Reinventing the Land-Grant University

It’s always helpful to be reminded both of our history and our future possibilities. I hadn’t known much about how the Morrill Act was proposed to Abraham Lincoln, but what a visionary piece of legislation it was. Think of all of the competing political agendas that could have subverted the legislation — the US was, after all, enmeshed in a civil war.

Gordon Gee (president of OSU) gave a stirring piece of political oratory yesterday at the 10th Annual National Outreach Scholarship Conference in Athens, Georgia. His larger point was that land-grant universities need to reinvent themselves and redefine their relationships to their local communities — and the world community. It’s easy to say such words and then say, “Naw — we can’t do it now.” But the thrust of the conference is to provide examples of what can be done.

The Tuesday morning session deals with the “Synergies of Partnerships: Working Together with Africa.” The panelists represent CARE, the World Bank, USAID, and the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation. Both of these presentations should be available soon at http://tinyurl.com/pyd9qu — and are well worth a look.

That said, the challenges for traditional universities — faculty and departments — are real. Partnerships are challenging but indispensable.

Good ideas? Always welcome.