The Land Grant Experience
Essays and Point of View
- The Land-Grant Tradition
All the facts you need to know, but are afraid to ask, about the Land-Grant System, the Morrill, Hatch and Smith-Lever Acts.
- The Land-Grant Tradition - additional references
Further Reading - more references
- The Land Grant Mission: Is it Obsolete?
A PowerPoint presentation reviewing the Morrill, Hatch and Smith-Lever Acts and the challenges the Land-Grant System faces in the 21st century. - State Funding Issues:
An Overview
A PowerPoint presentation on the FY2006 President's Budget proposal and it's impacts to the Land-Grant institutions and the communities they serve.
- Adapting Justin Morrill’s Vision to a New Century: The Imperative of Change for Land-Grant Universities
A Justin Smith Morrill lecture: Morrill's vision, the Morrill Acts, establishment of the Land-grant sytem, the Americas of the 1860s and the 21st century, the challenges we now face and how to overcome them.
- Maximizing Quality and Value-Returns from Public Investments in Science: Lessons from the History of Medical and Agricultural Research
[Long Version - PDF (18 pages)]
[Short Version - PDF (4 pages)]
A comparative analysis of research benefits from competitive vs. base funding.
"Competitive merit review increases science quality but provides little assurance of maximum value returns from public investments in science."
- Science Quality, Budgets, and the Public Interest
"Americans pay a higher percentage of their gross domestic product for health care products and services than any other developed nation of the world -- 11.8 percent in the US, compared to 8.7 percent in Canada, 8.2 percent in Germany, 6.7 percent in Japan, and 5.8 percent in the United Kingdom."
"Americans also pay a lower percentage of their GDP for food and fiber products and services than any other developed nation around the world -- 8.7 percent in the US, compared to 9.4 percent in Canada, 11.5 percent in Japan, 11.8 percent in Germany, and 12.9 percent in the United Kingdom."
Why this disparity? Read on and find out. - The Public University, Intellectual Property, and Agricultural R & D
The issue in deciding how best to deliver university-derived discoveries to the intended public are dealt with in this manuscript. (16 pages)
- Multistate Research Fund: A Research Program that Promotes Relevance, Excellence and Accountability
The importance of Multistate Research Fund, how it is an effective mechanism to address and encourage multistate collaborations on critical issues and why it should remain part of the research funding portfolio.
- Southern Region Formula Funds Position Statement
The Southern Region's reaction to the FY2006 President's Proposed Budget, and why a balanced portfolio of base and competitive funding is important.
- CSREES' Guiding Principles for SAES Competitive Program
A proposal by USDA-CSREES on how a Competitive Grants Program may be implemented as proposed in the FY2006 President's Budget. Models and process sequences are presented.
- EDs Responses to CSREES SAES Program
The SAES Regional Executive Directors' response to the USDA-CSREES' proposed Competive Grants Program above.
- FY 2006 Implementation Plan for the State Agricultural Experiment Station Competitive Grants Program
An Implementation Plan developed by CSREES agency program staff and national program leaders to implement the SAES-Competitive Grants Program consistent with the President’s FY 2006 budget. It was posted for public comment on June 2005.
- Where Are Land-Grant Colleges Headed?
This article handles the seriousness of the current issues surrounding the land-grant system, the importance of its mission, and the need to restore this mission.
Last updated: January 29, 2007