Jennifer Washburn

Jennifer Washburn in Journal of Life Sciences on Academia & Industry

Communications — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 14:35:00 -0500

New America in the News:

Merck and Harvard enter a collaboration that reflects the closer ties being forged between industry and academia, but it's a trend that is alarming to some. ...

At a time when federal research dollars have grown scarcer, universities are embracing industry partners interested in getting a first crack at their cutting-edge technologies.

The latest evidence of this comes from a recently announced agreement between Harvard Medical School and the pharmaceutical giant Merck. Merck and Harvard Medical School will collaborate to advance research programs in oncology and central nervous system disorders. Merck's decision to open a research facility just down the road from Harvard in 2004 put researchers at both institutions in walking distance of each other.

For Merck, the deal gives the company an early look at new discoveries and the right to negotiate licensing deals for technology that emerges from the collaboration before anyone else. For Harvard, the agreement provides not only funding, but a chance for researchers concerned about seeing their work commercialized an opportunity to interact with a major drug company. It also provides an avenue to advance their projects at a time when capital for early-stage development to carry potential products to a point they can garner private investment is hard to come by.

But for critics of the fading lines between academia and industry, it is another sign of a troubling trend that they say is changing academic research for the worse.

"The question is, do we want our universities to focus on short-term, commercially viable research, or do we want them to continue doing research that is on the frontier that is going to lead to the next generation of technological breakthroughs?" said Jennifer Washburn, a fellow with the New America Foundation and author of University, Inc.: The Corporate Corruption of Higher Education (Basic Books, 2005). ...

For the complete article, please follow this link.

Science's Worst Enemy: Corporate Funding

Articles — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 14:14:00 -0400

In recent years there have been a number of highly visible attacks on American science, everything from the fundamentalist assault on evolution to the Bush administration’s strong-arming of government scientists. But for many people who pay close attention to research and development (R&D), the biggest threat to science has been quietly occurring under the radar, even though it may be changing the very foundation of American innovation. The threat is money -- specifically, the decline of government support for science and the growing dominance of private spending over American research.

The trend is undeniable. In 1965, the federal government financed more… more

An Unholy Alliance

Articles — Mon, 09 Apr 2007 00:20:00 -0400

Five hundred million dollars is a lot of money -- especially for a public university. When the giant oil company BP announced Feb. 1 that it had chosen the University of California, Berkeley, to lead the largest academic-industry research consortium in U.S. history, University of California officials appeared giddy.

If the deal is approved, BP, formerly known as British Petroleum, will give $500 million over 10 years to create a multidisciplinary Energy Biosciences Institute at UC Berkeley. Berkeley would partner with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign to establish the institute devoted to researching biofuels… more

Stanford's Deal with Exxon Mobil Raised Concerns

Articles — Sun, 08 Apr 2007 17:22:00 -0400

The alliance between the oil giant BP and the University of California, Berkeley, stands out because of its $500 million price tag, its commercial scope and the potential for BP to exert excessive influence over the academic research. But it isn’t an isolated case.

The second largest such partnership is a 10-year, $225-million deal Stanford University signed with Exxon Mobil and other energy firms in 2002 to fund a Global Climate and Energy Project.

The Stanford deal was controversial from the start, but one aspect recently captured headlines. The San Jose Mercury News reported March 11 that Steve Bing -- a… more

Big Oil Buys Berkeley

Articles — Sun, 25 Mar 2007 01:59:00 -0400

On Feb. 1, the oil giant BP announced that it had chosen UC Berkeley, in partnership with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, to lead the largest academic-industrial research alliance in U.S. history. If the deal is approved, BP will give $500 million over 10 years to fund a new multidisciplinary Energy Biosciences Institute devoted principally to biofuels research.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, UC administrators and BP executives immediately proclaimed the alliance -- which is not yet a done deal -- a victory for higher education and for the environment. But here’s another way to… more

Jennifer Washburn Condemns Corporate Sponsored Education on WABC-TV

Communications — Thu, 26 Oct 2006 20:23:00 -0400

New America in the News:

Westchester - WABC, October 26, 2006) -- A new trend in being seen in higher education: Big business spending big bucks to influence what's taught in college classes. Eyewitness News education reporter Art McFarland has the story.

Matt Ganis is teaching computer programming at Pace University in Pleasantville. But he's not paid by the university. He's an IBM employee, brought in to give this lecture as part of a worldwide, $100 million IBM program to shape college curricula in information technology...

IBM has invested more than a quarter of a million dollars at Pace, for hardware, software, faculty training and student field trips to IBM research labs. But critics say businesses should not have such influence.

New America Foundation's Jennifer Washburn writes on the subject.

"We really depend on our institutions of higher education to be independent institutions that train students to be very versatile and creative in their thinking," Washburn said. "We don't turn our institutions into corporate training grounds..."

For the complete article, please visit the WABC-TV website.

Textbook Foolishness

Articles — Wed, 13 Sep 2006 18:03:00 -0400

An important education bill -- sponsored by state Sen. Martha Escutia (D-Whittier) and supported by prominent education groups -- is sitting on Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s desk awaiting his signature. The bill would allow publishers to develop textbooks for the state that would be designed to foster the language skills of non-native English speakers.

Virtually everyone agrees that these English language learners, who make up about 25% of the state’s student population, need more help mastering English. According to a 2006 state-commissioned report, fewer than 40% of English learners in California schools are likely to meet the linguistic and academic criteria needed… more

Jennifer Washburn on Company-Designed University Curricula in the Wall Street Journal

Communications — Tue, 12 Sep 2006 07:56:00 -0400

New America in the News:

RALEIGH, N.C. -- When graduate students at North Carolina State University took their seats on the first day of a class called Services Management, the kickoff lecture wasn't delivered by a professor. Instead, it was given by a manager from International Business Machines Corp.

The company, in fact, helped develop the curriculum and awarded grants to the school with the expectation that the course would be taught -- all with the aim of producing graduates better prepared to work for IBM. The guest speaker, a regional manager, began his lecture by saying, "My name is Craig Nygard, and I am a services professional," later adding, "You have started thinking about tackling big problems and turning them into revenue opportunities."

A fast-moving, competitive economy -- and the perception that students are unprepared for its demands -- is creating a new phenomenon at colleges and universities: courses supported by, and tailored for, potential employers. In addition to IBM, other major corporations seeking to increase their presence and influence on campus include Credit Suisse Group and German auto maker BMW AG...

To read the rest of the article, please visit The Wall Street Journal website.

The Best Minds Money Can Buy

adminn — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 19:09:00 -0400

Most of us place enormous faith in our universities. We trust that they are autonomous, independent institutions committed to education, scholarship, academic freedom and the production of knowledge free from the influence of special interest groups. Right?

Wrong. In the last 25 years, the United States has given birth to a market-model university, one where professors increasingly work "for hire." Just last week, The Wall Street Journal reported that a major academic study -- which found that antidepressants were safe and effective for pregnant women -- was tainted by undisclosed conflicts of interest.

Apparently, although the study itself was financed… more

Want an Exit Exam? Spend the Money

Articles — Sun, 21 May 2006 16:20:01 -0400

The recent court ruling clearing the way for students who flunked California's high school exit exam to receive their diplomas anyway was frustrating to anyone who wants the state to reclaim its former glory as home to the nation's greatest public education system. The fact that 47,000 students lack a rudimentary proficiency in either eighth-grade math or 10th-grade English is appalling. More appalling is that the exam doesn't test 12th-grade proficiency.

The unpleasant truth is that decades of severe financial neglect have undercut the ability of the state's public education system to administer the exam equitably. About 61% of the… more