Bill Text: HI SCR185 | 2019 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Urging The University Of Hawaii To Incorporate As Part Of Its 2015-25 Uh Manoa Strategic Plan The Association Of American Universities Membership Phase I And Ii Indicators, As Appropriate, As A Means To Establish Goals And Metrics For The University's Continued Pursuit To Be Amongst The Most Prestigious Research Institutions In The Nation.
Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Democrat 6-1)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2019-03-13 - Referred to HRE. [SCR185 Detail]
Download: Hawaii-2019-SCR185-Introduced.html
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THE SENATE |
S.C.R. NO. |
185 |
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THIRTIETH LEGISLATURE, 2019 |
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STATE OF HAWAII |
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SENATE CONCURRENT
RESOLUTION
URGING THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII TO INCORPORATE AS PART OF ITS 2015-25 UH MANOA STRATEGIC PLAN THE ASSOCIATION OF AMERICAN UNIVERSITIES MEMBERSHIP PHASE I AND II INDICATORS, AS APPROPRIATE, AS A MEANS TO ESTABLISH GOALS AND METRICS FOR THE UNIVERSITY'S CONTINUED PURSUIT TO BE AMONGST THE MOST PRESTIGIOUS RESEARCH INSTITUTIONS IN THE NATION.
WHEREAS, the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, the flagship campus of the only public university in the State, serves a diverse community of students and public and private stakeholders, provides a world-class education, and performs scholarly work and service in areas of critical importance to Hawai‘i, the United States, and the entire Asia Pacific region; and
WHEREAS, the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa is a major research university, one of one hundred fifteen universities in the United States categorized as "Highest Research Universities," often referred to as Research 1 or R1 universities; and
WHEREAS, the University ranks seventieth by the Academic Ranking of World Universities and sixty-first by the TIMES Higher Education World University Rankings among research-led universities in the U.S., the University of Hawai‘i is in the top two hundred fifty universities globally; and
WHEREAS, the Association of American Universities (AAU) is an association of leading comprehensive research universities distinguished by the breadth and quality of their research programs and graduate education; and
WHEREAS, AAU member universities, sixty in the United States and two in Canada, are on the leading edge of innovation, scholarship, and solutions that contribute to scientific progress, economic development, security, and well-being; and
WHEREAS, the sixty AAU universities in the United States are of high prestige and award nearly one-half of all U.S. doctoral degrees and fifty-five percent of those in the sciences and engineering; and
WHEREAS, AAU universities award forty-two percent of all research doctoral degrees, yet make up only eight percent of all four-year PhD granting universities; and
WHEREAS, federal agencies rely on universities to perform critical research in the national interest AAU universities perform the majority of that research; and
WHEREAS, $23,300,000,000 in federally funded basic research, or sixty percent of the total amount funded, is performed by faculty at AAU universities. Agencies such as the Department of Health, Department of Human Services, National Science Foundation, and Department of Defense alone funded $19,200,000,000 in university research; and
WHEREAS, in its evaluation of institutions, the AAU Membership Committee is guided by a set of Membership Principles and Membership Indicators; and
WHEREAS, the Membership Indicators are a two-phase set of quantitative measures used to assess the breadth and quality of university research programs and graduate education; and
WHEREAS, the AAU Membership Phase I Indicators are as follows:
(1) Potential members have competitively funded federal research support. The Membership Committee uses National Science Foundation research expenditure data, excluding formula-allocated United States Department of Agriculture research expenditures and American Recovery Reinvestment Act expenditures. Funding for the Agriculture Food and Research Initiative, a competitively funded United States Department of Agriculture research support program;
(2) Potential members have membership in the National Academies. The National Academies' membership database maintains the current institutional affiliation of its members;
(3) Potential members have faculty awards, fellowships, and memberships. The Membership Committee gathers data on faculty awards, fellowships and memberships as an additional assessment of the distinction of an institution's faculty. Additional appropriate awards, fellowships, and memberships will be added to this list as they are identified; and
(4) Potential members have published academic research materials. Thomson Reuters InCitesTM citations database provides an annually updated measure of both research volume and quality and will provide a valuable complement to the first four indicators listed above; and
WHEREAS, the AAU Membership Phase II Indicators are as follows:
(1) United States Department of Agriculture, state, and industrial research funding. Though these three sources of academic research support fund important, high-quality research, they are treated as Phase II indicators since they are generally not allocated through competitive, merit-review processes. Competitively funded United States Department of Agriculture research programs, such as the Agriculture Food and Research Initiative, that can be separately identified in reported data are included in Phase I data;
(2) The Committee uses the number of research scholarship Ph.D.s granted annually, using Department of Education Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System data. These data are treated as Phase II indicators to de‑emphasize the quantitative dimensions of Ph.D. programs and avoid sending an unintended signal to institutions to increase Ph.D. output;
(3) The Committee uses National Science Foundation compiled data from institutions on postdoctoral appointees, most of whom are in the health sciences, physical sciences, and engineering. Postdoctoral education is an increasingly important component of university research and education activities that the committee believes should be tracked in AAU membership indicators. However, because postdoctoral activity is highly correlated with university research and because self-reported postdoctoral data are less uniform than data on federally funded research, postdoctoral appointees are treated as a Phase II indicator; and
(4) The Committee assesses the institution's undergraduate programs to determine that the institution is meeting its commitment to undergraduate education. Recognizing that differing institutional missions among research universities dictate different ways of providing undergraduate education, the committee will be flexible in this assessment. A number of measures have been suggested, including some that focus on input and others that look primarily at output variables. These are at this time imperfect, but may provide some guidance to the committee in making its judgments on this topic; and
WHEREAS, these Membership Indicators can be transformed into guidelines to determine whether a University's academics and research adheres to stringent standards which symbolize excellence and leadership in the field of higher education; and
WHEREAS, while the goal of adopting these Membership Indicators is not specifically to gain AAU membership, they should be viewed as encompassing general goals and metrics that the University of Hawai‘i should adopt to achieve its ongoing efforts to be placed amongst the highest ranked universities in the nation; now, therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Thirtieth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2019, the House of Representatives concurring, that the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa is urged to incorporate as part of its 2015-25 UH Manoa Strategic Plan the Association of American Universities Membership Phase I and II indicators, as appropriate, as a means to establish goals and metrics for the University's continued pursuit to be amongst the most prestigious research institutions in the nation; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the President of the University of Hawai‘i System, Chair of the Board of Regents of the University of Hawai‘i, and President of the Association of American Universities.
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OFFERED BY: |
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University of Hawaii; Strategic Plan; Association of American Universities; Membership; Task Force
