Association of American Universities

Association of American Universities
Formation 1900
Founded at Chicago, Illinois, US
Headquarters Washington, DC, US
Location
    • United States
    • Canada
Membership
62
President
 Mary Sue Coleman
Website www.aau.edu

The Association of American Universities (AAU) is a binational organization of leading research universities devoted to maintaining a strong system of academic research and education. It consists of 60 universities in the United States (both public and private) and two universities in Canada.

Organization

The AAU was founded in 1900 by a group of 14 Doctor of Philosophy degree–granting universities in the United States to strengthen and standardize American doctoral programs. American universities—starting with the Johns Hopkins University in 1876—were adopting the research-intensive German model of higher education. Lack of standardization damaged European universities' opinions of their American counterparts, however, and many American students attended graduate school in Europe instead of staying in the US. The presidents of Johns Hopkins, the University of Chicago, Columbia University, Harvard University, and the University of California sent a letter of invitation to nine other universities to meet at Chicago in February 1900 to promote and raise standards.[1]

In 1914, the AAU began accrediting undergraduate education at its members and other schools. German universities used the "AAU Accepted List" to determine whether a college's graduates were qualified for graduate programs. Regional accreditation agencies existed in the US by the 1920s, and the AAU ended accrediting schools in 1948.[2]

The AAU is made up of universities of varying sizes and missions. Today, 62 universities in the US and Canada are members and the primary purpose of the organization is to provide a forum for the development and implementation of institutional and national policies, in order to promote strong programs in academic research and scholarship and undergraduate, graduate, and professional education.

Benefits

The largest attraction of the AAU for many schools, especially nonmembers, is prestige. For example, in 2010 the chancellor of nonmember North Carolina State University described it as "the pre-eminent research-intensive membership group. To be a part of that organization is something N.C. State aspires to."[3] A spokesman for nonmember University of Connecticut called it "perhaps the most elite organization in higher education. You'd probably be hard-pressed to find a major research university that didn't want to be a member of the AAU."[4] In 2012, the new elected chancellor of University of Massachusetts Amherst, a nonmember of AAU, reaffirmed the framework goal of elevating the campus to AAU standards which inspire them to become a member in the near future, and called it a distinctive status.[5] Because of the lengthy and difficult entrance process, boards of trustees, state legislators, and donors often see membership as evidence of the quality of a university.[3]

The AAU acts as a lobbyist at its headquarters in the city of Washington, DC, for research and higher education funding and for policy and regulatory issues affecting research universities. The association holds two meetings annually, both in Washington. Separate meetings are held for university presidents, provosts, and other officials. Because the meetings are private they offer the opportunity for discussion without media coverage. Prominent government officials, businessmen, and others often speak to the groups.[3]

Presidents

ExecutiveTerm
Thomas A. Bartlett1977–1982
Robert M. Rosenzweig1983–1993
Cornelius J. Pings1993–1998
Nils Hasselmo1998–2006
Robert M. Berdahl2006–2011
Hunter R. Rawlings III2011–2016
Mary Sue Coleman2016–present

Statistics

As of 2004, AAU members accounted for 58 percent[lower-alpha 1] of US universities' research grants and contract income and 52 percent of all doctorates awarded in the United States. Since 1999, 43 percent of all Nobel Prize winners and 74 percent of winners at US institutions have been affiliated with an AAU university. Approximately two thirds of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences 2006 Class of Fellows are affiliated with an AAU university. The faculties at AAU universities include 2,993 members of the United States National Academies (82 percent of all members): the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine (2004).[6]

  • Undergraduate students: 1,044,759; 7 percent nationally
  • Undergraduate degrees awarded: 235,328; 17 percent nationally
  • Graduate students: 418,066; 20 percent nationally
  • Master's degrees awarded: 106,971; 19 percent nationally
  • Professional degrees awarded: 20,859; 25 percent nationally
  • Doctorates awarded: 22,747; 52 percent nationally
  • Postdoctoral fellows: 30,430; 67 percent nationally
  • Students studying abroad: 57,205
  • National Merit/Achievement Scholars (2004): 5,434; 63 percent nationally
  • Faculty: approximately 72,000

