Professor Glen Urban, dean of the Sloan School of Management from 1993 to 1998, has been named chair of the seven-member Committee on Industrial Partnership Review.
Other members of the committee are professors John Hansman Jr. of aeronautics and astronautics, Jacqueline Lees of biology, Joshua Cohen of political science and Leon Glicksman of architecture and mechanical engineering; Karl Koster, director of corporate relations; and George Roth, executive director of the Ford/MIT Alliance.
ASSESS, DEFINE FUTURE
The charge to the committee says: "While these initiatives vary, they share the features that they are long-term and a major commitment at the institute level and they typically cross school or departmental boundaries. The partnerships also are significant because they reflect strategic goals for both MIT and the partner."
The committee will review partnerships with Amgen, Merck, Merrill Lynch, the Ford/MIT Alliance, Nippon Telephone and Telegraph, DuPont, Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard, several of which are scheduled for review or renewal in the next few years. The committee's review and report will guide the faculty and the senior administration in:
- Assessing the value of this approach to partnering and research development;
- Defining how future opportunities might be addressed;
- Assisting academic units in learning from the experience of successful initiatives; and
- Identifying how partnering may be implemented more effectively so that its benefits are spread and its problems minimized.
"The committee should interview relevant faculty and staff and review documents," the charge said.
The committee is expected to report by December to Provost Robert Brown, Chancellor Phillip Clay and Professor Stephen Graves, chair of the faculty.
A version of this article appeared in MIT Tech Talk on April 24, 2002.
