MU Professor Blogging at COP-16 (Cancun)

MU Professor Mike Urban is serving as an official observer (for the Association of American Geographers)  at the COP-16 meetings on Climate Change in Cancun.  Follow his regular posts on these important meetings here.

New Global Development Site

If you're concerned about global development issues, check out this content-rich website just launched at the Guardian, in partnership with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. 

The data warehouse alone is worth your time.  They also provide powerful info-graphs.

Iraqis Pursue Education at University of Missouri

On the same day I read news about US combat troops withdrawing from Iraq, it was great to see this story in our local newspaper.

Art in South Africa

This morning, I find myself reflecting on a recent trip to South Africa.  Working with Missouri's good partners at the University of the Western Cape is always inspiring. They are doing incredibly ambitious work in spite of serious resource constraints.

On the last day of our visit, we wandered into the South African National Gallery.  I had no expectations, except that it looked like a nice place to visit while waiting for a long flight back home.  If you ever get to Capetown, there are so many things to do.  But don't leave the city without stopping at this museum.

It's filled with contemporary works that are beautiful, vibrant, and genuine.  It reminds me of the palpable creative energy I feel each time I visit the country, and each time I work with our colleagues at UWC.

US branch campuses abroad: survey results

On GlobalHigherEd, I saw this post that summarizes research on US university branch campus-abroad initiatives. The post is contributed by Madeline Green at the Center for International Initiatives at the American Council on Education.

The introduction to this post provides links to useful resources for those considering branch campus ventures.

For a more complete report of research findings, check here.

MU Announces 2010 International Engagement Awards

MU's Council on International Initiatives is pleased announce the recipients of the 2010 International Engagement awards.

Congratulations to all nominees, and thanks to all involved in the selection process.

See the full announcement here.

Reading: The Anxious Organization

I'm reading Jeffrey Miller's book, The Anxious Organization.  If you're studying or working at a public university right now (or hope to someday), you'll probably want to check this out.  It provides valuable insights, practical tips -- and the recommended reading list at the back is worth the effort to buy the book.

By the way -- this book works for any organizational setting.  It argues that anxiety is to be expected for organizations in a competitive environment. 

The challenge for leaders: 1) learn the causes and the systematic effects of anxiety, and 2) help people manage anxiety in ways that enhance overall organizational performance.

Ushahidi - Emergency Response in Haiti

We are co-hosting an important campus lecture next week. Dr. Valerie Kaussen, Associate Professor of Romance Languages & Literatures, will discuss her recent experiences working on Haiti aid efforts following the devastating earthquake of January 12. She will address what she sees as some of the challenges and pitfalls of helping in Haiti's reconstruction efforts as well as share her thoughts on proposed models for Haitian post-earthquake development.

Recently, the New York Times reported on a new approach used for emergency response in Haiti.

A brief excerpt...

Ushahidi suggests a new paradigm in humanitarian work. The old paradigm was one-to-many: foreign journalists and aid workers jet in, report on a calamity and dispense aid with whatever data they have. The new paradigm is many-to-many-to-many: victims supply on-the-ground data; a self-organizing mob of global volunteers translates text messages and helps to orchestrate relief; journalists and aid workers use the data to target the response.

Ushahidi also represents a new frontier of innovation. Silicon Valley has been the reigning paradigm of innovation, with its universities, financiers, mentors, immigrants and robust patents. Ushahidi comes from another world, in which entrepreneurship is born of hardship and innovators focus on doing more with less, rather than on selling you new and improved stuff.
Because Ushahidi originated in crisis, no one tried to patent and monopolize it. Because Kenya is poor, with computers out of reach for many, Ushahidi made its system work on cellphones. Because Ushahidi had no venture-capital backing, it used open-source software and was thus free to let others remix its tool for new projects.

Ushahidi remixes have been used in India to monitor elections; in Africa to report medicine shortages; in the Middle East to collect reports of wartime violence; and in Washington, D.C., where The Washington Post partnered to build a site to map road blockages and the location of available snowplows and blowers.

Think about that. The capital of the sole superpower is deluged with snow, and to whom does its local newspaper turn to help dig out? Kenya.


With every new application, Ushahidi is quietly transforming the notion of bearing witness in tragedy. For a very long time, this was done first by journalists in real time, next by victim/writers like Anne Frank and, finally, by historians. But in this instantaneous age, this kind of testimony confronts a more immediate kind: one of aggregate, average, good-enough truths.

Major new Bologna Process Report Published

This announcement from the European University Association...

A new report published today by the European University Association (EUA) analyses the implementation of the Bologna Process and its impact over the last decade on higher education across 46 countries in Europe in the context of broader reform processes affecting European higher education.

The ‘Trends 2010’ report – based on questionnaire responses from 821 universities, 27 national university associations, and site visits to 16 countries – will be presented in Vienna this week to mark the official launch of the European Higher Education Area and the end of the first phase of the Bologna reform Process (that was started in 1999).
This major study (the sixth in the Trends series) analyses the implementation of the Bologna ‘tools’ in universities (e.g. new degree structures, credit transfer and accumulation systems, and the use of the diploma supplement) since the outset. Importantly, it also assesses progress towards the underlying aims of the Bologna Process, such as improving quality of teaching, graduate employability, and mobility of students and staff. Equally, it looks at some of the key challenges for policymakers as they look ahead to the next decade of higher education cooperation.

