KU News Release

KU chancellor elected to prestigious research university group

LAWRENCE — University of Kansas Chancellor Robert E. Hemenway has been elected to the 11-member executive committee for the Association of American Universities, an organization representing 60 of the nation’s most prestigious research universities as well as two major universities in Canada.

The committee is charged with general oversight and functioning of the Washington, D.C.-based organization. Committee member terms of appointment are for two or three years. Hemenway’s is for three years.

On the executive committee with the KU chancellor are chair Graham B. Spanier, president of Pennsylvania State University; vice chair Shirley M. Tilghman, president of Princeton University; Robert M. Berdahl, AAU president; Henry S. Bienen, past chair, president of Northwestern University; Jared L. Cohon, president of Carnegie Mellon University; David B. Frohnmayer, president of the University of Oregon; Richard C. Levin, president of Yale University; Heather Munroe-Blum, principal of McGill University; James W. Wagner, president of Emory University; and Henry T. Yang, chancellor of the University of California-Santa Barbara.

The AAU focuses on issues that are important to research-intensive universities, such as research funding, research policy issues and graduate and undergraduate education.

The AAU universities in the United States have combined federal research awards of approximately $17 billion and award more than half of the nation’s doctoral degrees.

-30-

The University of Kansas is a major comprehensive research and teaching university. University Relations is the central public relations office for KU's Lawrence campus.