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The University of Florida series, Measuring University Performance, will take up additional topics reflecting the university's commitment to measuring university performance in quality and productivity of research, teaching, extension, and service.

All of us at the University of Florida welcome comments and suggestions prompted by this series. Please write to the Office of Institutional Planning and Research, PO Box 113115, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611-3115 (ufdata@aa.ufl.edu).

Introduction

Over the years, the University of Florida has been involved in many collaborative projects with its counterparts in the State University System (SUS). Two new and historic statewide initiatives-an online advising system and a high-speed research and education network-serve as excellent illustrations of how this teamwork can produce big results.

Also included here are several examples of formal, cooperative arrangements like joint degree programs, research projects, and technology initiatives. But, much of what occurs between the institutions is informal, such as an e-mailed request for help in designing a web page or a telephone call from someone asking for data-the little things that are taken for granted and forgotten. These random contacts are critical to the efficient operation of all institutions, and one of the many benefits of being a member of a network of state universities.

Too numerous to mention here, but no less important, are all the joint committees, advisory boards, and other groups or events that involve interaction among the various SUS institutions. The sampling of collaborative efforts outlined below focuses primarily on what we contribute to the state through collaboration and initiatives with our colleague SUS institutions, and therefore leaves out the numerous examples where we benefit from another SUS institution's generosity, expertise or equipment.

Statewide Advising System

For nearly three decades the University of Florida's Registrar's Office has worked with the Board of Regents and the other SUS institutions to participate in the development of new systems or applications. For example, UF and the BOR together initiated the first SUS-wide common administrative system in the early 70's, and the University has been actively involved in the many versions and modifications since that time.

In the latest effort, the Division of Community Colleges and the State University System recently agreed to develop a statewide computer-assisted student advising system as mandated by the Florida Legislature. The Florida Statewide Student Advising System (FSSAS) will include degree program availability, degree tracking, degree shopping, transcript display, and assessments of a student's progress toward graduation at their current institution. FSSAS will eventually tie into other academic systems such as admissions, registration, financial aid, fee payment, career advisement, and a newly created central catalog of distance learning courses. The linkage between community colleges and universities is critical to the success of FSSAS due to the state's heavy reliance on the 2+2 educational system (i.e., two years at a community college followed by two years at a university).

With this statewide advising system, Florida's college students will be able to log onto the Internet and see, in real time, how their academic records match up with each state university. High school students, parents and advisors can use the online system to more efficiently and accurately evaluate each school based on a student's individual needs. The benefits of this historic and cooperative effort are too great to list here, and will multiply as the system expands to include admissions, registration, distance learning, etc.

Throughout the years of negotiation to develop this statewide system, UF has worked closely with all the SUS universities and the Board of Regents. In order to create a system that can best accommodate all state universities and colleges, we have actively participated in developing this new system despite already having a successful online advising and tracking system. The university will continue to play a role by providing expertise and manpower in writing the software programs, helping identify data standards and policies, serving on the Project Management Team and other committees, and delivering any other services that are necessary for the successful implementation of FSSAS.

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Internet2 and FloridaNet

In 1987, the Internet was developed to meet the needs of universities and researchers, specifically to allow them to efficiently transfer data from one site to another. The commercialization of the Internet resulted in explosive growth, with millions of people now logging on every day. With the Internet becoming increasingly congested and unreliable for academic needs, a collaborative partnership was formed consisting of over 100 universities, federal agencies, private industry and non-profit organizations. Among the SUS, seven universities are currently members of Internet2 with the Board of Regents and FGCU as affiliate members.

This "Next Generation Internet" initiative known as Internet2 will connect universities and national laboratories with high-speed networks operating at much faster speeds than currently available. Internet2 will only be used for projects that require this faster network; member institutions have pledged to continue using the regular Internet for all other types of services like e-mail, the World Wide Web and newsgroups. Member institutions will use Internet2 to experiment with and develop new networking applications and technologies, such as digital libraries, virtual laboratories, and enhanced high quality video-conferencing. Much of what will be developed for Internet2 will likely benefit the current Internet as well.

In conjunction with Internet2, UF and six other SUS schools (along with the University of Miami) are actively involved in efforts underway to develop a similar statewide high-speed network for research and education called FloridaNet. The proposed net work will link these institutions with each other, with research universities in the southeast, and with the National Science Foundation high-performance network infrastructure (vBNS). When fully funded and developed, this network will deliver Internet2- like functions to all of Florida's higher education institutions, public and private, regardless of whether they have access to Internet2.