Membership

AAU membership is by invitation only, which requires an affirmative vote of three fourths of current members. Invitations are considered periodically, based in part on an assessment of the breadth and quality of university programs of research and graduate education, as well as undergraduate education. The association ranks its members using four criteria: research spending, the percentage of faculty who are members of the National Academies, faculty awards, and citations. Two thirds of members can vote to revoke membership for poor rankings.[7][8] As of 2010 annual dues are $80,500.[3] All 60 US members of the AAU are also classified as Highest Research Activity (R1) Universities by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education.

Institution[9] State or Province Control Established Year joined Total students Medical school[10][11]

(LCME accredited)

 Engineering program[12]

(ABET accredited)

Boston University Massachusetts Private 1839 2012 30,009 Green tick Green tick
Brandeis University Massachusetts Private 1948 1985 5,808 Red X Red X
Brown University Rhode Island Private 1764 1933 8,619 Green tick Green tick
California Institute of Technology California Private 1891 1934 2,231 Red X Green tick
Carnegie Mellon University Pennsylvania Private 1900 1982 12,908 Red X Green tick
Case Western Reserve University Ohio Private 1826 1969 11,340 Green tick Green tick
Columbia University New York Private 1754 1900 29,250 Green tick Green tick
Cornell University New York Private 1865 1900 21,904 Green tick Green tick
Duke University North Carolina Private 1838 1938 14,600 Green tick Green tick
Emory University Georgia Private 1836 1995 14,513 Green tick Red X[lower-alpha 2]
Georgia Institute of Technology Georgia Public 1885 2010 29,370 Red X Green tick
Harvard University Massachusetts Private 1636 1900 21,000 Green tick Green tick
Indiana University Bloomington Indiana Public 1820 1909 42,731 Red X Red X
Iowa State University Iowa Public 1858 1958 36,001 Red X Green tick
Johns Hopkins University Maryland Private 1876 1900 23,073 Green tick Green tick
Massachusetts Institute of Technology Massachusetts Private 1861 1934 11,319 Red X Green tick
McGill University Quebec Public 1821 1926 36,904 Green tick Green tick
Michigan State University Michigan Public 1855 1964 49,300 Green tick Green tick
New York University New York Private 1831 1950 53,711 Green tick Green tick
Northwestern University Illinois Private 1851 1917 21,208 Green tick Green tick
The Ohio State University Ohio Public 1870 1916 57,466 Green tick Green tick
Pennsylvania State University Pennsylvania Public 1855 1958 45,518 Green tick Green tick
Princeton University New Jersey Private 1746 1900 8,010 Red X Green tick
Purdue University Indiana Public 1869 1958 39,256 Red X Green tick
Rice University Texas Private 1912 1985 6,487 Red X Green tick
Rutgers University–New Brunswick New Jersey Public 1766 1989 41,565 Green tick Green tick
Stanford University California Private 1891 1900 15,877 Green tick Green tick
Stony Brook University New York Public 1957 2001 25,272 Green tick Green tick
Texas A&M University Texas Public 1876 2001 62,185 Green tick Green tick
Tulane University Louisiana Private 1834 1958 13,462 Green tick Green tick
The University of Arizona Arizona Public 1885 1985 40,223 Green tick Green tick
The State University of New York at Buffalo New York Public 1846 1989 30,183 Green tick Green tick
University of California, Berkeley California Public 1868 1900 36,204 Red X Green tick
University of California, Davis California Public 1905 1996 34,175 Green tick Green tick
University of California, Irvine California Public 1965 1996 29,588 Green tick Green tick
University of California, Los Angeles California Public 1919 1974 42,163 Green tick Green tick
University of California, San Diego California Public 1960 1982 30,310 Green tick Green tick
University of California, Santa Barbara California Public 1944 1995 25,057 Red X Green tick
The University of Chicago Illinois Private 1890 1900 14,954 Red X Green tick
University of Colorado Boulder Colorado Public 1876 1966 32,775 Red X Green tick
University of Florida Florida Public 1853 1985 49,042 Green tick Green tick
University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign Illinois Public 1867 1908 44,520 Green tick Green tick
The University of Iowa Iowa Public 1847 1909 31,065 Green tick Green tick
The University of Kansas Kansas Public 1865 1909 27,983 Green tick Green tick
University of Maryland, College Park Maryland Public 1856 1969 37,631 Red X Green tick
University of Michigan Michigan Public 1817 1900 43,426 Green tick Green tick
University of Minnesota Minnesota Public 1851 1908 51,853 Green tick Green tick
University of Missouri Missouri Public 1839 1908 35,441 Green tick Green tick
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill North Carolina Public 1789 1922 29,390 Green tick Green tick[lower-alpha 3]
University of Oregon Oregon Public 1876 1969 22,980 Red X Red X
University of Pennsylvania Pennsylvania Private 1740 1900 24,630 Green tick Green tick
University of Pittsburgh Pennsylvania Public 1787 1974 28,649 Green tick Green tick
University of Rochester New York Private 1850 1941 10,290 Green tick Green tick
University of Southern California California Private 1880 1969 39,958 Green tick Green tick
University of Texas at Austin Texas Public 1883 1929 51,000 Green tick Green tick
University of Toronto Ontario Public 1827 1926 84,000 Green tick Green tick
University of Virginia Virginia Public 1819 1904 24,360 Green tick Green tick
University of Washington Washington Public 1861 1950 43,762 Green tick Green tick
University of Wisconsin–Madison Wisconsin Public 1848 1900 43,275 Green tick Green tick
Vanderbilt University Tennessee Private 1873 1950 12,795 Green tick Green tick
Washington University in St. Louis Missouri Private 1853 1923 14,117 Green tick Green tick
Yale University Connecticut Private 1701 1900 12,223 Green tick Green tick

