Research can offer solutions to funding problems at YSU

Research can offer solutionsto funding problems at YSU
EDITOR:
While on sabbatical this year, I have been able to stay in touch through the Digital PDF Edition of The Vindicator. I read, with great interest, JoAnne Viviano's report on President David Sweet's Campus Conversation and the direction Sweet plans to take the institution. If I were there, I would have asked, if YSU and the Mahoning Valley would be more prosperous if YSU were like Akron, Toledo, Dayton or Cleveland State universities.
Thursday's "Governor's Commission on Higher Education and the Economy Final Report" specifically links the research and outreach efforts done at these universities to the economic development in their local community. Quoting the report: "It is an established fact that higher learning leads to higher earnings" and "Ohio's success in the knowledge economy depends on growing our research base in fields that are relevant to present and future economic opportunities." Junior and technology colleges have not been known or shown to have the same economic value within their geographical areas.
The four fields described in the commission's report that have economic impact are the "hard" sciences (such as computer science), engineering, high-technology (such as bio-technology and nano-technology) and mathematics. I believe Larry Esterly of the YSU Board of Trustees stated this same list at a board meeting several months ago. In reading the report of Sweet's address I did not see mention of hires in such fields. Without research and technology transfer activities in these areas, YSU could lose 15 percent of its state subsidy and more funds from other state programs.
There used to be other public universities in the state that were similar to YSU, being designated by the Carnegie Foundation as Master's Comprehensive Institutions. They have all become doctoral research universities and now we are alone. Cleveland State University was the last to switch, and it was then Dean Sweet's doctoral program in urban planning that changed its designation. Ph.D. research programs in biotechnology, materials sciences, computer science, historical preservation and others could attract companies to the Valley. Are we working toward any of these? Are they in the strategic plan?
I cannot help but reflect on a story told by Provost Tony Atwater about the actions taken by the former president of the University of Louisville in response to a similar event in Kentucky. The state Legislature wanted to strengthen the research capabilities of the University of Kentucky at the expense of all other public institutions. Many state schools lost graduate programs and funding as a result. The president asked for contributions, spent down the school's endowment, and took a serious review of all programs. He used the funds amassed to support additional faculty, staff and facilities in the science and engineering fields. He increased the research capabilities to such an extent that the Legislature reversed its funding cuts for the university.
If we do not do something similar quickly, we are going to miss the last best hope to revitalize the Mahoning Valley.
DARYL W.MINCEY
Youngstown
XThe writer is chair and professor in the Department of Chemistry at YSU.
March draws puzzling groups
EDITOR:
On April 25, a march was held in our nation's capital for the purpose of supporting and affirming reproductive rights. That is truly a euphemistic oxymoron of the highest order when one considers that the two largest groups of attendees to that march were the pro-choice crowd and the gay-lesbian organizations. There is nothing "reproductive" about the aims of either of those representative groupings.
The pro-choice people want to retain the right to dispose of a person that they have already reproduced in the womb, and the gay and lesbian couples do not have the anatomical equipment to accomplish reproduction. Gay men can't reproduce, and lesbians must call upon a sperm donor to become productive.
The so-called "reproductive right" that pro-choice people want to retain is actually counter-productive to and/or destructive of new life, and that is why I have labeled it a euphemism.
C.H. McGOWEN, M.D.
Howland