Former University of Iowa President Mary Sue Coleman will return to campus March 9 to participate in a historic forum held in collaboration with the Lincoln Project, a national initiative of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences named for President Abraham Lincoln who signed into law the Morrill Act, which created the modern system of land-grant universities we enjoy today.
The Lincoln Project forum will be held at 4 p.m. on March 9 in C20 Pomerantz Center. A reception in the Blank Honors Center atrium will follow. The event is free and open to the public, but seating is limited and attendees are encouraged to RSVP here.
As co-chair of the Lincoln Project, Coleman is leading a survey of the challenges facing public research universities, especially financial issues that are affecting the ability of public universities to accomplish their mission to teach, conduct research, and provide public service. To help formulate its recommendations, the Lincoln Project has conducted regional forums in New York City, Austin, Atlanta, Chapel Hill, Charlottesville, Ann Arbor, and Madison, among other locations.
The visit is sponsored by the UI Office of the President, the Office of the Vice President for Research and Economic Development, the Obermann Center for Advanced Studies, and the UI Public Policy Center.
Coleman served as president of the University of Iowa from 1995 to 2002. She led the University of Michigan as president from 2002 until her retirement in 2014 and is currently the president of the Association of American Universities. Time magazine named her one of the nation’s 10 best college presidents, and the American Council on Education honored her with its Lifetime Achievement Award in 2014.
At the Association of American Universities (AAU), Coleman is devoted to improving access to excellent higher education and to supporting the critical role research universities play in our society.
Iowa Now caught up with Coleman to ask about the Lincoln Project and her return to Iowa.
How does it feel to be back on campus?
Iowa City is a fabulous college town. Unfortunately, I have not been able to visit very often as I still have good friends here. The recovery from the flooding of 2008 is impressive, as are all the developments in the surrounding community. Iowa City really is a magnet for so many things we value in life: great performances, cutting-edge research, superb health care, lively athletics, and more. The ease of access of all the gems of this community is not to be discounted either.
Why did you become involved in the Lincoln Project?
During the past decade, I have observed with growing dismay the dramatic disinvestment in public higher education, and specifically in public research universities, across the United States. Bob Birgeneau (chancellor emeritus from the University of California, Berkeley) and I decided that we could bring attention to this disturbing trend by studying a group of public research universities represented in each of our 50 states. The data we analyzed astonished us.
Why is this conversation important?
Public universities educate the vast majority of bachelor’s degree–seeking students in the United States at a time when higher education is recognized as a critical feature in preparing young people for careers of the 21st century. Our nation’s investment in public higher education has been important to our global competitiveness in the 20th century, and we believe that investment will be even more important in the 21st. In the last 30 years, states have shifted the burden of the cost of higher education to families and students, and we believe that the benefits to society of an educated populace are of such importance that the financial burden must be shared so that access to higher education, regardless of family income, is assured.
Are public universities seen as assets in economic development?
The University of Iowa is a major economic driver for eastern Iowa. Not only does the university employ thousands of people and bring resources in from other states and the federal government, it also encourages and eases the translation of research discoveries to the marketplace. Student and faculty entrepreneurs are encouraged and nurtured, and new businesses abound. Because the university is here, employers are keen to establish businesses since they are assured access to a highly educated workforce. The existence of a major research university is a major, stable driver of economic success of a community.
What are the University of Iowa’s strengths in economic development?
While I do not have intimate knowledge of the university’s work in specific aspects of economic development, I am well aware of the profound influence it has on the attractiveness of this part of the state and its commitment to enhance the human, community, and physical capital of this region.
What do you hope attendees will take away from the forum?
I hope that the Lincoln Project is a call to action across the country. During the darkest period of our nation’s history, Abraham Lincoln signed the Morrill Act to create a web of land grant universities. While intensely controversial during its time, these universities assured the future of an educated populace. We should do no less for future generations.