Higher Ed in Memphis (Midtown, Huntsville: credit, purchases, private schools)

[Tigertate]

So what exactly makes a school a premium university? I hold degrees from both the U of M and CBU and I can not see what people are talking about when they say that CBU and Rhodes are better schools than the U of M. I just can not figure that out. The U of M is a good school that caters to the needs of this community. Sometimes I think this comparison is more of a private university (notice that 90% of the schools mentioned above are private schools) vs. public university debate. A university being a private school does not somehow make it elite. I can honestly say that in my experience, both the U of M and CBU were good schools. Neither school was any better than the other. I think a lot of people do not give the U of M much credit.
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[clobbersaurus01]

Originally Posted by thenuegeye

In regards to this last statement, they probably knew the culture wasn't one that spawned innovation. Frankly, not much has changed.

What it says is that Memphis needs a full-fledged top tier research university. Rhodes is great, but does not have the class sizes that, say, Wash U, Vandy, Emory have.

[Tigertate]

Rhodes is not a research University. It is a liberal arts school. Vandy is a great overall university. Washington U and Emory have some great programs and good Medical Schools, but I would not call them great "Research Universities". Memphis has a great Medical School also with the UT Health Science Center. The plight of Memphis has nothing to do with the colleges and universities in this town. The problems all stem from poor leadership, poor public schools, and poverty.

[beyond5]

Originally Posted by Tigertate

Rhodes is not a research University. It is a liberal arts school. Vandy is a great overall university. Washington U and Emory have some great programs and good Medical Schools, but I would not call them great "Research Universities". Memphis has a great Medical School also with the UT Health Science Center. The plight of Memphis has nothing to do with the colleges and universities in this town. The problems all stem from poor leadership, poor public schools, and poverty.

This is the first time I have heard that WashU is not a great research University.

[westtnman]

Does having a top tier research university really contribute that much to a city the size of Memphis? I would venture to say that MTSU and Ole Miss have a much greater impact on their respective cities than Vanderbilt does for Nashville, for example. Don't get me wrong, Vanderbilt is a great institution and I would be happy if my children went there, but I wouldn't think it has the same overall impact (other than a "feather in the cap") that these other universities have on their communities.

I realize that St. Jude is not a university but isn't it prestigious as far as research hospitals are concerned? I think it would be considered a nice "feather" for Memphis.

[plattsburgher]

Just have to say that I am extremely proud of all of the higher educational offerings in Memphis.......University of Tennessee Health Science Centers, St. Jude's Research hospital, Rhodes and the many teaching hospitals and clinics that we have.......also Memphis State's Speech and Hearing Center is a known center for excellence and there is the Earthquake Center and I believe there is also a divinity school in Midtown. All of this is fantastic, however....
are we able to hold talent in the local area post graduation??????That seems to be the HUGE problem.........

My daughter's friend is of a different culture and is doing pharmacy studies downtown, but already states that he won't stay in Memphis post-grad work/fellowship. He doesn't feel comfortable there........and feels as though there are better cities with more to offer him. How do we turn this around? Where to start?

I am thrilled with the offer of help from Bill Gates Foundation. Actually wrote them a thank you note for recognizing that we need help.......Just curious about something......

How did Huntsville, AL become a science center......It used to be just a place in the middle of nowhere, but it now has employees from everywhere and a much better rep than even 10 years ago due to the quality of work and workers there........What do they have that we don't and what will it take for us to attract this type of opportunity......Personally, I think Memphis would be a fantastic place for a light rail example......to build, experiment and design for other cities.......we have the best location anywhere in the US and would benefit greatly as already being a distribution hub. Didn't the stock market guru.....Buffett just make significant purchases toward light rail for future? How do we jumpstart Memphis?

[westtnman]

Huntsville's population growth and its growth as a tech center are attributable to Redstone Arsenal. The US Army made the arsenal the center for missile and rocket research. This led to the first NASA facility being located there. So the US government is the reason for Huntsville's position today, not educational institutions.

