Excellence Revisited
I read Mike Gibson's article titled "The Price of Excellence" in the Jan. 11 issue of Metro Pulse with interest and appreciation. Much of what was written was right on target, but there are some points that need elaboration.
First, in my Nov. 5, 1999 inaugural address, a $150 million "Tennessee Plan for Academic Excellence" was outlined. Since that time, the plan has been greatly expanded, not reduced. The plan's estimated cost and impact now stand at more than $335 million. It has not been downsized, but rather dramatically expanded.
The $150 million in the original plan was to be utilized as follows: $10 million for scholarships, $20 million for improvements in academic programs, $100 million for five major research centers and $20 million for small centers.
The sources of the funds were estimated to be: $30 million from administrative savings, $30 million from alternative revenue sources (Visa Card and sale of the hospital, among other sources), $30 million from the state, and $60 million from external sources such as the federal government and corporations, through research grants and contracts and investments.
At all times it was expected that the research centers would compete for external funds because those funds are the one true measure of the viability or quality of a research idea—will someone knowledgeable be willing to invest in the idea? We first thought that the $100 million for the large research centers would be $40 million from the university and $60 million from the federal government or corporations.
As the overall plan for excellence now stands, we expect to spend over the next five years some $15 million on merit scholarships, $280 million on nine major research centers, and at least $40 million on the improvement of academic programs and small centers. The plan now has a projection of $335 million over the next five years. Moreover, that number may grow still larger as the nation and Tennessee develop a sharper focus on quality higher education.
The total for the plan for academic excellence began to grow because new revenues became available as we began to work on the plans. For example, originally we targeted $10 million from the VISA Card Program for academic scholarships, but now the athletic department has generously added one million annually, meaning we will have $15 million for new academic scholarships over the next five years.
Another fortunate thing happened. As we moved forward with our strategies, Congress has made a huge new commitment of federal research dollars to colleges and universities. The story told of $5 billion this year alone, but failed to mention that a conservative Congress and President Clinton included a doubling of federal research in their balanced budget agreement, making literally more than $20 billion in new federal research dollars available to competitive programs.
Moreover, national experts in university research advised that we should expect a multiplier of four-to-one rather than the original 2.5-to-one represented in the $100 million large centers program. This opportunity allowed the university to expand its program to nine centers and a targeted five-year budget of $280 million, or more than $31 million per center.
Two final notes: First, the nine centers were selected by a funding panel of university personnel and external experts based on two factors. The first and most important factor was the quality of the idea as graded by a panel of academic research experts. The second was the potential of an idea to attract external funding—long the national standard for measuring quality and viability. No research center with less than a score of 4.0 on a scale of one to five was included in the final selection.
All of the recognized national rankings of research universities focus on the value of competitively secured external grants and contracts as the primary measure of the research standing of a university. Thus, the possibility of an idea or center being able to attract major external funding was the second and equally important factor.
Finally, during the coming year, the small centers and specific funds targeted for improvement of academics will be allocated. For example, the new $1 million Opportunity Hires Program will help the university to attract eminent faculty in many disciplines.
J. Wade Gilley
President, The University of Tennessee
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