Kansas City @ The Crossroads

Front row, left to right: Dr. Elson Floyd, University of Missouri System; Woody Cozad, Lobbyist; Mary James, former curator, University of Missouri System; Nick Haines, KCPT (moderator). Back row, left to right: Jack Cashill, executive editor, Ingram’s Magazine; Ray Coveney, UMKC professor; Kevin Lujin, UMKC student advocate; and Ted Beckett, attorney and former curator, University of Missouri System.

On January 1, 2006, Dr. Guy Bailey, currently the provost and executive vice president at the University of Texas at San Antonio, will take over as the chancellor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. He has many challenges ahead of him, and maybe the biggest is to channel the energies of the university’s diverse stakeholders.
Is UMKC a research institution? Should it be? Does Kansas City’s economy suffer if it is not? Does UMKC need the support of the business community? Does UMKC need to support the interests of the business community? Should UMKC be a part of the University of Missouri System, or should it become an independent entity? If independent, to whom should it be accountable? There are a lot of questions to be answered.

Welcome to Kansas City, Dr. Bailey.

On Monday, August 1, Ingram’s hosted the monthly session of Kansas City @ the Crossroads—the partnership between Ingram’s and KCPT. In this installment, business and education leaders in the community discussed the future of UMKC and its relationship to the business community of Kansas City. The event, once again, was moderated by KCPT’s Nick Haines, and it will be shown in an upcoming edition of Haines’ Kansas City Week in Review.

The question to start the discussion was this: In the City-States Report of 2002, independent journalists noted that the absence of a strong research university in Kansas City was the “weak link in the metro’s competitive chain.” How important is the presence of a strong research university in Kansas City and would Kansas City be better positioned to address that concern if UMKC split from the University of Missouri System?

Making the Grade With a New Chancellor Coming in January, UMKC Faces Some Challenging Decisions by David Smale
Front row, left to right: Dr. Elson Floyd, University of Missouri System; Woody Cozad, Lobbyist; Mary James, former curator, University of Missouri System; Nick Haines, KCPT (moderator). Back row, left to right: Jack Cashill, executive editor, Ingram’s Magazine; Ray Coveney, UMKC professor; Kevin Lujin, UMKC student advocate; and Ted Beckett, attorney and former curator, University of Missouri System. On January 1, 2006, Dr. Guy Bailey, currently the provost and executive vice president at the University of Texas at San Antonio, will take over as the chancellor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. He has many challenges ahead of him, and maybe the biggest is to channel the energies of the university’s diverse stakeholders. Is UMKC a research institution? Should it be? Does Kansas City’s economy suffer if it is not? Does UMKC need the support of the business community? Does UMKC need to support the interests of the business community? Should UMKC be a part of the University of Missouri System, or should it become an independent entity? If independent, to whom should it be accountable? There are a lot of questions to be answered. Welcome to Kansas City, Dr. Bailey. On Monday, August 1, Ingram’s hosted the monthly session of Kansas City @ the Crossroads—the partnership between Ingram’s and KCPT. In this installment, business and education leaders in the community discussed the future of UMKC and its relationship to the business community of Kansas City. The event, once again, was moderated by KCPT’s Nick Haines, and it will be shown in an upcoming edition of Haines’ Kansas City Week in Review. The question to start the discussion was this: In the City-States Report of 2002, independent journalists noted that the absence of a strong research university in Kansas City was the “weak link in the metro’s competitive chain.” How important is the presence of a strong research university in Kansas City and would Kansas City be better positioned to address that concern if UMKC split from the University of Missouri System?