The Brown University Community Council heard reports on the University's role in bringing a "knowledge-based economy" to Rhode Island and Brown's progress in internationalization yesterday.
Provost David Kertzer '69 P'95 P'98 also discussed the University's progress on implementing the recommendations of the 2006 report of the University Steering Committee on Slavery and Justice.
Richard Spies, executive vice president for planning and senior adviser to President Ruth Simmons, spoke on Brown's involvement in Rhode Island's economy, which suffers from one of the nations highest foreclosure rates and one of its highest unemployment rates.
"Our success really is closely linked to the success of the community we live in."
Spies said he sees a role for the University in developing a "knowledge-based economy" in Rhode Island. "There isn't really an economic focus in the city or - for the most part - in the state," he said.
A proposed medical education facility could be "both a symbolic and a substantive cornerstone of an economic strategy in the Jewelry District," where the University has already invested in property, Spies said.
Highway construction that will ultimately relocate the junction of I-95 and I-195 downtown represents an economic opportunity, he said. The area opened up by the "Iway "project, as the relocation is known, could be designated a "knowledge district," Spies said.
"Nobody's quite sure exactly what that means yet," he said, but one feature of the district would be zoning to promote high-tech and other similar businesses.
In response to a question about the role of the humanities in Brown's economic plan for the city, Spies said "knowledge-based" did not refer exclusively to scientific industries. He cited Providence's comparative advantage in design - provided by the Rhode Island School of Design - as an example of another component of such an economy.
President Ruth Simmons said Gov. Donald Carcieri '65 had written her to encourage an expansion of the University's engineering program for the sake of the state's economy.
Later, Vice President for International Affairs David Kennedy '76 provided the Council with an overview of the University's continuing efforts to broaden Brown's global outlook.
Kennedy, who is also serving as interim director of the Watson Institute for International Studies, said Brown should concern itself with "understanding the extent to which ... we pursue and ought to be pursuing internationalization at home."
In some regards, he said, internationalization is "not something that involves traveling here or traveling there, but something in our own minds and our own hearts."
In that vein, Kennedy said he had identified curricular gaps, in academic fields like public health and in world regions like South Asia, where the University should strengthen its global purview.
Kennedy also talked about his desire to provide a greater variety of educational experiences abroad, such as "more internships" and "more intensive language programs."
Professor of Medical Science Chi-Ming Hai, a member of the Council, told Kennedy he knew of several graduate departments that had discouraged international students from applying for financial reasons.
"I'm not sure if Brown's getting more internationalized or less," Hai said, adding that the University appears to be "opening doors on one side, closing doors on the other."
"It takes money," Kennedy responded. "You just have to keep opening the doors."
