Jim Guikema, associate vice president of research and associate dean of the Graduate School at Kansas State University, explained that the Kansas City area is home to one of the most vibrant regional efforts in the animal health industry. The “animal-health corridor” stretches from Kansas State in Manhattan to the University of Missouri-Columbia and includes a number of significant industrial players in between.
The existence of that corridor helped Kansas State persuade the federal government to put its new $500 million National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility (NBAF) in Manhattan. There is also a strong possibility of a new USDA lab moving from Laramie Wyoming to Manhattan, which would also be focused on animal diseases.
“We see a lot of linkages on many fronts,” said Guikema. “Developing industry/university partnerships is something we are really proud of.”
Edwin Robinson addressed the issue of Kansas State’s Olathe Innovation Campus. This campus will provide the academic research presence within the Kansas Bioscience Park and a direct link to the many resources on the Manhattan campus. “Part of the strategy is to take advantage of the educational institutions that already exist to provide faculty assistance and partners,” said Robinson.
Gordon Mapley cautioned that educators need to keep “our eye on our mission as opposed to the industrial mission.” In recruiting candidates for the incubator at Missouri Western, administrators are being careful to make sure that they have guaranteed internships for the students.
As Gail Hackett pointed out, UMKC also has an institute for entrepreneurship and innovation and participates in KCSourceLink, which is a network of resources for small business.
“Sometimes I think we get stuck protecting what we currently have,” Calaway cautioned panelists. “Unfortunately, if you do that you lose that motivation to be innovative, and it’s hard to kick start again.”
Student Dynamics
Terry Calaway addressed the issue of the “new dynamics” that students are bringing to the classroom. From JCCC’s perspective, the concern has shifted from student reading shortcomings to math shortcomings over the past decade or so.
Kansas City Kansas Community College must deal with younger students who have had minimal math preparation and older students who have forgotten what they once knew. “We have a lot of students who enroll in developmental math and English,” said Tom Burke, “and it’s been that way for years.”
MidAmerica Nazarene University has instructed its faculty how to teach writing across the curriculum. “We think that writing is a key skill that virtually all students need to develop,” said Edwin Robinson.
Ottawa faculty members have been concerned about students who care largely about what they need to pass. “And we are shocking them rather regularly,” said Kevin Eichner.
Although UMKC is a selective institute, which does not teach remedial courses, the faculty tends to complain about the students. “Sometimes,” Gail Hackett observed, “the faculty loses site of the fact that we are teaching a more diverse group of students than we were 10 years ago.”
Edwin Robinson addressed the issue of technology and its effect on students. As he sees it, students can become easily bored by the way information is delivered in the classroom. “We may have to do away with Power Point,” said Robinson. He suggested that students could absorb information through other channels and come to class to engage.
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