EUA President, Professor Jean-Marc Rapp, will present some of the key findings from the study at this week’s Bologna Ministerial meeting. “We are now at a crucial point in the history of European higher education cooperation. This study shows that after ten years the ‘Bologna architecture’ is now firmly in place to build a strong common higher education area,” he says. ‘”However, it is crucial now that these reforms receive the necessary support from all stakeholders in order to create a flexible European Higher Education Area which provides graduates with all of the necessary skills to succeed in the 21st century,” he adds.

Download the report here.

Download the press release here to read some of the key findings.

New Fund for UK-US University Partnerships

The British Council announces a new $500,000 fund to support more vibrant partnerships between UK and US universities.  The funds can be used to support collaborations in third countries, such as India or China.

See this link for the full report.

Opportunities in Indonesia

With thanks from Beerken's Blog, I note this article about emerging opportunities in Indonesia.

My trip to Panama

I just returned from my first trip to Panama.  I met some amazing people and discussed incredible opportunities for MU collaboration in research and instruction.  I will share more about these opportunities soon.


For now, I reflect on the skills, determination, ingenuity and sociability of the people we met.

The photo at right was taken of an exhibition at the Visitors Center for the Panama Canal.  I think it is a faithful representation of the people.

Influence without Authority

I'm reading Influence without Authority (by Cohen and Bradford).  If you're working in a dynamic, highly decentralized, ambiguous environment (such as a large public university), I highly recommend this book.

Negotiating Climate: Lessons Learned from Copenhagen...

To follow up on recent posts (here and here)... A campus seminar -- scheduled for Friday, February 12.

Last December, MU Geography professors Mike Urban and Mark Cowell attended the United Nations climate change conference (COP15) in Copenhagen, Denmark as observers for the Association of American Geographers.

Drs. Urban and Cowell will share their observations of the meeting and discuss some of the issues related to science, advocacy, politics, diplomacy and economics that were central to the UN negotiation process.

Sponsored by:  the MU International Center; Department of Geography; College of Arts and Science; Department of Soil, Environmental and Atmospheric Sciences; School of Natural Resources; and the MU Transatlantic Center.

[download a pdf flyer for this event]

More on University Full Costing

In a recent post, I noted that the European University Association is leading an effort to assist universities in assessing and managing the full costs of proposed collaborations in research, instruction, economic development, etc.

I invest a good portion of my time each day consulting with MU academic units that are pursuing new international initiatives. Sometimes these proposals offer very enticing financial incentives to the academic units -- but they carry indirect or unanticipated costs to the university that add to our fiscal stress.

I'm convinced that with full-costing, we can make agreements that work better for all parties involved.

For more background on the EUA project, see this article.

Protocol - and Economic Development

David Brooks' recent op-ed piece in the New York Times, called "The Protocol Society" is worth reading.

He begins:

In the 19th and 20th centuries we made stuff: corn and steel and trucks.
Now, we make protocols: sets of instructions. A software program is a protocol
for organizing information. A new drug is a protocol for organizing chemicals.
Wal-Mart produces protocols for moving and marketing consumer goods. Even when
you are buying a car, you are mostly paying for the knowledge embedded in its
design, not the metal and glass.

This column provides a brief reflection on a recent book - From Poverty to Prosperity (edited by Arnold Kling and Nick Schulz).

The success of an economy depends on its ability to invent and embrace new
protocols. Kling and Schulz use North’s phrase “adaptive efficiency,” but they
are really talking about how quickly a society can be infected by new
ideas.

A protocol economy tends toward inequality because some societies and
subcultures have norms, attitudes and customs that increase the velocity of new
recipes while other subcultures retard it. Some nations are blessed with
self-reliant families, social trust and fairly enforced regulations, while
others are cursed by distrust, corruption and fatalistic attitudes about the
future. It is very hard to transfer the protocols of one culture onto those of
another.

More on Climate Change from MU Geographers

There's a lot of noise and confusion about climate change and its implications for global security.

In that context, it's really great to follow events in Copenhagen from the perspectives of our own MU professors Mark Cowell and Mike Urban, blogging here .

They provide timely clear, succinct accounts of what's going on -- with great photos.

For some quick background on the issues and evidence, and for a chance to test your own knowledge, check out this site provided by the BBC.

MU Geography Professors Participate in Copenhagen

MU geography professors Mike Urban and Mark Cowell are participating in the COP15 Climate Change conference in Copenhagen.

You can read a news story here, and follow their blog throughout the conference.

For more brief background reading on the Copenhagen conference (including an atlas of climate change and a time line on climate change scientific findings), see the New York Times Talk here.

A Key to University Financial Sustainability

I'm travelling in Brussels this week. Between meetings, I note a recent report issued by the European University Association, called Financially Sustainable Universities: Toward Full Costing in European Universities.

The findings and recommendations in this report can well be applied by US public universities.

The Graying of The Great Powers

Not long ago the Global Aging Initiative at the Center for Strategic & International Studies published The Graying of the Great Powers: Demography and Geopolitics in the 21st Century.

This book deserves much more attention - particularly from those university leaders involved in international programs.

The authors draw on careful analysis to predict a global aging of population as an unprecedented demographic transformation.

This transformation is both certain and lasting. It will not be reversed in our lifetime.

It will have major social, economic and political effects.

Currently, most pundits seem to assume that US global influence will diminish in the future. This report argues that the US will have more - not less - influence and responsibility in the global order over the next fifty years.

University leaders spend too much time thinking about short-term challenges. We focus too much on the needs and experience of "traditional" students (ages 18-25). This work reminds us that universities will operate in a very different future world, and we will need to make more space for lifelong learning.

Download an excellent summary of this book here.