The university has spent several months with the other SUS universities in planning the development of FloridaNet, which resulted in a joint proposal to NSF requesting $2.8 million in funding ($350,000 per school). Together, these schools have committed $2.8 million in matching funds and $24.5 million in infrastructure improvements.

Even before the Internet2/FloridaNet project began, UF worked in collaboration with the Florida Department of Management Services, FSU, FAMU, NERDC, private industry (IBM, CISCO, and FORE) and others, to test and evaluate asynchronous technology mode ( ATM) technology. Much to the benefit of the pilot participants and the state as a whole, ATM technology has since become the foundation on which Internet2 will be built. The experience gained in this trial will be invaluable to the SUS institutions in the transition to high-speed networking.

Internet2/FloridaNet is just the latest example of nearly three decades of collaborative efforts within the SUS to improve networking and expand Internet access. All ten universities support the need for major enhancements in connectivity among the SU S-improvements necessary for library resource sharing, research, the new academic advising system, distance education, among others.

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UF Libraries

The University of Florida Libraries have a long history of collaborating and sharing with other SUS libraries. The UF libraries director currently chairs the SUS Directors Council and appoints SUS-wide committees to look into areas of joint interest (Electronic Collections, Distance Learning, and Inter-Library Loan for examples). UF spearheaded the joint purchase of electronic data for some of the SUS libraries that has resulted in greatly reduced costs to each library and access to more scientific journals than the schools held individually.

UF librarians also drafted the proposal that resulted in funding First Search, a major database available to all SUS students that indexes most of the journals used by undergraduates and provides full text of many articles. Recently, the FSU and UF law libraries have jointly purchased LegalTrak, an index to legal periodicals that will be available to both campuses and the legal community through the online SUS library information service LUIS.

Office of the Chief Inspector General

Housed in the Board of Regents, the Office of the Chief Inspector General (CIG) is another good example of the cooperative spirit that exists among SUS institutions. This office oversees all ten Offices of Inspector General (OIG), which coordinate activities that promote accountability, integrity, and efficiency in government. All OIG's collaborate with the CIG in developing operations manuals, system wide programs and standards, and the like. All the SUS universities review complaints received about another SUS school. The universities share the operational tools and enhancements that they develop. For example, we recently made available to the CIG and other OIG's the "Audit Follow-up" and web-based "Control Self Assessment" applications developed by our OIG staff.

Under review is a proposal to establish an Information Technology auditor position in the Office of Chief Inspector General as a shared resource for all SUS universities. Auditors at each university must conduct Information Technology (IT) audits in addition to financial audits. These audits cover such things as security issues, Year 2000 compliance, legal use of software, and disaster recovery-areas becoming increasingly complex as we move from a solely mainframe-computing environment. IT audits require more specialized technical skills than financial audits and a shared position will provide the expertise needed at a reasonable cost to each university.

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Joint Degree or Educational Programs

Over the years, University of Florida colleges have collaborated with other SUS institutions to provide additional access to specialized degree programs. In these programs, students take some courses at another SUS university but receive their degree from UF. These cooperative programs include a B.S. in Electrical & Computer Engineering (UWF) or Forestry (FAMU), an M.A. in Classics (USF), and a Ph.D. in Entomology and Nematology (FAMU) or Anthropology (FSU). Many times these joint programs allow the collaborating university an opportunity to develop their own freestanding program. UF also has an affiliated Master's program in Landscape Architecture with FIU where students take classes at both campuses and either school can grant the degree.

UF's Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS), working jointly with local community colleges and other SUS universities, offers several off-campus degree programs throughout the state. These programs focus on subjects with high student demand and strong community support. Students attend a local community college for the lower division courses and a regional four-year institution for part of their upper division course work. UF faculty, often located on-site near a UF/IFAS Research and Extension Center, teach the specialized, professional classes required for a major. Students can receive a bachelor's degree from UF in horticulture, pest management, natural resource conservation, agribusiness, and landscape architecture without leaving their home area. These programs have proven to be effective in serving "place bound" students at a minimal cost.

