as a lobbyist on Internet policy issues.
Tracy Taylor has been named to serve as CEO for the Kansas Technology Enterprise Corp (KTEC). Taylor fills the position vacated by Rich Bendis.
Most of the nation's governors use the winter months to publicly lay out their agendas, visions and budget requests for the coming year. The text of State of the State Addresses, Budget Messages and, to a lesser extent, Inaugural Addresses, often reveals each governor's legislative priorities and new initiatives to be pursued over the coming months.
Hoping to combat and reverse job losses in the manufacturing sector, Pennsylvania Gov. Edward Rendell outlined his blueprint for recovery last month, entitled "Manufacturing Innovation."
Ah, the difference positive revenue figures make for some states' tech-based economic development (TBED) portfolios! In mid-December, Virginia Gov. Mark Warner introduced an amended 2004-2006 biennial budget that is the most favorable yet during the Warner term for programs to promote economic growth through strategic investments in science and technology.
A December gathering of leaders from many of the nation's largest companies raised what could be considered a battle cry for the U.S. to take more seriously the implications of globalization.
The National Science Foundation (NSF) has issued the detailed statistical tables for Science & Engineering Doctorate awards for 2003. As was done for 2002, 2001 and 2000, SSTI has compiled a 50-state table presenting the number of degrees and rank for each major field of science & engineering. In addition, SSTI has used population in the form of "S&E doctorates awarded per 100,000 residents" to standardize the data to facilitate comparisons across states.
That is the question facing researchers who have innovative ideas that become marketable products. Researchers who file patents to protect intellectual property rights may diminish the value of the research to potential developers due to "knowledge leakage" to competing developers. Instead, a researcher might approach a developer directly to negotiate an exclusive contract in which a researcher receives some immediate compensation and a stake in the licensed, developed product.
Just what makes firms productive? Economists continue to refine their thinking on the interactions that enhance productivity. Knowledge capital and knowledge relatedness play an active role in increasing firm competitiveness, especially in large, high-tech manufacturing sectors, according to a study presented at a recent conference of the Groupe de Recherche en Economie.
At almost every turn, the important roles played by universities and colleges in a knowledge-based economy seem to be validated. Industry and political leaders across the country are talking of the need for strong institutions of higher education, particularly public research universities, to improve national, state, and local competitiveness.
The importance of attaining a higher education resonates with more than three-fourths of Americans today, according to the biennial survey Attitudes toward Public Higher Education, conducted by the American Council of Education. However, the survey points out most people are concerned that future state budget cuts could threaten the educational quality of institutions and limit the economic benefits they provide.
Key findings include:
More than $1.26 billion in royalties were collected by U.S. colleges and universities in FY 2000, according to the tenth annual licensing survey released by the Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM). In addition, the FY 2000 Annual AUTM Licensing Survey reported 347 new products were introduced to market and at least 454 spin-off companies were created by the institutions, where inventors filed for more than 8,500 U.S. patents.
A decline in state appropriations at four-year public institutions of higher education was the single most important factor associated with increases in tuition, according to a report released in February by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) within the U.S. Department of Education
Trends in College Pricing 2001, the College Board's annual survey of more than 3,000 schools reported that college tuition and fees in 2001-2002 had increased an average of between 5.5 and 7.7 percent at four-year institutions, and between 5.5 and 5.8 percent at two-year institutions. Undergraduates at American colleges are paying, on average, from $96 to $890 more than last year for tuition and fees this year, depending on the type of institution.
At -3.6 percent, college endowments posted their biggest losses since 1984 for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2001, according to the annual endowment survey conducted by the National Association of College & University Business Officers (NACUBO). Fortunately, the decline in investment revenues follows a 13 percent return for FY2000.
With the latest National Conference of State Legislatures survey revealing 45 states are dealing with falling revenue projections and 37 already report budget gaps in next year's revenue forecasts (see http://www.ssti.org/Digest/2002/021502.htm), the number of states proposing or considering cuts to higher education for FY 2003 continues to grow.
The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) 1999 National Study of Postsecondary Faculty (NSOPF:99), the third in a series, presents the results of a 1998 survey conducted of institutions' policies and practices affecting faculty. Among the findings -- a large proportion, about two-fifths, of all faculty worked part time.
With the release of the President's FY 2003 budget request, five of seven federal programs designed to help state universities in 21 states were slated for cuts or total elimination. Collectively known as the EPSCoR programs, short for Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research, the emphasis began in 1979, with an innovative National Science Foundation (NSF) program intended to improve the research competitiveness of those states that have received lesser amounts of federal R&D funding.
In our occasional Useful Stats series in the SSTI Weekly Digest over the past few months, SSTI published online tables for three statistical measures that can be used as indicators of a state's relative position or, when collected over time, progress toward specific tech-based economic development goals involving academic performance or research. Links to the full reports from which the statistics are derived are provided on each table's web page.
Over the past few years, the SSTI Weekly Digest has covered several reports concerning universities, their economic impact and research and development issues. Some of these are highlighted below. In addition, on SSTI's Resources web page are links to several academic associations and organizations that follow the topics discussed in this special issue more closely.