Rice’s AAU membership important to mission

Rice’s AAU membership important to mission
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This month Rice
President Malcolm Gillis began his second term on the executive
committee of the Association of American Universities (AAU).

Rice was brought
into the AAU in 1985 by then-President Norman Hackerman,
but many faculty and staff are unaware of the history, mission
and importance of this association.

Founded in 1900
by a group of 14 universities offering doctoral degrees,
the AAU is the principal advocate in Washington for the
academic interests of American research universities.

Membership is
by invitation, once association standards are met. The AAU
now consists of 61 American and two Canadian universities,
which it serves in two major ways. First, it assists them
in developing national policy positions on issues that relate
to academic research and graduate and professional education.
Second, it provides university presidents with a highly
respected forum for discussing a broad range of other institutional
issues, such as undergraduate education.

“Rice acceptance
in the AAU was one of Norman’s signal accomplishments.
It meant much greater national and international recognition
for Rice, and helped to ensure that Rice’s voice can
be fully heard, along with the other major research institutions
in the country,” said Gillis.

Member institutions
are represented in the AAU by their presidents, or as the
case may be, chancellor. The executive committee is charged
with the general oversight and functioning of the association.

“The AAU
provides a fruitful venue where presidents exchange information
and compare benchmarks on performance in research, teaching
and fund raising,” Gillis said.
Gillis has long been active on several other AAU committees
as well. He has served as chair of the tax committee since
1995 and as co-chair of the centennial committee. He is
a member of the inter-disciplinarity committee, the internationalization
committee, the accreditation committee, the task force on
research accountability and the membership committee.

For more information,
visit the AAU Web site at <www.aau.edu>.