The College of Pharmacy has a successful and innovative distance education program called the Working Professional Doctor of Pharmacy Program. Currently 240 students participate in UF's Pharm.D. program without ever attending class in Gainesville. Using USF facilities and technical support for a nominal fee, UF conducts videotaping sessions of lectures and case studies provided by Clinical Pharmacy faculty members, primarily from the Tampa Bay area. Tapes are then distributed to cities throughout Florida and to Chicago, Dallas and Houston. Students conduct a research project, and receive additional assignments via the Internet.

The Program in Medical Sciences (PIMS), established in 1971 and located at FSU, is an inter-university approach to medical education. Although targeted for undergraduate students at FSU, UWF, and FAMU, the PIMS participates in the American Medic al College Application Service and therefore receives applications from around the country. Thirty students enter the PIMS each year and complete their first year of preclinical medical education at FSU. After the first year these students transfer to the UF College of Medicine for the final three years of medical education.

About 25 years ago the university began a program called the Junior Honors Medical Program (JHMP), which is a combined, seven-year B.S./M.D. program. Application is made during a student's sophomore year and the program is limited to 12 students annually. Three years ago, UF established a cooperative agreement with FAMU to recruit students from that campus. Students from FAMU maintain their affiliation with that campus and receive their B.S. degree from FAMU at the end of the first year of medical school. Two FAMU students are currently enrolled in the honors program. Early experiences at both universities promise a very successful and worthwhile collaboration.

The College of Dentistry has an early admissions program for students at USF and FIU (as well as UF). These students complete their first three years at their undergraduate institution and then transfer to UF to begin their first year of dental school , which also counts toward their bachelor's degree. Thus, students receive a Doctor of Dental Medicine (D.M.D.) degree in seven years instead of eight. The college is currently working with UNF and UWF to develop similar programs.

The College of Education collaborates in a partnership with the other nine SUS universities as well as 19 private institutions in Florida in the Florida Fund for Minority Teachers (FFMT) scholarship program. This program provides an annual $4000 scholarship for Florida minority residents (African-American, Hispanic, Asian/Pacific Islander, and American Indian/Alaskan Native). Administratively housed at UF in the Office of Recruitment and Outreach, the FFMT serves over 700 minority students.

The College of Engineering collaborates with the other SUS universities in the Florida-Georgia Alliance for Minority Participation (FGAMP), a program providing scholarships and support for the recruitment and retention of minority students in engineering, mathematics, and science. Administered by FAMU, this program receives support from the National Science Foundation.

The Florida Engineering Education Delivery System (FEEDS) offers an SUS-wide cooperative distance learning program for selected engineering degree programs and courses for professional development to engineers in Florida-based industries. The courses originate at one of the six SUS colleges of engineering, while the other SUS universities cooperate in course distribution.

UF, FSU and FAMU participate in the Southeastern University and College Coalition for Engineering Education (SUCCEED). Funded by a $15 million grant from the National Science Foundation, this program improves undergraduate engineering education . Included in this broad mission is the recruitment, retention and graduation of those who are under-represented in the engineering profession-women, minorities, and people with disabilities.

Other examples of joint or cooperative academic programs include:

• • The College of Nursing is in the process of developing a joint master's degree with USF in nurse midwifery.

• • Those enrolled in the Physician's Assistant program at UF have some of their instruction provided by USF's teaching hospital as part of their clerkship rotation.

• • Three to five FAMU students who earn a M.S. in Pharmaceutics receive guaranteed admission to the Ph.D. program in Pharmaceutics at UF each year.

• • University of West Florida computer science faculty teach some of the graduate courses needed for the degree programs offered by the UF's Graduate Engineering Research Center (GERC), located near Eglin Air Force Base.

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Joint Centers or Consortiums

The Florida Space Grant Consortium (FSGC) is a voluntary association composed of all state universities, six private Florida universities or colleges, all Florida state community colleges, the Kennedy Space Center, the Astronauts Memorial Foundation, the Higher Education Consortium for Science and Mathematics, and Spaceport Florida Authority. These collaborating institutions formed the FSGC, one of the sixteen founding consortia, NASA implemented its Space Grant College and Fellowship Program. This statewide group provides seed funding for university-industry collaborative research programs, fellowships for doctoral students engaged in space-related research and research experiences for undergraduate students.

The NASA Center for the Commercial Development of Space is one of two competitively awarded centers for space telecommunications. Funded for a total of about $4 million over five years and headquartered at FAU, this center includes faculty from USF and UF who work on a variety of commercial applications.

