With more than $1.1 billion spent on research last year, the University is a major competitor in the global research community.

It’s viewed not only as an economic driver in the state of Michigan, but leaders throughout the country and the globe look to Ann Arbor to help solve real issues affecting our world today. From legislators in Washington to executives on Wall Street or in Silicon Valley, the University of Michigan is regarded as one of the world’s foremost research universities.

And now, at a time when advances in technology are occurring more rapidly than ever before and with frequent scientific breakthroughs, institutions like the University are being thrust into the spotlight as sources of knowledge and agents of change that can help address the problems we face today and the issues of tomorrow.

It’s a tall order since many individuals believe the primary responsibility of universities needs to be educating students. However, it’s something that top officials at the University of Michigan say they hope to expand and build on as they rethink the way faculty and students come together to learn and research.

A HISTORICAL TRANSFORMATION

Though industry leaders and elected officials alike look to the University for answers, the role of research universities hasn’t always been placed so prominently in working to solve the issues of our era.

In fact, as Stephen Forrest, the University’s vice president for research, said it wasn’t until several decades ago that people outside academia even viewed universities as a source of creating knowledge.

“Traditionally, probably up to about 40 maybe 30 years ago even, universities were regarded as places that stored knowledge … sort of like a library,” Forrest explained in an interview earlier this month. “And then a transformation started to occur.”

With the transformation came a new view of what role research universities could play in society — shifting to a system in which universities could draw students and faculty together through research to both teach and help combat serious world issues.

“It really took root as time went on that universities were places that weren’t just repositories of knowledge, but were places where new knowledge was built primarily,” Forrest said. “And they’ve really taken that role in our society as the primary location where new knowledge is generated.”

However, the change has led some to criticize faculty at major research universities for caring more about their research than about teaching students. Many students on college campuses have grumbled at least once to a friend about how one of their professors doesn’t care about teaching, but instead only wants to focus on his or her research.

And while such criticism may indeed have its place with choice faculty members, three of the University’s top officials took a very different stance.