An article in the Oct. 9 Journal-World reported on one of the Bioscience Summits that was held in Wichita. In it, consultant Richard Seline, who is helping assess Kansas’ strengths with respect to the Kansas Economic Growth Act (KEGA), is quoted as saying that Kansas lacked a long-range plan for attracting federal research dollars. His quote: “There is no federal funding strategy in Kansas at all. Get a clue.”

This is simply not the case. Beginning in 1996, shortly after the arrival of Chancellor Robert Hemenway, Kansas University embarked on a strategic planning process with a goal of doing exactly what Mr. Seline suggests has not been done, increase federal research funds coming to KU and to Kansas. The actions taken as a result of what turned out to be a two-year process were profound and involved no less that a complete restructuring of research administration on the Lawrence campus.

A campuswide process identified focus areas based on KU’s research strengths. A strategic plan was developed that charted a significant upward turn in KU’s growth in federal research funding.

The results of this strategic planning process transformed research on the campus. Research space was quickly identified as a limiting factor on achieving the federal research goals for KU. Based on the targeted growth rate, a plan to increase research space by 25 percent was adopted and achieved.

Ahead of schedule

We are currently two years ahead of the aggressive federal science and engineering research goals established. Federal research funding has almost doubled, a rate 80 percent above the national average. The number of $10 million-plus awards from federal agencies has risen dramatically. The KU School of Pharmacy has risen to no. 2 in the nation among all pharmacy schools, public or private, in obtaining funding from the National Institutes of Health.

The degree of planning and execution in achieving the federal research funding goal at KU was unprecedented and now serves as a model for other universities. At the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science earlier this year in Seattle, professor Irwin Feller of Penn State, who studies research universities, declared in a talk that most universities were coming up short in successfully dealing with interdisciplinary research. He said that he only knows of five that “get it”: the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of California at Los Angeles, UC Santa Barbara, the University of Michigan and KU. Hardly the mark of a place that has not planned well.

In parallel with KU’s efforts, Sen. Pat Roberts formed a science and technology committee made up of Kansans and having as a focus attracting more federal research dollars to the state. Based on the senator’s discussions with his committee, he told Kansas legislators that if they would provide more research facilities, that more competitively won federal research awards were sure to follow. The legislature responded with a bond issue that is constructing buildings at three campuses and adding research instrumentation to the Lawrence campus that makes us a national leader in protein research facilities.

The new Structural Biology Center that houses these instruments and the recently announced 106,000-square-foot multidisciplinary research building are the first steps in the plan to add another 250,000 to 300,000 square feet of research space over the next three to five years, a 50 percent increase.

In the Oct. 9 Saturday Column, Journal-World editor Dolph Simons Jr. reflected on the need for KU and Kansas State University to collaborate on KEGA and not fight each other. This is absolutely the case. Over the past 10 years, KU and K-State have been successfully collaborating on large federally funded programs and have brought in other Kansas Board of Regents institutions and Haskell Indian Nations University. The Kansas Strategic Research Committee focusing on university research issues has been formed. We have established a strong base from which to build the partnerships needed to make KEGA a success.

Mr. Seline is also quoted as saying in Wichita, “Kansas ain’t gonna be the pharmaceutical capital of the world.” Perhaps, but I am unsure what a statement like this accomplishes. It reminds me of the attitude on the Lawrence campus 10 years ago when the idea of competing for a prestigious NSF Engineering Research Center (ERC) was viewed as something that “can’t happen here.” But what a difference 10 years makes. Last year KU did indeed win an ERC grant, at the time the largest research award (federal or otherwise) in Kansas history, and this collaborative center of research and education focuses on the environment and economic development with potential applications to the pharmaceutical industry and others.

The next chapter

On the Lawrence campus, we are embarking on the next chapter in our strategic planning process. The success of the 1996-1998 exercise demands that we look again at how we can further build a better KU and a better Kansas. Four KU committees are currently putting together a research strategic plan and setting additional goals including how KU can best contribute to the KEGA effort. To make KEGA a success, we must build on strength, focus, collaborate and exploit the natural advantages of Kansas.

Strategic planning does happen at KU and in Kansas. The 1998 plan for increasing federal research dollars coming to KU has paid off handsomely, and the students and the state all have benefited.

The KU strategy including the organizational and financial models that were put into place have made us a national model. But the most dramatic change that has spontaneously occurred on our campus is the replacement of the old “ain’t gonna happen” attitude with one of “it can and does happen at KU.” Enthusiasm and confidence are infectious.

James A. Roberts is vice provost for research at KU.