[Tigertate]

Originally Posted by beyond5

This is the first time I have heard that WashU is not a great research University.

Great is a relative term. I in no way mean to demean Washington U. I just do not consider it a "great" research university.

[strumpeace]

Originally Posted by beyond5

This is the first time I have heard that WashU is not a great research University.

Me too.

The Center for Measuring University Performance's widely-cited and well-respected 2008 report ranks Washington U in St. Louis as the #15 research university in the nation -- right between #14 Duke and #16 Emory. (That same report ranks Cornell as #18, Vanderbilt as #22, Brown as #26, and Berkley as #30.)

The report further notes that Washington U ranks in the top 25 in 6 of 9 national ranking reports; it ranks in the top 50 in all 9 of 9.

To each his own, I suppose, but clearly, Washington U commands a great deal of national--and international--respect.

[clobbersaurus01]

Originally Posted by westtnman

Does having a top tier research university really contribute that much to a city the size of Memphis? I would venture to say that MTSU and Ole Miss have a much greater impact on their respective cities than Vanderbilt does for Nashville, for example. Don't get me wrong, Vanderbilt is a great institution and I would be happy if my children went there, but I wouldn't think it has the same overall impact (other than a "feather in the cap") that these other universities have on their communities.

I realize that St. Jude is not a university but isn't it prestigious as far as research hospitals are concerned? I think it would be considered a nice "feather" for Memphis.

I think a top-tier research university contributes a lot to the growth of a community. And, perhaps beyond that, a plethora of higher academic institutions. I think Austin is the only exception I can think of. Nashville has Vandy plus others. Atlanta has Emory, Ga Tech, plus others. Boston, DC, their assets are world-reknowned. Chicago, LA, San Francisco, they all have world class research universities who feed their local news programs as experts, and often graduate to national programs, and their local corporations with employees. I don't think any of those cities can neglect the contributions of their local universities in fueling their growth.

St. Jude is a huuuuge feather for Memphis. It is great that we resisted the poaching that Wash U (actually Barnes-Jewish) attempted back in the late 80s early 90s when they sought to take St. Jude up north.

But it's important to realize that St. Louis would not be St. Louis without Wash U. Every one of their major corporations has a strong connection, often research wise to that university. It has one of the best med schools in the world. One can't compare Ole Miss's impact on Oxford with Wash U's impact on St. Louis.

I could take a moment to describe how influential and ingrained Wash U is in that community, what it does to bring in international and non-St. Louisans to the city, even above SLU and UMSL. It would take a lot of time. It's politically connected, it's economically connected, it spawns research for medicine, and agri-sciences (Monsanto, Mallinckrodt, Ralston Purina, the Danforth Foundation), it has churned out employees for major corporations that were based there (AB, Enterprise, , it has churned out new companies from the business school (easiest example being Build a Bear). I would say combine Rhodes, UTHSC, and probably CBU, and include the financial involvement of execs from FedEx, Autozone, etc, and that would exceed Wash U.

Being an influential research university goes beyond actual research. It involves the financial expansion of a community as a result of your total work, from the research, to the teaching, to the political connections, to the financial endowments. It includes the involvement of the alumni in that community, their interest in changing its landscape, affecting its direction. Do NOT underestimate the power of political connections, particularly in university research, as well as prestige prizes such as a Presidential debate.

I am curious what is required to be a prestigious university. Top 30 in the world? Top 15 in America? Check. Check. Top 5 grad programs. Check and check.

I don't want to defend Wash U. I definitely don't want to defend St. Louis. It's important, however, to learn from others, and, poach ideas from them. Having a Wash U is better than not having them, imo. Just like a Vandy, or Emory. Some larger cities even have more than one of them. Most have at least one.

I certainly don't think it hurts to have such a university -- a research university not dependent on funding from a state anchored in support of other cities/institutions. In other words, a private research university.