Paul Axelrod. (Ed). (2004). Knowledge Matters: Essays in Honour of Bernard J. Shapiro

Paul Axelrod. (Ed). (2004). Knowledge Matters: Essays in Honour of Bernard J. Shapiro. Montreal & Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press. ISBN: 0-7735-2830-x (cloth); 0-7735-2831-8 (paper-back) In November 2002 McGill University hosted a small conference to honour Bernard J. Shapiro, accomplished civil servant, scholar, and university administrator, upon his retirement from the principalship of McGill University. Distinguished scholars, university administrators, and private sector researchers were invited to share their perspectives on the question Whither the contemporary university? Knowledge Matters, an edited volume of the conference proceeding, consists of ten papers, two written in French, in which authors such as political scientist Janice Gross Stein, industry research expert William Pullybank, anthropologist Bruce Trigger, and former university president and medical researcher Arnold Naimark provide cautionary perspectives regarding opportunities and challenges facing the contemporary university. The authors agree that a knowledge-based society needs what universities have to offer--the creation and cultivation of new knowledge. However, they caution the future of the contemporary university resides in its ability to become more responsive to the intellectual needs of business, industry, government, and other community agencies. They argue this can be best achieved through collaborative partnerships and interdisciplinary research that facilitates the transfer and application of new knowledge. To miss this opportunity leaves the university at peril because other knowledge agencies and communities are already engaged in this process. The academics unite in their concern that the hallmark of the university--the pursuit of truth in a climate of freedom and independence, is compromised by the utilitarian purposes of training professionals and applied research, a reverberation of the anti-intellectualism of an earlier era, in which the only academic pursuits deemed to be of value were those that addressed immediate concerns (p. 60). The autonomy of the university is threatened when external interests (government, business, or industry) and their funding dollars drive the research agenda and influence scholarly pursuits with an impact on the curricula and program offerings. In defense of the core essence of the university, Naimark remarks: To be truly valuable partners of industry, universities must remain places for creating, communicating, and preserving knowledge in a climate of freedom and independence; for the synthesis of teaching and best practice; for the fusion of science and humanism and for the conversion of new knowledge to beneficial application. (p. 61) The book is divided into five sections beginning with an historical overview of competing visions of universities in Quebec, and in particular the francophone institutions. Claude Corbo reviews models of a university that have prevailed over time, beginning with the theological ideal that has been displaced by current conflicting humanist and functional ideals. He poses three important questions that are taken up in the subsequent chapters: To what extent should universities evolve and adapt to changing circumstances? To what extend should they seek partnerships With the outside world? How should they deal with their partners? In the second chapter Peter McNally focuses on the pioneering role of McGill University in the higher education landscape in creating affiliation agreements with colleges, supporting the establishment of University of Victoria and University of British Columbia, developing quality standards for admission, and encouraging federal funding for universities. The next section examines the role of universities in shaping public policy. Contributors Janice Gross Stein and Chaviva Hosek challenge the monopoly of universities over knowledge production and urge institutions to become central nodes in complex knowledge networks to bridge formal and informal intellectual knowledge networks (silos) through interdisciplinary research and dialogue with practitioners to understand how and why knowledge is used in communities of practice and to effectively influence government decision making and policy. …

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