UNH Gains New Respect

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Last week UNH was named one of 30 top tier Sea Grant Colleges. Sea Grant is a partnership between U.S. universities and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or �NOAA�. National Sea Grant Director Ronald Baird took part in the public ceremony.

TAPE RON BAIRD 425 today we celebrate the addition of a distinguished university. /// 430 it takes years of sustained performance to earn the right to be designated a sea grant college. ///432 so for new hampshire sea grant, let me applaud your efforts, congratulate your success on this day, and wish you every good fortune as you go forward. :22

As a Sea Grant College, UNH is recognized for its contributions to marine science and education. UNH is also a Land Grant and Space Grant university. These �grant� designations make the school eligible for certain kinds of federal research monies. And, they�re considered prestigious. Only eight other universities can claim Land, Space and Sea Grant status. With the exception of the University of Alaska, all are much larger institutions than UNH.
Ann Bucklin is head of New Hampshire�s Sea Grant program. She jokes that UNH�s academics are almost in the same league as its Division One hockey team. More seriously, Bucklin wishes more New Hampshire residents knew how well the school is doing.

TAPE ANN BUCKLIN 405 i think new hampshire realizes they�ve got a good state university, and they know us for extension and our public education.
I don�t think they realize maybe how good their university is. In fact, one of the things this award will help us with is the realization that this is a world class university with top tier research, top tier extension, top tier public education. It�s a recognition that in fact it�s an excellent university, equal, in fact, with any in the country. :29

The university is well known for its work in Environmental Science, Space Science, Education, Engineering and History. In Geo-Sciences, which include Climatology and Oceanography, the Institute for Scientific Information ranks UNH the most influential university in the country. Harvard and Princeton publish more papers in Geo-Science. But papers published at UNH are cited more often by other researchers around the world. Yet UNH�s academic success doesn�t always resonate at home.
Michael Dolson is Guidance Director at Alvirne High School in Hudson, and head of the state Association of Guidance Directors.
Dolson say he can�t interest students in attending UNH. Out of 359 graduating Seniors in Hudson this year, only eight will go on to the state�s university. Dolson says part of the reason is that New Hampshire media tend to highlight the school�s problems � not its academic excellence.

TAPE MICHAEL DOLSON they might get a snippet on page six when they get an award, but if there was a problem on campus like after the hockey game last year, the finals, that gets front page. And then all of the sudden people think i�m not going to send my son there or my daughter there, because it�s out of control -- it�s obviously not a very good school. :17

Following their hockey team�s tournament loss in April, students rioted. 53 were arrested. That kind of publicity feeds the notion that UNH students don�t take education seriously.

For the past three years, the school ranked among the top 20 �party schools,� based on random polling by the Princeton Review, the publisher of an influential guide to colleges.
But last week, UNH fell off the list. Erik Olsen, Editor of the Princeton Review, says the party school label is no longer valid.

TAPE ERIK OLSEN 1:16 you know, we ask the students and the students are telling us, yes it has changed. Over the past two years, nearly 900 new hampshire students have logged onto our on-line survey, and filled out 70-questions. We ask them all sorts of things, not just about academics, and not just about the administration, but also about the social life, and it seems that they�ve told us that the sort of behavior that would be characteristic of a party school isn�t so prevalent anymore at new hampshire. :26

Olsen says one of the things UNH undergraduates report they like most about their school is the opportunity to do research. Students interested in research are paired with appropriate faculty � an opportunity most larger universities offer only to graduate students.
Despite high marks from students, UNH has other problems at home -- many having to do with costs. Last year�s in-state tuition was the third highest among public universities. Officials admit high costs prevent them from serving as many residents as they�d like. New Hampshire ranks 50th in state support for higher education � 17 percent of UNH�s budget comes from the state. Still, some state officials think that�s too high.
Last month, Governor Craig Benson urged state lawmakers to cut university funding. He complained to a budget committee that some school officials are paid too much.

TAPE CRAIG BENSON it tends to jade your judgment, and in this case it has jaded my judgment, i�ll be exactly honest with you, to see large administrative salaries not going to the kids and not helping give them a better education by hiring better professors and doing distance learning and all those types of things, that�s where my issue is. :19

UNH officials say their administrative salaries are 5 percent below industry average. In any case, they say the overall lack of state funding has fostered a spirit of self-sufficiency.
John Aber is a Professor of Natural Resources, and one of UNH�s most celebrated researchers. Next week, he takes over as Vice President for Research.

TAPE JOHN ABER 245 faculty here, to do research, have to be entrepreneurial. You don�t go to the dean and ask for 50-thousand dollars to do a project, because the dean doesn�t have that kind of money [laughs] on a regular basis. /// if you�re going to do research what you have to do is look to outside sources. :16

You have to compete for grants. UNH has done well in this regard.
Over the past six years, research awards have doubled. Much of the credit goes to U.S. Senator Judd Gregg, who�s helped secure more than 230 million federal dollars. Gregg says the can-do attitude of top quality researchers makes the university an easy sell.

TAPE JUDD GREGG whenever you talk to the noaa people, the one thing they say most often is it�s so easy and enjoyable to work with unh because they get things done. The dollars are spent efficiently, effectively, and they get great science for the dollar they�re spending. :13

At the same time, Gregg hopes UNH will never grow too large.

TAPE JUDD GREGG what we want, in my opinion, is a small virginia, or a small michicigan or a small wisconsin. A place that has excellence across the board /// but also has niche areas of extraordinarily high national and international capabilities in research. /// and because unh is a small state university, which i think is one of its greatest strengths, i think it can do that. I think it can be sort of, as amherst is to harvard, i think unh can be the same, to say a virginia or to a michigan. :31

A generation ago, the public valued high powered research institutions. For the undergraduate, that often meant enormous classes taught by graduate students. A decade ago, people demanded more of the direct contact with professors found at smaller liberal arts schools. Today, says UNH Vice President for Research John Aber, they want a balance of both.

TAPE JOHN ABER 352 there are a number of programs in place to try and take students from the small liberal arts colleges and give them summer experiences in research institutes. Or a semester at a research institute, or something so they get that sense of discovery. And our students don�t have to do that. /// they find that right here on campus. :17

Aber says he wishes more New Hampshire residents thought of UNH as �their� university. And he would like more of them to come to Durham for a visit.
Meanwhile, UNH prepares this week for its 136th academic year. Classes start Tuesday.
For NHPR News, I�m Doug MacPherson.