Presidential Blog

Thank you to the 750+ participants attending my keynote address, Economic Impact of Universities and Research Institutes, at the Association of University Technology Managers – Asia conference in Taipei yesterday. It was an honor to be with you and among so many who share my enthusiasm for innovation.

The UW has been developing our own ecosystem for technology entrepreneurship over the past five years. As a result, we have doubled the number of start-ups we launch each year, and our 17 technology start-ups in FY13 rank us in the top five universities nationally.

Despite being an ocean away from Seattle, it is simply wonderful to see such strong Husky pride in this extraordinary country. Tonight I met with more than 100 alumni and friends who are part of a long tradition of Huskies living and working in Taiwan. I was honored that Kung-Yee Liang, ’82, president of National Yang Ming University and the alumni chapter’s chairman, welcomed our delegation.

The celebration was particularly special because we honored Simon Sze, ’60, with the UW College of Engineering’s Diamond Award, which recognizes outstanding alumni and friends who have made significant contributions to the field of engineering. Mr. Sze’s contributions have indeed been remarkable. His contributions to semiconductor physics revolutionized the development of modern electronic systems. Memory storage in cell phones, digital cameras, GPS devices and even refrigerators we use today are possible because of Mr. Sze, co-inventor of the nonvolatile semiconductor memory (NVSM). His book, Physics of Semiconductor Devices, is one of the most cited works in contemporary engineering and science publications with more than 22,000 citations and translations in six languages.

For decades, Taiwanese students like Mr. Sze have been making their way to the University of Washington to enrich our campus and inspire American students to travel abroad. In fact, some of our most popular exchange programs are in Taiwan, including agreements between the Foster School of Business and National Chengchi University, as well as the UW School of Nursing and National Cheng Kung University.

Inspired by our 426 current UW students from Taiwan, we are working to build strong Pacific Rim partnerships in education, business and research with institutions like National Taiwan University, which ranks the UW 1^st in scientific research among American public universities. Thank you, Taiwan Huskies, for celebrating these partnerships with me.

For university presidents, a significant measure of our success is the amount of money raised for the university. Thus, I am very fortunate for the many enthusiastic and generous supporters of the UW, whose passion for and commitment to their beloved institution often translates into a pledge of financial support.

For some in academia, the idea of “dialing for dollars” holds little to no appeal. But a New York Times article I read this weekend provides a compelling argument for why fundraising can be quite fulfilling, both for the funder and the fundraiser. It echoes something I have been saying for years. Our main goal is to help people who want to do good with their resources do precisely that: good!

In the article, Arthur C. Brooks, president of the nonprofit American Enterprise Institute, writes, “Donors possess two disconnected commodities: material wealth and sincere convictions. Alone, these commodities are difficult to combine. But fund-raisers facilitate an alchemy of virtue: They empower those with financial resources to convert the dross of their money into the gold of a better society.”

This is something people want to do because it makes them, and those who benefit, happy.

Brooks continues, “…research confirms that in terms of quantifying ‘happiness,’ spending money on oneself barely moves the needle, but spending on others causes a significant increase.”

For anyone who occasionally dons a fundraiser’s hat—this makes clear what good you do.