The Great American University : Its Rise to Preeminence, Its Indispensable National Role, Why It Must Be Protected

Although America's universities have become the envy of the world for their creative energy and their production of transformative knowledge, few understand how and why they have become preeminent. This groundbreaking book traces the origins and the evolution of our great universities. It shows how they grew out of sleepy colleges at the turn of the twentieth century into powerful institutions that continue to generate new industries and advance our standard of living. Far from inevitable, this transformation was enabled by a highly competitive system that invested public tax dollars in university research and students while granting universities substantial autonomy. Today, America's universities face considerable threats. Even greater than foreign competition are the threats from within the United States. Under the Bush administration, government increasingly imposed ideological constraints on the freedom of academic inquiry. Restrictive visa policies instituted after 9/11 continue to discourage talented foreign graduate students from training in the United States. The international financial crisis, which has depleted university endowments and state investments in higher education, threatens the vitality of some of our greatest institutions of higher learning. In order to sustain and enhance the American tradition of excellence, we must nurture this powerful -- yet underappreciated -- national resource. "Americans and people throughout the world have become increasingly dependent on America's great research universities. Yet few of us truly understand to what we owe this extraordinary excellence or what we must do to keep it." "From the development of technologies like the laser, the global positioning system, the MRI, radar, and even Viagra, to predicting weather patterns, American research universities are one of our most vital sources of economic growth and social welfare. They have flourished because of a system that has invested public tax dollars in their work and, more importantly, granted substantial autonomy to funding agencies and the universities." "This system is now under attack, the university's preeminence endangered by the USA Patriot Act and other conservative policies. This revelatory and alarming book will show how this vital institution is at risk of tragically losing its dominant status and why a threat to the university is a threat to the health and wealth of our nation."--Jacket As the economic crisis forces a new focus on long-term investment in institutions, it is essential that we recognize the contributions of America's great research universities to our national welfare. Though Americans and people throughout the world have become increasingly dependent upon American universities, few of us understand the extent to which they act as engines of change that affect our daily life. From discoveries that led to the laser, the global positioning system, the MRI, radar, and even Viagra, to predicting weather patterns, American research universities are one of our most essential sources of economic growth and social welfare. They have been a model of innovation throughout the world, and they can be used to solve the complex economic, social, scientific, technological, security, and medical problems that we face. In a transforming economic landscape, it is crucial that we support and nurture this powerful—yet underappreciated—national resource. Annotation One of the most important books on higher education to be written in the past several decades. --Dallas Morning News