The Inter-University Center for Child, Family and Community Sciences joins UF, FAMU, FSU and USF in a collaboration with one university serving as the host institution each year. This multi-disciplinary center develops and supports family and community effectiveness through research, education, policy and service activities. The collaboration also seeks to involve other centers at UF, FSU and USF that have complimentary missions or activities.

The Florida Consortium for Political Research includes six SUS institutions (UF, FSU, USF, UCF, FIU, and FAU) and two private universities (UM and Barry University). The Consortium currently works to expand membership to the remaining four SUS institutions. Through its hub in the Department of Political Science at UF, this consortium provides faculty and students with access to the largest social science data-archive in the world-the University of Michigan's Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research. The data, gathered and shared by federal agencies, universities, private corporations and social scientists, give student and faculty researchers the opportunity to work with real social science data at a nominal cost.

The Florida Consortium for Latin American Studies partners the Center for Latin American Studies at UF and the Latin American and Caribbean Center at FIU. Joint projects include colloquia for business and higher education, a symposium for journalists and editors who focus on Latin America, language development seminars, the Haitian Creole Summer Institute, and a faculty exchange program. The U.S. Department of Education recently funded this consortium for $591,000 over a four-year period (1998 -2000).

The Imaging Science & Technology Center joins the following institutions in a new consortium to develop research and applications in imaging: UF, FSU, USF, UCF, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, two private companies and three specialized research centers-the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory (FSU/UF), the Moffitt Cancer Center (USF) and the Center for Research in Electro-Optics and Lasers (UCF).

The Florida Center for Library Automation (FCLA), hosted at the University of Florida, serves the entire SUS. One of the largest organizations of its kind, the FCLA operates an integrated library management system that supports the online catalogs of all ten state universities-a total of 50 library sites in 20 cities. In addition, the FCLA maintains digital library software that provides SUS students and faculty with electronic access to scholarly materials.

FAMU and IFAS, through the Florida Agriculture Experiment Station (FAES), jointly sponsor the Center for Cooperative Agricultural Programs (C-CAP). The majority of its activity is research, with five projects funded in 1997-98.

Major Collaborative Research Facilities

Established in 1991, the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory (NHMFL) supports a unique collaboration between FSU, UF and the Los Alamos National Laboratory. Funded primarily by the National Science Foundation with additional support from the State of Florida and the U.S. Department of Energy, the lab makes its facilities available to experimental researchers in high magnetic fields. Projects use the NHMFL facilities upon approval of their proposed research, generally without a charge.

In 1987, the Florida Legislature launched the Biotechnology Program at UF to stimulate biotechnology research throughout the State University System. The Core Laboratories of the Interdisciplinary Center for Biotechnology Research provide state-of-the-art scientific expertise, instrumentation and technologies to faculty, staff, graduate students, and other research partners throughout the state and nation. The Sid Martin Biotechnology Development Institute (BDI) offers a full service business incubator designed specifically to support biotech startup companies and to facilitate technology transfer from the State University System of Florida to the private sector. The ICBR estimates that biotechnology related research at the University of Florida alone attracts an estimated $66 million annually in funding for sponsored projects.

The College of Engineering established the Major Analytical Instrumentation Center (MAIC) to provide the academic and industrial community with access to modern analytical instrumentation that enhances the technical development and training of scientists and engineers. The MAIC provides to the SUS equipment that would be too costly to purchase, operate and maintain individually. Recently, MAIC provided services to researchers at six SUS universities.

The SUS and NASA first chartered the Southern Technology Applications Center (STAC) in 1977. STAC expedites the transfer of technology from federal and university laboratories to the private sector by providing commercialization assistance to the business community and others. Headquartered at UF in the College of Engineering, STAC has offices at five other SUS engineering colleges, and in one business college. STAC receives about $1 million annually from NASA and subcontracts out a significant amount to FAU, FIU, UCF, UNF, and USF.

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Joint Research Projects and Workshops

Many research projects in the state involve collaboration between one or more SUS schools, both formally with one school as a subcontractor and informally through collaborative agreements. In FY 96-97, the University of Florida received $3.7 million in subcontracted research support from the SUS or other SUS universities. In the first seven months of this fiscal year, UF has already been awarded $2.6 million in subcontracts from six SUS schools. These sponsored projects cover a wide range of fields: chemistry, physics, engineering, agriculture, building construction, psychology, medicine, and biology.

