By Ketul PatelThe Daily Northwestern
Northwestern President Henry Bienen was elected chairman of the Association of American Universities, a group of 62 American and Canadian research universities, on Tuesday.
The AAU helps develop policy positions on national issues relating to academic research, graduate and professional education. It also coordinates discussions of institutional issues.
Bienen said his priorities as chairman include advocating greater investment in research and development, and encouraging more funding for the National Institutes of Health.
“We’re very worried that science funding is declining,” he said.
Bienen also said he will advocate President George W. Bush’s American Competitiveness Initiative, a program to help the United States remain a leader in science and technology. The program will commit $50 billion over 10 years to increase funding for research.
The AAU chairman presides over meetings, helps the staff form an agenda and meets with federal government leaders to discuss issues related to education, Bienen said.
“The chairman would go to Washington to talk to congressional people or people at the National Science Foundation,” he said. “(He) would take up issues that impinge on higher education.”
As chairman, Bienen said he will also lobby Congress to increase federal student aid to make higher education more accessible to low-income students.
“It’s been pretty flat – the grants and loans haven’t kept up with the cost of living,” he said. “We need to urge Congress to address this issue.”
Bienen served as vice chairman on the association’s executive committee for the past two years. He said he will serve as chairman until fall 2008.
Robert Berdahl, president of AAU, said in a news release that Bienen was selected because of his experience on national organizations, including the Council on Foreign Relations.
“As one of the longest-serving leaders of an AAU institution, President Bienen brings a deep understanding of the issues facing research universities today, ” Berdahl said.
A group of 14 universities founded the association in 1900 to increase the international prestige of U.S. research universities. It currently includes universities such as Harvard, Yale and Johns Hopkins. NU joined the association in 1917.
Bienen said he has no major plans for changing the AAU because he plans to focus on national issues.
“The AAU itself is in good shape,” he said. “I’m much more concerned with what happens in the country than what happens in the AAU.”
Bienen said he did not think his position will have any effect on NU’s prestige.
“It may give the university increased salience because the chairman is the president of NU,” he said. “But I wouldn’t exaggerate it in terms of prestige.”
Martin Jischke, who preceded Bienen as chairman of the AAU, wrote in an e-mail to The Daily that he supports any initiatives Bienen chooses to pursue.
“Henry Bienen is an outstanding president and will provide excellent leadership to the AAU,” wrote Jischke, the president of Purdue University. “The AAU is the combined voice of America’s leading research-based universities. And I am confident Dr. Bienen will be a powerful spokesman for these institutions.”
Reach Ketul Patel at [email protected].
