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The Rice Thresher
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by EMILY MEYER THRESHER STAFF
Gillis's speech addressed Rice's place among universities, his philosophy about maintaining balance in academic offerings and the future.
Gillis said Rice faces many of the same problems and opportunities as other leading universities but that Rice is separated by several important differences. First, Gillis said, Rice's size is "distinctly smaller than every other leading research university." He said Rice has a financial base "as sound as any university in the nation," providing students with unparalleled educational subsidies. Gillis said Rice is "among the dwindling number of institutions where the Humboldtian vision - the unity of teaching and research - is still taken very seriously." He said the university has strong interdisciplinary traditions and an "unexcelled blend of sciences, arts and professional schools." The new International University Bremen, Gillis said, will be "the European version of Rice in Germany." He said the venture is part of both a "broad strategy for internationalization of our curriculum and programs" and Rice's intention to engage in both national and international interinstitutional collaboration. "Rice is as committed to collegiality, civil discourse, unconstrained inquiry and academic freedom as any university, anywhere," Gillis said. He said that is why Rice "bears relatively few scars from the culture wars of the past decade." Gillis said that Rice has also maintained "its commitment to inclusiveness in the face of difficult judicial constraints," referring to the 1996 Hopwood decision that prevented Rice from using race as a factor in admissions decisions. Gillis also mentioned Rice's successful conservation of green space. Gillis concluded by discussing the rising costs facing Rice and its peer universities. He pointed out that "a shift to a bear market would, in all probability, mean that several private universities across the nation will not survive much into the 21st century - at least not as private universities." But he said that Rice would survive "even a decade-long recession."
The second part of Gillis' speech defined his view of the ideal balance between the sciences and the humanities at Rice. "Universities are at their best as balanced entities, exploring all facets of meaning in the physical world and in human society," he said. "The search for understanding and meaning in human interactions turns out to be no less important to the generation of wealth than is the interactions between chemicals." "All things considered, we have done much good by doing a few things quite well," he said.
"We are clear about our mission: to assure that Rice in the 21st century is the leading private university between the two coasts," Gillis said. He said Rice is in the middle of its first comprehensive fundraising campaign. Gillis said his major goal is improving both undergraduate and graduate programs and research capabilities. "Virtually all the measures we adopt for strengthening undergraduate education should enrich our graduate programs, and vice versa," he said. "There are, perhaps, one or two research universities with undergraduate programs comparable to ours. There are none superior," he said. Gillis described several initiatives planned for Rice. He said that many curricular questions have yet to be addressed. "Our curriculum clearly produces better-trained students. We need to be sure we are producing much better-educated students," he said. He said that "the distinctions between graduate and undergraduate education in arts and sciences, engineering and music are already much more blurred at Rice than even a decade ago." "One of the principal factors distinguishing between the very good and the not-so-good universities of the 21st century will be the extent to which they successfully draw undergraduates into the research enterprise," he said. Gillis described two undertakings associated with the information revolution. "First is the provision of leading-edge, ubiquitous and seamless communication and learning technologies in the service of teaching and research for every faculty member, graduate student and undergraduate on campus," he said. The second project is making Fondren Library "the template for the teaching and research libraries of the 21st century." He said the library will become the university's intellectual center after its renovation is completed in 2004. In "a truly unique undertaking," Fondren will be completely linked to the new International University Bremen. Gillis described various difficulties universities have funding research. "We will need to rethink our relationships with business and explore alternative forms of such partnerships while assuring that increased industry sponsorship of research widens and supports our mission and does not distort it," he said. He concluded with the warning that nothing in our environment can be viewed as stable. "For all institutions ... today's pace of change makes the costs of complacency higher than at any time in history," he said. During the question-and-answer session that followed his speech, Gillis was asked about funding for faculty projects. "If someone has a good idea ... we will try to do something about it," he said. Sociology Professor Bill Martin said that position leads to optimism. "The fact that [Gillis] believes so strongly in this university rubs off on people," he said. Gillis was also asked whether there are any plans to increase undergraduate enrollment. "To be very honest, in the long term we should think about expanding enrollment [by a small amount] ... but right now, we have a lot of other fish to fry," he said. Electrical and Computer Engineering Professor James Young said he thought it was "great that [Gillis] has taken the time and introspection to communicate his idea to everybody. I think to do so invites response. It's a two-way street which he starts." Will Rice College senior Luke Hartley said Gillis' "profession of focus on ideas as the prime commodity of the university is enheartening. It made me proud to be a part of Rice University." "I've been kind of concerned that Rice University and Dr. Gillis in particular have put such an emphasis on technology growth and information resources. ... This talk made me realize that Rice's vision is on track," Baker College senior Tom Burnett said. Gillis' speech was the last in the yearlong Scientia lecture series "Rethinking the University." Susan McIntosh, anthropology professor and director of Scientia, said in her introduction to the speech that it is quite unusual for a sitting president to publicly present his ideas about the future of the university. - back - |
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