UF has at least $2 million in active subcontracts with other SUS universities in areas such as marine science, diabetes research, and materials science. The College of Engineering alone has contracted out $3.6 million to other SUS universities for ongoing projects and has received over $1.6 million from SUS institutions.

Many departments or centers have a long history of collaboration. For example, the Center for Governmental Responsibility at the UF Law School has worked with several SUS universities to develop programs and conduct workshops on a variety of topics. With UCF's Department of Public Administration, CGR jointly developed and implemented a workshop and training program for local government officials in Poland. This cooperative effort extended over a three-year period and was funded by the U.S. Information Agency. CGR also worked with FSU and others to conduct a series of workshops on sustainable communities for elected officials (funded by the MacArthur Foundation) and a program on conflict resolution in Haiti (funded by the U.S. Information Agency).

Other examples of collaboration include:

• • The Department of Chemistry supports research collaborations with a number of schools, including FIU, UCF, FAMU and FSU. UF's spectroscopic service facility provides sophisticated instrumentation unavailable at these institutions.

• • Several faculty members in the Department of Communication Processes & Disorders work with other SUS faculty on research projects in a variety of areas, including studies on second languages (UCF), voice training (FSU), and forensic communication (USF).

• • IFAS collaborates with several universities on various projects aimed at protecting and preserving Florida's environment, including the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary Socioeconomic Monitoring Plan (with FSU, USF, FIU, FGCU and the University of Miami, sponsored by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), and the South Florida Ecosystem Restoration Plan (with FIU, FGCU, USF, FSU as well as Miami, and state and federal agencies).

• • The IFAS Cooperative Extension Service collaborates with FAMU on more than 30 statewide educational programs, ranging from nutrition and parenting to science and technology.

• • In the College of Education, a researcher in the Educational Foundations department collaborates with USF College of Medicine faculty (as well as medical faculty at UF and the University of Miami) to study the psychosocial effects of growth hormone treatment of children with short stature.

• • The College of Veterinary Medicine has a joint proposal pending with FSU for a $7.5 million, five-year grant from the NIH. The proposal will be submitted in May 1998 with FSU as the lead institution and UF as a subproject. The two investigators on this proposal have already received one smaller planning grant from the NIH.

• • Several researchers in the Small Animal Clinical Sciences department house their research animals at USF due to cost advantages.

• • The College of Veterinary Medicine participates in a scientist exchange program through FAU's Florida-Israel Institute.

• • The School of Building Construction's Shimberg Center for Affordable Housing is working with FIU on the International Rinker Conference on urbanization and housing to be held October 1998 in Venezuela. This center has also submitted a proposal jointly with FAMU and FIU to study windstorm damage mitigation.

• • The Pediatric Oncology Group's Statistical Office collaborates with faculty at USF's Moffitt Cancer Center on several research projects and clinical trials.

• • UF and USF work together to provide food safety training for restaurants in Florida.

• • UF has worked on several projects with FIU's Latin American and Caribbean Center. Recently, the Center for Governmental Responsibility conducted a workshop on issues for the Summit of the Americas.

• • The UF Office of Instructional Resources collaborates frequently with other state universities on projects funded by the Florida Department of Education. These projects focus on test development, test administration, and program evaluation.

• • The sea turtle program at UF has an informal relationship with their counterpart at FSU-they use our tags to mark sea turtles and we provide data gathered by UF graduate students to an FSU researcher for his long-term tagging study.

• • Two researchers from UF (zoology) and FSU (biological sciences) have collaborated for nearly a decade on research involving sunfishes. Although they have not been co-investigators on a project, they have supported their cooperative work via two separate NSF grants and have co-authored five papers.

• • Researchers from UF's sociology department have a $114,000 grant from the Florida Legislature's Juvenile Justice Advisory Board, $40,000 of which is shared with their co-investigator at UCF. This federally funded project studies juveniles transferred to criminal court.

• • The Family, Youth and Community Sciences department is participating in a joint research project on young chronic offenders with FSU, USF, the University of Miami and Nova Southeastern University.

Conclusion

Cooperation and collaboration among the SUS universities is necessary to a dynamic, competitive and efficient higher education system in Florida. The pooling of talent and resources has led to cost savings, funded research projects, expanded services to students and Florida residents, technological advancements, and greater access to education. The University of Florida has a long tradition of working alongside other SUS universities and is committed to looking for future partnership opportunities.

Diane D. Craig

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