Title: University trustees relation to university research and the potential of conflict of interest
1University trustees relation to university
research and the potential of conflict of interest
- Charles Mathies
- Sheila Slaughter
2Acknowledgements
- NIH - University trustees and conflict of
interest (Georgia Trustee Database) Slaughter,
Feldman and Thomas 2005-2007 - AERA Research Hierarchy Mathies 2006-2009
"AERA Grants Program" from the U.S. Department of
Education's National Center for Education
Statistics of the Institute of Education
Sciences, and the National Science Foundation
under NSF Grant REC-0634035. - Opinions reflect those of the authors and do not
necessarily reflect those of the granting agencies
3Introduction
- Conflict of Interest (COI) when an institution,
any of its senior management or trustees, or
sub-unit has an external relationship or
financial interest in a research project the
existence (or appearance) of such conflicts can
lead to actual bias, or suspicion about possible
bias, in the review or conduct of research at the
university (AAU) - Increased attention to COI issues within higher
education - Most attention policies directed at faculty,
not necessarily at administration or board
4Introduction
- One of the policy functions of a board is
overseeing business strategy, specifically the
allocation of resources to key functional
activities (Westphal, Seidel, Stewart, 2001) - Some argue trustees with professional knowledge
base creates synergy leads to more effective
leadership
5Introduction
- Others argue that the more alike the corporations
represented on a universitys board and the
disciplines in which it conducts research become,
the more potential for COI - Trustees set strategic policy for both, yet have
differing interests, incentives priorities
6Introduction
- Definitions
- Corporate/University Connection individual sits
on board of both university and a publicly traded
company - Top 3 Science Corporate Connections The 3 most
represented science disciplines (defined by NSF)
of corporate connections - 1 Field of Research The university science
discipline (defined by NSF) which had the highest
amount of research expenditures () - Crosswalk Corporate NAICS classification code
matched to CIP Classification of academic
programs
7Research Questions
- Do the disciplines in which a university
conducts research align with the types of
corporations represented on its board of
trustees? - Does this change over time?
8Data
- AAU Private Institutions (N26)
- 2 Time points 1997 2005
- Data
- Board members corporations
- Slaughter, Feldman, Thomas NIH grant
- Research expenditures
- Mathies, NSF Grant NSF RD expenditures at
college university survey - Crosswalk NAICS ? CIP
9NAICS ? CIP Crosswalk
- 2 Approaches
- Conservative Type of organization/corporation
(what does the corporation do?) - Liberal Field of operation for
organization/corporation (what field does the
corporation operate in?) - Example Pfizer
- NAICS 325412 Pharmaceutical preparation
manufacturing - Conservative CIP 14 Engineering
- Liberal CIP 26 Biological biomedical sciences
10Findings Summary
- No change in the number of trustees
- Significantly fewer number of connections between
corporate boards university boards - No difference in the proportion of connections to
corporations in science fields - Increased alignment between disciplines in which
university conducts research and the disciplines
of corporations universities are connected - Increase in the proportion of research
expenditures from disciplines connected to
corporations
11Findings Trustees Connections
1997 2005
of Trustees 1193 1189
Mean of Trustees 46 46
of Corporate Connections 1342 881
Mean Corporate Connections 51.6 33.9
12Findings Corporate connections
- Majority of institutions experienced a decline in
the number of corporate connections from 1997 to
2005 (t 5.5, plt.001) - 23 of 26 institutions experienced a decline (88)
- 1997 mean of connections 51.6
- 2005 mean of connections 33.9
- Mean decline 33 largest decline 61
- Largest increase was 4 connections, representing
a 27 increase
13Findings Proportion of connections to science
corporations
- No significant difference in the proportion of
connections to corporations in science
disciplines from 1997 to 2005 (C t-.487, pgt.63)
(L t-.663, pgt.51) - Slight increase in the mean proportion of .01 for
both the conservative and liberal perspective - Conservative
