The University of Memphis -- 10 Reasons to Be Opptomistic

I am not an alum of the University of Memphis. I graduated from the University of Tennessee and then to law school at Vanderbilt. But I do pull for the University of Memphis in many ways. The more the University of Memphis succeeds, the more we all succeed. There is quite simply a direct correlation between the economic health of a city the health of its universities.

I recently attended a breakfast at the University of Memphis and was pleased and surprised to learn some good news about the University of Memphis. Here are ten reasons to be opptomistic about the success of the University of Memphis.

(1) The U of M is the only institution of higher learning in Tennessee with five Centers of Excellence, state designated academic centers that receive special funding and attract the country's top scholars.

(2) The U of M has 26 Chairs of Excellence, more than any other university in Tennessee. A Chair of Excellence is a state-designated, definitive authority in his or her field of study.

(3) Four U of M students have been awarded the prestigious Goldwater Scholarship, a national award in the fields of math, science and engineering.

(4) The U of M's University graduate program in discrete mathematics and combinations was ranked one of the top 15 programs nationally by U.S. News and World Report in 2006.

(5) Two U of M professors were awarded Fulbright Scholarships in 2007 to conduct further research in their fields.

(6) The U of M Institute of Egyptian Art and Archeology recently unearthed a tomb in the Valley of the Kings, the first discovery of its kind in the Valley of the Kings since 1922.

(7) The U of M's audiology and speech-language pathology programs are nationally ranked by U.S. News and World Report.

(8) The U of M faculty includes Peabody, Grammy and Emmy award winners.

(9) The nursing school and the law school both boast the highest licensure passage rates of their peer Tennessee schools.

(10) The U of M is the safest metropolitan campus in Tennessee with a safer record on campus crime than Vanderbilt or the University of Tennessee.

See http://www.memphis.edu/tigerpride.htm

Note: Dr. Shirley Raines, the President of the University of Memphis, is a great ambassador for the University and for Memphis. She's the right person for job and we're lucky to have her. She made it clear in her remarks at the breakfast that she's open to a new on-campus stadium (which would be great for the University) but that she is not open to using new student activity fees to pay for the stadium. Rather, she said that her first priority is for funding for a new research building on campus. I applaud her for that position. A new stadium on campus would help give the college feel to the campus that at times lacks it -- because relatively few students live on campus. But, for the long haul and the health of our city, a new research facility is far far more important. I, for one, am grateful for Dr. Raines' clear and thoughtful leadership.