Rice University hosted the third annual Ivy Plus State and Local Affairs Conference, bringing together government and community relations professionals from leading private research universities to share strategies for engaging policymakers, strengthening community partnerships and communicating higher education’s public value.
Following the first two conferences at Princeton University and Johns Hopkins University, this year’s gathering explored state research funding programs, university impact reports, local partnerships and research security with Rice experts highlighting how university research and community surveys can inform public policy.
Through candid discussions and shared experiences, Ivy Plus members exchange practical approaches to common challenges and build relationships that strengthen their institutions’ engagement with state and local communities. Participants for this year’s conference represented Brown University, Columbia University, Cornell University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Pennsylvania, Princeton, Rice, Stanford University and Yale University.
The Ivy League is originally a football conference that has become broadly equated with the nation’s oldest, most selective and most academically respected schools. The “Ivy” moniker ties these schools together more by association and history than by any one collective attribute. As a handful of other schools have approached similar levels of reputation, resources and rigor, the term “Ivy Plus” is now used to highlight top-level caliber schools in attracting world-class faculty, research dollars and intellectually curious students.