Eastern Kentucky University President Michael Benson told Lexington Rotarians Thursday a recent trip to China reaffirmed his confidence in higher education in America.
To emphasize the point Benson asked members of the club to think about the ways their lives are impacted daily by what’s been developed on a university campus. He mentioned a few. “The laser beam, the algorithm for Google, FM radio, magnetic resonance imaging, fetal monitoring, the nicotine patch, vitamins A and D, antibiotics,” said Benson.
Benson emphasized his point by asking members of the club to think about the ways their lives are impacted daily by what’s been developed on a university campus. He mentioned a few. “The laser beam, the algorithm for Google, FM radio, magnetic resonance imaging, fetal monitoring, the nicotine patch, Vitamins A and D, antibiotics,” said Benson.
Benson noted that 17 of the top 20 universities worldwide, as noted by the Times of London and Wall Street Journal, are found in the U.S. “You know people always think of Imperial College London and Oxford and Cambridge, but the rest are American. So, then you take it out to 50 or 100 and the great preponderance are still American. And then you look at Nobel Laureates, the great majority are from American universities,” noted Benson.
Benson says innovation is engendered, supported, and emanating from these campuses. He says the applied new knowledge goes for the betterment of society. At EKU for instance, Benson noted national recognition in programs like nursing and criminal justice.
