11-16-98

SHUMATE TO U.S. UNIVERSITY PRESIDENTS-DON’T GO IT ALONE

	ATLANTA -- Presidents and administrators from America’s 200 
major public universities and historically Black institutions 
were told today (11/16) by a former Ohio State University board 
chair that their future will depend upon strategic alliances with 
businesses, communities and government agencies. 

	Alex Shumate, who last year chaired the search committee 
that brought William E. “Brit” Kirwan to Ohio State as its 12th 
president, keynoted the 111th annual President’s Luncheon of the 
National Association of State Universities and Land Grant 
Colleges (NASULGC) today in Atlanta.  NASULGC has member campuses 
in all 50 states and U.S. territories.  They enroll more than 3.1 
million students.

	Noting “troubled times” for higher education brought on by 
declining political support and “public disenchantment with our 
performance,” Shumate said that university leaders must “close 
the gap between what American society needs of higher education 
and what it is receiving.”  At the same time, Shumate said that 
the higher education leaders should not “lose sight of the fact 
that our colleges and universities are the envy of the world.”

	One fundamental response, he said, must parallel what 
corporate America is now doing to build “strategic alliances ... 
that are transforming industries....”  The alliances that will 
succeed, he said, are the ones that “engage the citizens and 
communities we serve.” 

	He gave as a statewide Ohio example the Ohio Edison 
Technology Centers program, with centers on a number of Ohio 
campuses.  In Columbus, he cited Campus Partners for neighborhood 
improvement in the Ohio State campus area, and the new not-for-
profit Science and Technology Campus, organized to provide 
technology-based companies with “products, processes and 
services” derived from faculty research.

	Shumate also spoke about a singular Board of Trustees 
evaluation process that he had led as Ohio State’s board chair 
last year.  The University Governance Project, he said, produced 
a three-year strategic agenda and 46 recommendations for board 
action.  It was, he said, a “strategic alliance” in itself -- a 
partnership with the rest of the university that has capitalized 
“on the board’s untapped potential as a source of competitive 
advantage.”

	Nine other Ohio universities are members of NASULGC: Bowling 
Green, Cleveland State, Kent State, Miami, Ohio, Akron, 
Cincinnati, Toledo and Wright State.

                              #

Contact: Malcolm Baroway, Executive Director, University
	 Communications, (614) 292-6895

Note: Contact Ruth Gerstner in University Communications, 
(614) 292-8424, to request a copy of the speech.