Former members

Departed as a result of "institutional emphases and energies" that differed from the other AAU members.[15]
Departed because of a shift in the AAU's emphasis to large research universities.[16]
Removed from the AAU.[8] Chancellor Harvey Perlman claimed that the lack of an on-campus medical school (the Medical Center is a separate campus of the University of Nebraska system) and the AAU's disregarding of USDA-funded agricultural research in its metrics hurt the university's performance in the association's internal ranking system.[7]
Because of a dispute over how to count nonfederal grants, Syracuse voluntarily withdrew from the AAU in 2011. The Chronicle of Higher Education reported that after "it became clear that Syracuse wouldn't meet the association's revised membership criteria, university officials decided that they would leave the organization voluntarily, rather than face a vote like Nebraska's, and notified the leadership of their intentions."[17]

Map of schools

Rice
Tulane
Buffalo
Arizona
UC Berkeley
UCLA
Oregon
USC
Stanford
Washington
Colorado
TAMU
Florida
Vanderbilt
Missouri
Penn State
Rutgers
Indiana
Michigan
Michigan State
Ohio State
Illinois
Iowa
Minnesota
Northwestern
Purdue
Wisconsin
Maryland
Iowa State
Kansas
Texas
Ga. Tech
Virginia
UNC
Duke
Pitt
Brown
Columbia
Cornell
UPenn
Princeton
Yale
Caltech
UC Davis
UC Irvine
UC San Diego
UC Santa Barbara
Emory
UChicago
Johns Hopkins
Four schools*
Wash U.
NYU
Stony Brook
Rochester
Case Western
Carnegie Mellon
Toronto
McGill
A map of the AAU schools, with private schools marked blue and public schools marked red. Four private schools in Greater Boston are not labeled separately due to space reasons: Harvard, MIT, Boston University, and Brandeis.

 

Advocacy

In 2014, the AAU supported the proposed Research and Development Efficiency Act arguing that the legislation "can lead to a long-needed reduction in the regulatory burden currently imposed on universities and their faculty members who conduct research on behalf of the federal government."[18] According to the AAU, "too often federal requirements" for accounting for federal grant money "are ill-conceived, ineffective, and/or duplicative."[18] This wastes the researchers' times and "reduces the time they can devote to discovery and innovation and increases institutional compliance costs."[18] AAU institutions are frequently involved in US science policy debates. In 2008, AAU Vice President for Policy, Tobin Smith, co-authored a textbook on US science policy.

