Call it UAHuntsville!: New UAH president seeks to build university's relationships, funding

Sep 28, 2008 (The Decatur Daily - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- BA | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- University of Alabama in Huntsville President David Williams wants to play up the university's Huntsville connection.

He wants people to call it UAHuntsville instead of the familiar UAH.

But Williams said he's not forgetting the surrounding North Alabama areas such as Decatur, Athens and Florence.

Williams, who left Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pa., after 31 years, said he is aware of Decatur's industrial strength. He dealt with Boeing in Pennsylvania and wants to continue that relationship with the Decatur and Huntsville plants.

He said he is open to possible opportunities to give UAHuntsville a presence in these areas.

Williams has met with Calhoun Community College President Marilyn Beck multiple times. He said he also met with University of North Alabama President William Cale Jr. and new Athens State University President Robert Glenn.

He left a favorable impression on Beck, who said Williams seems to have a positive attitude toward the community colleges. She said she thinks they'll continue to build on this relationship. She also met with UAHuntsville interim Dean of Engineering Phillip Farrington on several occasions about Calhoun's new robotics center.

"He (Williams) knew how many of our former students we have now at UAH," Beck said. "He knew that our students make really good grades and do as well or better than students who start there as freshmen."

Williams said this relationship is why it is important for Calhoun and UAHuntsville to update their articulation agreement. Under this agreement, the schools work together so the students' Calhoun credits transfer smoothly to UAHuntsville.

Williams said Calhoun's robotics center is important to his university, particularly Phase 2. Planners want to give the U.S. Army and NASA, two longtime UAHuntsville partners, a place to test and design unmanned vehicles. He is particularly interested in the research possibilities in robotics and high-end precision machinery.

Williams was vice president for research at Lehigh before his move to Huntsville, so research is a major component of his plans for UAHuntsville. He spent most of his first year meeting with the university's administrators and professors, leaders in the community, Redstone Arsenal and military and more than 50 chief executive officers and general managers of area companies.

He unveiled in April a set of five-year goals, which he called the "Power of 10," based on these meetings. He set high goals, including growing enrollment of his 7,500-student university to more than 10,000, conducting $100 million in research expenditures and building endowments from $40 million to $100 million.

Achieving these goals would push UAHuntsville to among the nation's top 100 research universities. In contrast, he said, Lehigh spends about $65 million annually on research and Michigan Technology does about $37 million.

"We're a young, public university with low tuition and low overhead," Williams said. "Maxing out our funded research is the best way to show the rest of the academic world how good you are."

Williams sees UAHuntsville as the technology university of the University of Alabama system, while The University of Alabama at Birmingham is the medical university. The University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa is more of an undergraduate, liberal arts college, he said.

"We already do more research than the other two in our system," Williams said.

If Huntsville wants to be the Southeast's technology leader, Williams said, the city should be willing to invest in its university so it can attract the leading professors, who bring in the brightest students and higher research grants.

Two of his goals are to increase contributors' support and to have at least 100 professors with doctorates.

For example, the university lured astrophysics professor Gary Zank from the University of California at Riverside, plus a 20-member research team that includes six professors. Zank is a Pei-Ling Chan Eminent scholar in astrophysics, as well as director of UAH's Center for Space Plasma and Aeronomic Research.

"It cost a significant amount of money to lure him here," Williams said. "Getting him to leave California to come to Alabama was a challenge."

A major challenge is dealing with the dwindling state financial support. State support is down to 30 percent of the university's budget, and the state is looking at more budget cuts. Williams said this dwindling support makes university-generated funding from research, giving and tuition even more important.

"Very soon we won't be a state-supported institution," he said.

'Power of 10'

University of Alabama in Huntsville President David Williams outlined his five-year goals, which he called "Power of 10," at his April inauguration. Those are: --$100 million in annual research expenditures (108).

--$100 million endowment (108).

--$10 million in annual giving (107).

--10,000 students (104).

--1,000 co-ops and internships/year (103).

--100 Ph.D.s a year (102).

--10 new degree programs (101).

--1 international campus (100).

Bayne Hughes

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