Government Relations

UM Legislative Update Newsletter

February 17, 2006

Elson S. Floyd, Ph.D., President, University of Missouri

Senate Education Committee Testimony

Tuesday, February 14, 2006

• Mr. Chairman, members of the Committee, for the record my name is Elson Floyd and I serve as president of the University of Missouri. I am pleased to speak in support of the Lewis and Clark Discovery Initiative.
• We have a great group of chancellors leading our four campuses, including Brady Deaton from the Columbia campus; Guy Bailey from the Kansas City campus; Jack Carney from the Rolla campus and Tom George from the St. Louis campus.
• We are very pleased to see a proposal before you that would provide an infusion of one-time funds to benefit the capital and scholarship needs of higher education.
• The University of Missouri Board of Curators on January 27 passed a resolution in support of this proposal, expressing appreciation to Governor Blunt for the initiative.
• Our students and alumni also have taken positions in support of the plan. The Associated Students of the University of Missouri representing all four of our campuses, as well as the Intercampus Student Council and the Mizzou Alumni Association, have all passed resolutions in support of the Lewis and Clark Initiative.
• While we have focused on the challenges of a reduced operating budget for our institutions over the past five years, at the same time we have seen an increasing need for capital improvements. There was a time when higher education institutions could count on a significant capital improvements appropriation every couple of years. But as we all know, a capital bill for higher education has not occurred since 2001. But the needs are still there.
• The Lewis and Clark Discovery Initiative would provide a one-time infusion of funds to help catch up on our highest capital priority needs. We are particularly pleased to see a set of projects that bolsters our state’s emerging life sciences sector and provides the help needed to improve many incubators and other economic development initiatives to jump start this new sector of our economy.
• This initiative ties the research capability of our four campuses in medicine, engineering, agriculture, and related health professions as well as other disciplines to the economic development needs of the state where new research ideas can become the new Missouri companies of the future, meaning dramatic economic growth for the state.
• We also support the governor’s plan to use a portion of the funding for scholarships and endowed professorships. Two years ago, we took a $4 million portion of our increased operating funds and started a new need-based endowment that matched a dollar of state investment with a dollar in private funding to create 266 new scholarships for our neediest students. We were able to leverage the state investment to provide much greater access for those students. The governor’s recommendation to endow $100 million in the Initiative to support need-based scholarships is a laudable one, and the benefit could double through private matches. We like the fact that this opportunity may exist in the Lewis and Clark Initiative.
• It also important to invest in the people who conduct research in these facilities. When we attract a world-class researcher, he or she often brings millions of dollars in federal and private grant support and multiple support positions. It is not unusual for these faculty members to generate more than $500,000 per year in outside research support and employ seven to ten assistants in each laboratory. In many ways, they are like attracting small businesses to the state.
• The governor’s plan incorporates matching funds for endowed professorships that leverage state support with private funds to provide the money needed to attract faculty and equip them for success. We have already demonstrated to the state how successful this program can be. Today, we have funding for 44 endowed chairs and 76 endowed professorships that have already generated a 400 percent return on the state’s investment.
• Researchers are not just enhancing economic development. They also are solving problems. For example, research that would be conducted in the Health Sciences Research and Education Center at MU would be focused on the top killer diseases in Missouri: cancer, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. These are real problems facing Missourians each and every day, and the researchers in this new facility will be concentrating on better treatments and cures for these and other health problems.
• Finally, we are focused on improving the important linkage between new discoveries and the marketplace. The Lewis and Clark Initiative includes key funding for life sciences incubators and other projects as well as additional support for life science startup companies.
• In summary, the Lewis and Clark Discovery Initiative represents the best chance we will have to identify one-time funds to support these important goals for our state, and I encourage you to support it.
• Thank you, and I will be happy to take any questions.
  

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