Rice & BCM: Faculty Merger Review Committee
Jaclyn Youngblood
Issue date: 11/20/09 Section: News
The Faculty Merger Review Committee is an independent committee designed to evaluate the benefits and costs of a merger and, if necessary, provide advice to the Faculty Senate. Committe Chair Donald Morrison provided his outlook on the merger.
The Faculty Merger Review Committee was formed April 23 due to a resolution passed by the Faculty Senate during a plenary meeting that same day.
The committee, comprised of 15 faculty members, was charged with a threefold task: to identify risks and benefits of a merger with Baylor College of Medicine and discern ways to increase opportunities and curtail risks should the merger occur; to consult a wealth of interested parties, including the Board of Trustees, the administration and the Faculty Senate; and to offer advice to the Faculty Senate, the administration and the board.
Since April 23, committee Chair Donald Morrison said the committee had met 17 times for its two-hour sessions.
An interim report delivered Aug. 28 highlighted a number of benefits for Rice should the two institutions merge. These would include expanded research receiving more funding, new outlets for teaching collaboration between Rice and BCM, maintaining Rice's already-stable partnership with BCM and increasing Rice's national and international renown for outstanding research and education.
Morrison, a professor of philosophy and classical studies, said it was difficult to discern how much Rice would rise in national rankings, such as those by U.S. News & World Report, should Rice and BCM merge.
"One general feature about rankings is the higher up you go, the harder it is to rise further," Morrison said.
Preserving the unbiased nature of the analysis, the report also delineated a number of concerns. Foreseeable risks are the imbalance between a large medical school and Rice's relatively small size, financial uncertainties, the changing environment of the health industry, the possibility of BCM being weaker now than it was a few years ago due to departing staff members, an inadequate implementation of the merger resulting in a break with the asserted benefits and the possibility of BCM's unpredictable financial situation disrupting otherwise well-detailed plans.
The Faculty Merger Review Committee was formed April 23 due to a resolution passed by the Faculty Senate during a plenary meeting that same day.
The committee, comprised of 15 faculty members, was charged with a threefold task: to identify risks and benefits of a merger with Baylor College of Medicine and discern ways to increase opportunities and curtail risks should the merger occur; to consult a wealth of interested parties, including the Board of Trustees, the administration and the Faculty Senate; and to offer advice to the Faculty Senate, the administration and the board.
Since April 23, committee Chair Donald Morrison said the committee had met 17 times for its two-hour sessions.
An interim report delivered Aug. 28 highlighted a number of benefits for Rice should the two institutions merge. These would include expanded research receiving more funding, new outlets for teaching collaboration between Rice and BCM, maintaining Rice's already-stable partnership with BCM and increasing Rice's national and international renown for outstanding research and education.
Morrison, a professor of philosophy and classical studies, said it was difficult to discern how much Rice would rise in national rankings, such as those by U.S. News & World Report, should Rice and BCM merge.
"One general feature about rankings is the higher up you go, the harder it is to rise further," Morrison said.
Preserving the unbiased nature of the analysis, the report also delineated a number of concerns. Foreseeable risks are the imbalance between a large medical school and Rice's relatively small size, financial uncertainties, the changing environment of the health industry, the possibility of BCM being weaker now than it was a few years ago due to departing staff members, an inadequate implementation of the merger resulting in a break with the asserted benefits and the possibility of BCM's unpredictable financial situation disrupting otherwise well-detailed plans.
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