- 13 of 26 (50) universities experienced a
decrease mean decrease was .09 with the largest
being .19 - 13 of 26 (50) universities experienced an
increase mean increase was .12 with the largest
being .25 - Liberal
- 9 of 26 (35) universities experienced a
decrease, mean decrease was .13, with largest
being .27 - 17 of 26 (65) universities experienced an
increase, mean increase was .09, with largest
being .34
14Findings Proportion of connections to science
corporations
- Based only on the top 3 science disciplines of
universities connections to corporations - Similar result T-Test, accept null hypothesis
There is no significant difference (C, T -.489,
p gt .62 L, T -.979, pgt.33) - Increase in the mean proportion was .01 (C) and
.02 (L) respectively - Conservative
- 13 universities (50) experienced a decrease
- 13 universities (50) experienced an increase
- Liberal
- 10 universities (38) experienced a decrease
- 16 universities (62) experienced an increase
15Findings Alignment top disciplines
- Weak alignment between 1 discipline of research
(expenditures) 1 science discipline of
corporate connections - Conservative
- 1997 2 of 26 institutions (8)
- 2005 2 of 26 institutions (8)
- Liberal
- 1997 3 of 26 institutions (12)
- 2005 6 of 26 institutions (23)
16Findings Alignment top disciplines
- Increase in the alignment between 1 discipline
of research (expenditures) one of the top 3
science disciplines of corporate connections - Conservative
- 1997 13 of 26 institutions (50)
- 2005 17 of 26 institutions (65)
- Liberal
- 1997 17 of 26 institutions (65)
- 2005 23 of 26 institutions (89)
17Findings - 1 discipline of research
- The proportion of universities 1 discipline of
research of total research expenditures increased
from 1997 to 2005 (t -5.031, p lt .001) - Mean proportion of 1 research field of total
research expenditures - 1997 59
- 2005 64
- 22 of 26 institutions (85) experienced an
increase
18Findings Research Expenditures
- Increase in universities research expenditures
within the top 3 science disciplines represented
through corporate connections - Conservative
- Mean increase from 47 in 1997 to 55 in 2005,
was not statistically significant (T -1.290,
pgt.20) - Liberal
- Mean increase from 58 in 1997 to 76 in 2005,
was statistically significant (T -2.531,
plt.019) - Possible explanation large growth between 1997
and 2005 nationally in RE from Federal sources
came in life sciences engineering - Life Sciences engineering were the most common
disciplines represented in top 3 all in sample
had 1 or both in top 3
19Conclusions
- Same of trustees, fewer connections to publicly
traded corporations - Overall there are fewer connections to
corporations in sciences disciplines however,
the proportion of connections remained stable - Increasing alignment between the disciplines in
which a university conducts research the
science disciplines of the corporations
represented on university boards - Particularly from Liberal perspective growth at
both the 1 to 1 and the 1 to Top 3 - Strong alignment (89 L, 65 C) between the
fields of the 1 discipline of research of
university and the top 3 science disciplines of
corporate connections
20Conclusions
- Increase in the proportion of total research
expenditures coming from the 1 discipline of
research - Proportion grew 5 (59 to 64)
- University research becoming more narrowly
focused? - Increase in the proportion of total research
expenditures from the top 3 science disciplines
of corporate connections of total research
expenditures - Significant from Liberal perspective growth was
18 from 58 to 76 - Growth from Conservative was 8 from 47 to 55
21Conclusions
- The more the profiles of universities and the
boards become the same, the more chance for a
conflict of interest - Scenarios
- Investment for university infrastructure might
go where research is located, not necessarily
where students are - Trustees using university research for corporate
scheme (direct use, first user advantages, etc.) - Trustees steering corporate investment in
start-ups, increasing in a specific area of
research
22Limitations Future Research
- Limitations
- Date drawn only from AAU privates
- Crosswalk between NAICS SIC SOC CIP
- Both 1997 2005 Corporations NAICS
classifications based on 2007 data - Impact of mergers acquisitions
- Future Research
- Day jobs of university trustees
- Seats on private corporations for university
trustees - Institutional foundation trustees (publics?)
23The End