Centers that make sense
Before long, Christopher Bergstrom, executive director of the Rhode Island Economic Policy Council, will ask the General Assembly to continue funding and to expand the state’s Research Centers of Excellence. To date legislators have committed $3 million to establish the Samuel Slater Technology Fund and get two centers up and running. They are the Center for Cellular Medicine at Brown University and Lifespan; and the Ocean Technology Center, at the University of Rhode Island.
Centers of Excellence are a long term investment not only in the centers themselves, but in a change in culture. Rhode Island used to be more dependent on manufacturing and far too dependent upon the defense industry for its economic survival. That has changed, and the Centers of Excellence are among those concepts that hold the most promise for developing a new knowledge based economy.
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Besides the development of fledgling companies, both the Brown and URI Centers have attracted top scientists to Rhode Island, either on individual visits or as part of prestigious international conferences that have also brought thousands of dollars into our economy.
If the Centers of Excellence have a failing, it may be in their inability to generate the kind of visibility they need to capture widespread public support. We suspect that such support is critical to their long-term success.
We believe the Centers of Excellence possess considerable potential for the state’s future economic growth. Relating to the establishment of Slater Mill, Bergstrom suggests:
“In 1790, we were the Silicon Valley of the United States. We can get that back. We don’t get there overnight. But we have that kind of innovation.”
Carothers reappointment
On Wednesday the personnel committee of the Board of Governors for Higher Education will meet, presumably to determine the fate of University of Rhode Island President Robert Carothers.
During recent weeks, the board’s hearings have centered considerably upon what some believe are the financial failings of the university: a bookstore deficit of a half million dollars; a lapse in the university’s filing of its year-end reconciliation of its financial records; and what one official said was “crisis after crisis.”
Meanwhile, there has been an outpouring of support for Dr. Carothers from alumni and friends of the university who are quick to note the university’s academic progress, visibility, and Carothers’ knack for fundraising.
We believe the board has raised some valid issues, and that the members of the board – all volunteers – are working extremely hard to bring about a fair assessment before deciding whether to renew Dr. Carothers’ contract.
We remain in strong support of Dr. Carothers, believing he has made a significant difference in the quality of education at URI, and therefore, in the quality of the resources available to the business community.
We agree, however, that in some financial aspects the university needs strengthening. So we would suggest that if the board renews Dr. Carothers’ contract, it also establish a closer relationship with the university relative to financial matters, so its communications are better and it has increased ability to deal with financial matters in a more timely fashion.
URI, by any standards is a complex organization, with considerable infrastructure needs, that will only benefit from stability in its leadership, continuity of its academic mission, and a common goal of improving its financial underpinnings through a cooperative effort of the university administration and the board of governors of higher education.
