Illinois
COMMENTRY

By James J. Stukel, president, University of Illinois

It is fitting that the University of Illinois president contribute a column to Illinois Country Living. Actually, it reestablishes an old link with this magazine's publisher, the Association of Illinois Electric Cooperatives.

How? The university played a pivotal role in the electrification of rural Illinois in the '20s. That connection is worth examining today, as we seek new partnerships in research and education.

James J. Stukel

In 1921, Emil Wilhelm Lehmann came to the U. of I. as head of the then-new Department of Farm Mechanics. Lehmann recognized electricity's potential. In 1924, to show farmers that electricity would save money and improve their lives, he set up a three-year experiment that brought power — and tremendous change — to 10 family farms in rural Tolono in Champaign County.

University Extension representatives helped spread the success story to other parts of the state. Once Illinois farmers were convinced, their organizations led the long fight in Congress to pass the Rural Electrification Act.

From the beginning, partnerships with communities and families have been the tradition of this great institution.

Today, our 128-year-old institution — with three campuses and some 66,000 students of all backgrounds — stands proudly among the world's preeminent public universities.

As the 15th president of this "crown jewel" of higher education, my mission is to chart a course into the new millennium. I intend to expand linkages with communities, enhance undergraduate education, operate more efficiently, and sustain our high-quality research.

In my first months on the job, I have crisscrossed Illinois and listened to the voices of the people. Taxpayers, alumni, government officials and others stress accountability. My task is to ensure that we serve the public interest, and to let people know what valuable assets they have in our three campuses.

In his Tolono project, Lehmann learned that he alone could not convince farmers to gamble on electricity. He needed the help of the farm families in his experiment to persuade others of electricity's advantages for farms and homes.

I seek support, too, and I hope historians a century from now will say we took the right course at the right time. I intend to update our land-grant mission to meet societal challenges that did not exist in the early years, and to set new priorities.

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) has launched "Partnership Illinois." a project to reinvigorate its commitment to our land-grant heritage. Our Cooperative Extension Service had more than 1.4 million contacts with Illinois citizens last year, helping improve the quality of their lives. And UIUC engineering programs offer problem-solving technology to manufacturers throughout Illinois.

The National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) in Urbana has used its unique expertise to open the Internet to the entire country. Working with NCSA, my office has made Mosaic — an easy-to-use "computer doorway" to the World Wide Web and the Internet — available to schools across the state.

Our new Springfield campus has long focused on public affairs. Its internships provide undergraduate and graduate students opportunities to work in public and private sectors of the economy.

The University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) is winning kudos for academic quality and its Great Cities initiative, which focuses UIC's teaching, research and public service on improving the quality of life in metropolitan areas.

What's ahead? I hope to expand our problem-solving and public service roles through better education, violence control, improved health care delivery and useful research, among other socially responsible steps. Success will lie in our new emphasis on teamwork and cooperation.

We seek more active partnerships with government, corporations, and others in tackling urban, suburban and rural issues, from education reform in Chicago to innovative crop techniques in rural Illinois.

I'd like to hear from you.

James J. Stukel became U. of I. president in August 1995, having previously been chancellor of its Chicago campus. His professorial career began in 1968: he taught at both the Chicago and Urbana-Champaign campuses.

4 ILLINOIS COUNTRY LIVING APRIL 1996