Dear Colleagues, The fortieth anniversary of the Institute of Higher Education in 2004-05 occasioned many celebrations. Perhaps our most prized birthday present was an anonymous gift of $500,000 to establish the Zell Miller Professorship, honoring Georgia’s former governor and senator who has championed higher education throughout his career. Additional gifts have established the Zell and Shirley Miller Graduate Fellowship to support one of our outstanding doctoral students. The Miller Professor, and an additional senior scholar whom we seek to hire this year, will join a distinguished faculty at IHE. The four new appointments of last year have set the bar high, indeed. See pages 3-4 for introductions to three of them: Sheila Slaughter, the fi rst holder of the McBee Professorship, Christopher Morphew, associate professor, and Larry Leslie, distinguished visiting professor; and see page 26 for an interview with the fourth: Charles Knapp, president emeritus of the University of Georgia. And we were delighted that one of our current faculty members, associate professor Doug Toma, was named by the Chronicle of Higher Education (July 15, 2005) as one of ten “up-and-coming thinkers who have already made a mark on debates about American higher education and who are poised to influence national policies” (see page 19). The annus mirabilis of our fortieth anniversary brought a superb gift from Louise McBee to establish an endowed support fund for the McBee Professorship. It also brought extraordinary external funding for research and service activities, totaling well over $700,000 in 2004-05 from sources including Lumina Foundation for Education, the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the National Association of College and University Business Offi cers, the U.S. Congress, the U.S. Embassy in Zagreb, Croatia, and the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia. This issue of the IHE Report illustrates both the celebration of the past forty years and the magnetism and momentum leading us into the next forty: Faculty at IHE continue to have a strong presence in the higher education policy arena, both through individual research projects and through a vibrant program of policy seminars, conferences, and outreach efforts. See, for instance, the profi le of associate professor Scott Thomas’s work on college access (page 27), and associate professor Doug Toma’s work with higher education faculty across the nation on building organizational capacity in higher education (page 18). McBee Professor Sheila Slaughter writes in these pages of the issues surrounding university policies on copyrights and intellectual property of faculty, staff, and students (see page 12). IHE continues to draw extraordinary students from the region and beyond—and prepares them for leadership in the global higher education arena through an active program of international and comparative study. Last year, for instance, a group of students presented their work in Oxford as part of an Institute-sponsored conference on comparative higher education (see page 20). This conference will become an annual event. And with IHE’s growing partnerships with Croatia and other international higher education venues (see page 22), doctoral students will have many more opportunities to learn about international higher education first-hand. The Institute has a long tradition of serving higher education through faculty development, among other initiatives. Last year, we were awarded a “State of the Art” conference grant from the provost’s office to convenenational experts for a roundtable on trends and future opportunities for faculty development in Georgia and nationally (see page 8). We also hosted the first-ever reunion of Governor’s Teaching Fellows to mark the tenth anniversary of that important program (see page 24). Thanks to all of you who were able to join us in our 40th anniversary observances. I hope to welcome many more friends and colleagues from near and far to Meigs Hall, the Institute’s home on the University of Georgia’s beautiful North Campus, at this year’s events. See page 28 for listings of the lectures, conferences, and special events we have planned for the coming fall, and check our Web site (www.ihe.uga.edu) for the full schedule for 2005-06. We look forward to our continuing work together. Sincerely, Thomas G. Dyer University Professor and Director Type of News/Audience: 2005 IHE Report
