You’re trying too hard here is about your effort to troll
You are failing pretty epically. I guess not all of them can be winners.
Iowa State concludes its AAU membership
- Thread starter psychlones
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You are failing pretty epically. I guess not all of them can be winners.
For anyone who wants an interesting read on the AAU and why schools leave and its inherent shortcomings. Here's a link:
Building a New AAU: The Case for Redefining Higher Education Excellence
Building a New AAU: The Case for Redefining Higher Education Excellence
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We have lost some of our top engineering profs to Purdue over the years - seems like a natural career progression.
Oh and all of Purdue's astronaut grads probably can't hurt either.
Good article and seems to be very relevant. I didn't realize the AAU capped membership at 62. Seems like if an association had standards and requirements that any institution who demonstrated that they meet the requirements should be admitted and not randomly limited to 62 members which gives it the "old boys club" kind of feel. Maybe land grant universities should create their own association with lofty requirements but tailored to the mission of land grant universities.Not having a medical school is strike one. Being an Ag school is strike two. The AAU does not count research in Agriculture as part of an institution's research. It is frankly quite an achievement that ISU was able to hang on to AAU membership for over 60 years.
Read this if you really want to understand the issues. Keep in mind that this is about Nebraska but written from Missouri's perspective so it is probably less biased than if coming out of Lincoln.
Losing AAU status not fatal for Nebraska
MU leaders have repeatedly expressed the importance of membership in the Association of American Universities. But a look at the University of Nebraska's ouster from the AAU shows a differentwww.columbiamissourian.com
Not having a medical school is strike one. Being an Ag school is strike two. The AAU does not count research in Agriculture as part of an institution's research. It is frankly quite an achievement that ISU was able to hang on to AAU membership for over 60 years.
Read this if you really want to understand the issues. Keep in mind that this is about Nebraska but written from Missouri's perspective so it is probably less biased than if coming out of Lincoln.
Losing AAU status not fatal for Nebraska
MU leaders have repeatedly expressed the importance of membership in the Association of American Universities. But a look at the University of Nebraska's ouster from the AAU shows a different
Painting ISU as an ‘ag school’ is unfair - there is a long history of strength in engineering, chemistry and physical sciences, and even biochemistry and computing here (though I know the atanasoff computer thing gets overplayed). These strengths helped ISU fit into the AAU club.
The bottom line is that ISUs profile in these research areas hasn’t held up compared to peer schools.
This may not mean much for undergrad education in the short term but as others have said it is indicative that we’re not the research powerhouse we used to be. We’re becoming less attractive for research-intensive faculty who bring in big grants and found startup companies etc.
Maybe the ISU faculty should consult the NU faculty for coping strategies. NU seems to have come out ok...
All of the talk about how it is "no big deal" that ISU left the AAU -- people were talking otherwise just a few years ago when Nebraska got kicked out. Anyone who might have said then that it was "no big deal" for Nebraska to be kicked out would have been laughed at.
Iowa State has a large presence in Ag. Any research resources that are put in that area are wasted (in the eyes of the AAU, not mine). ISU does a lot of other things, but it is just one way that schools that don't have an Ag "drain" on their resources have a leg up on State.
Agree and I was one of those however, after reading the couple of articles linked in this thread I'm a little more educated about the AAU and see it not as the lofty organization as I thought it was and maybe it either needs to be updated, mothballed or an alternative organization needs to be established.
Texas A&M and Purdue both have large Ag programs and both are ‘second fiddle’ public universities in their own state. Much like ISU. Nevertheless, for now at least, they have found a way to succeed in the research metrics of the AAU.
If you want ISU to accept a role as a narrowly focused ag school that’s really a different discussion.
But if you don’t think there are significant advantages to having a broadly focused powerhouse research university in Ames, I disagree with you.
They're also way bigger than Iowa State. More people, more resources, more spending.
Purdue's F21 enrollment was almost 50k (37k undergrad). A&M had 67k (54k undergrad) in College Station.
I acknowledge that ISU faces unique challenges and our decline in broad research profile may have been inevitable.
To nitpick a little bit, total enrollment doesn’t really play a role in AAU metrics as far as I know (but again I realize more undergrads make for more total funding which can make it politically easier to support research programs)
Also, A&M has two things ISU doesn't: A medical school and a petroleum research institute in the state that pumps four times as much petroleum as the number two state in the country. There is a lot of oil money pumped into A&M for petroleum research.