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Over $15.9 billion: NIH: $9.1 billion, 60 percent of total academic research funding. Research Funding: National Science Foundation: $2.0 billion, 63 percent of total academic research funding Department of Defense: $1.2 billion, 56 percent of total academic research funding Department of Energy: $505.2 million, 63 percent of total academic research funding NASA: $673.2 million, 57 percent of total academic research funding Department of Agriculture: $271.9 million, 41 percent of total academic research funding.
  2. ↑ Although Emory shares a joint engineering department with Georgia Tech, the program is accredited through Georgia Tech.[13]
  3. ↑ UNC shares a joint engineering department with NCSU.[14]

References

  1. ↑ https://www.aau.edu/sites/default/files/AAU%20Files/Key%20Issues/Budget%20%26%20Appropriations/FY17/Invit.pdf
  2. ↑ "The Association of American Universities: A Century of Service to Higher Education 1900-2000". Association of American Universities. Retrieved 2018-02-25.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Fain, Paul (April 21, 2010). "As AAU Admits Georgia Tech to Its Exclusive Club, Other Universities Await the Call". Chronicle of Higher Education. Archived from the original on June 11, 2011. Retrieved April 29, 2011.
  4. ↑ Hine, Chris (June 13, 2010). "Nebraska has it all to attract Big Ten, most importantly AAU membership". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on September 6, 2011. Retrieved April 29, 2011.
  5. ↑ UMass Amherst: Kumble R. Subbaswamy – Feature Story Archived July 11, 2012, at the Wayback Machine.. Umass.edu (May 13, 2012). Retrieved on 2013-07-15.
  6. ↑ AAU Facts and Figures Archived September 12, 2008, at the Wayback Machine.. Accessed August 24, 2008.
  7. 1 2 Abourezk, Kevin (April 29, 2011). "Research universities group ends UNL's membership". Lincoln Journal Star. Archived from the original on May 3, 2011. Retrieved April 29, 2011.
  8. 1 2 Selingo, Jeffrey J. (April 29, 2011). "U. of Nebraska-Lincoln Is Voted Out of Assn. of American Universities". Chronicle of Higher Education. Archived from the original on May 2, 2011. Retrieved April 29, 2011.
  9. ↑ "Member Institutions and Years of Admission". Association of American Universities. Archived from the original on October 26, 2014. Retrieved October 25, 2014.
  10. ↑ "Accredited MD Programs in the United States". LCME. Liaison Committee on Medical Education. Retrieved 18 May 2018.
  11. ↑ "AAU Peer Institutions". Data Analytics. 2016-08-10. Retrieved 2018-05-14.
  12. ↑ "ABET ACCREDITED PROGRAM SEARCH". ABET. ABET. Retrieved 17 May 2018.
  13. ↑ "Accreditation and Assessment". Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology & Emory University School of Medicine. Retrieved 17 May 2018.
  14. ↑ "Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering". Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering. Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering @ UNC & NC State. Retrieved 17 May 2018.
  15. ↑ O'Connell, The Most Rev. David M. (2002). "From the President's Desk". The Catholic University of America. Archived from the original on June 1, 2013. Retrieved August 25, 2013.
  16. ↑ Peter Schmidt, "Clark U. Leaves Association of American Universities; Others May Follow" (September 10, 1999). Chronicle of Higher Education.
  17. ↑ Selingo, Jeffrey J. (May 2, 2011). "Facing an Ouster From an Elite Group of Universities, Syracuse U. Says It Will Withdraw". Chronicle of Higher Education. Archived from the original on May 4, 2011. Retrieved May 3, 2011.
  18. 1 2 3 "AAU Statement on the Research and Development Efficiency Act". Association of American Universities. July 14, 2014. Archived from the original on July 25, 2014. Retrieved July 17, 2014.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.