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REMARKS BY:	DONNA E. SHALALA, SECRETARY OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
PLACE:		Shirley Jackson  President, Rensselear Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York
DATE:		September 22, 1999

As I was coming to RPI today, I couldn't help thinking about the movie Yankee Doodle Dandy. The movie is a celebration of traditional American music and dance - and the symbols that bind us together as a nation. That means, in a very real way, Yankee Doodle Dandy is a celebration of Troy. To paraphrase James Cagney, you are the real live - not nephew, but birthplace - of our most enduring symbol - Uncle Sam.

Uncle Sam, of course, was famous for saying, "I want you."

Those words would be music to my ears if I were running for the U.S. Senate. But I'm here today for a purpose much greater than politics. That is to congratulate my friend and colleague, Dr. Shirley Jackson.

I also want to congratulate the RPI community for have the good sense to recruit her. Finding first rate leaders in American higher education is not easy.

She is a brilliant scholar, first class public servant, courageous, determined, and a principled leader. And frankly, we miss her in Washington. But Dr. Jackson is more than up to the honor and responsibility of leading the oldest school of engineering the country.

As anyone who has followed her remarkable career in the academy, business and government knows - she's an inspiration and a pioneer. And although she can't seem to leave any job without breaking a few hearts, it is an honor for me to come to RPI to say how glad I am that you are here - and to publicly affirm your rare combination of imagination, scholarship and grace under pressure.

I tried to find a quote from Dr. Jackson that helps capture why she is going to be such a wonderful leader for RPI. Of course there are many inspiring ones - including the story she likes to tell about experimenting with bees on her back porch when she was growing up. And I thought I was precocious! Now I realize my parents had it easy.

Here's the quote from Dr. Jackson that I chose: "We will educate our students in depth, making them partners in the generation of new knowledge, while imparting intellectual agility and a thirst for lifelong learning."

After leading two universities, I know how easy it is to become focused on everything from budgets to curriculum to tenure. But all that is secondary to doing everything we can to educate students in depth - and inspiring their curiosity. That means both learning in the classroom learning - and learning in life.

Once when I was at Wisconsin, a mother called me on a Sunday morning and said she was very worried about her son because she hadn't heard from him in six weeks. So I called him in his dorm - where I'm sure he was asleep. When I got him on the phone I said, "Joe, call your mother!" He said, "Who's this?" I said, "The Chancellor." He said, "Yes, ma'am!"

I tell this story to illustrate that academic leaders are in the highest possible position of trust when parents send us their most precious possessions - their children. That trust includes everything from teaching students the wisdom of calling home - to teaching them how to succeed in their life's calling. So Dr. Jackson is right. As teachers, academic administrators and trustees of our nation's future, we have a moral obligation to impart a thirst for lifelong learning.

That will be no easy challenge - especially in a world that is changing as rapidly as ours. No less a futurist than Bill Gates once predicted that, "640K ought to be enough for anybody." Well, as almost every ten- year old knows, it isn't.

The point is, from computers to citizenship, preparing students for the future means preparing them to face change - and make change - in the next century. That is the only way our nation will be able to compete in a world where emerging and infectious diseases know no borders; science and exploration knows no limits; and the number of places around the world where RPI graduates will put their talents and training to work knows no end - because the sun never sets on RPI graduates. This is the world we face, and as children who play hide-and-seek like to say: Ready or not here, it comes.

We have every intention of being ready. From disarming the Y2K bug - to creating a Research Fund for America that includes a historic 50 percent increase over five years in the budget of the National Institutes of Health - we will be ready for science and technology in the 21st century. And I'm confident that RPI - under the great new leadership of Dr. Jackson - will ready too.

Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for much of the rest of our country.

We need - but still don't have - a scientifically literate society capable of understanding the complicated and cutting edge world in which we live. Every American leader - whether in the Cabinet or countryside - must be an advocate for greater scientific literacy.

RPI can be a leading voice for larger investments in science education, for more rigorous science and math standards at schools, colleges and universities, and for bringing to the kitchen tables of America a deeper understanding that scientific literacy is a milestone on the road to good citizenship. In our increasingly high tech world - citizens who are informed about where we're going in genetic research, artificial intelligence, environmental science, space exploration and communications - will make better decisions for their families, their communities and their nation.

Four years ago I told the National Academy of Sciences that we're facing nothing less than a crisis in science education. Four years later science and engineering continue to leap ahead - while science education continues to lag behind. So we need to reverse-engineer our failed edifice of science education. In other words, take it apart, look at the pieces and create something better. What are those flawed pieces?

Colleges and universities - including some of our most prestigious - requiring little or no science and math at the undergraduate level. Insufficient recruitment of women and African Americans into the fields of science and engineering - an issue I'll return to shortly. Science teachers at the elementary and secondary school level who are themselves poorly trained and ill-equipped to stand in front of the classroom and teach basic courses earth science, biology, chemistry and physics. We have college graduates who don't know that earth orbits the sun in one year, and that dinosaurs lived before the earliest human beings.

Think about this. At a time when the Hubble Space Telescope and the Chandra X-ray Observatory are looking back to the very beginnings of the universe, and particle accelerators are unlocking the deepest secrets of the atom - millions of Americans know less about science than your average six-year old who watches Mr. Rogers on a regular basis. This must change. I'm not here to give you all the specifications on how we can re-engineer science literacy in America. But I do want to offer you five broad principles that I think will help.

First, I don't want to spark a debate about the merits of publish or perish. I have enough headaches already. But I will say this: All universities must end the false choice between research and teaching, and put more emphasis on the imaginative teaching of science, math and engineering. One place to begin would be greater use of the studio classroom being pioneered by RPI. It's a great idea and I hope other universities follow your lead.

Second. We need a science workforce that looks more like America. I know Dr. Jackson is proud of her many firsts. But we need more women and minorities to follow in her footsteps. We cannot rest until African American women - and men - earning doctorates at RPI, MIT, Cal Tech and America's other great research institutions is the rule, not the exception.

Third. All of us - whether we're in government, the academy, or the private sector - must use our bully pulpits to build a bigger constituency for science - and support for scientific institutions. We've dramatically increased the budgets of NIH, CDC, the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research, and the National Science Foundation. But that's not enough. We need an electorate that understands the urgency of investing in science - and will demand rigorous science programs at all levels of education and government. Unless we do this, we are in danger of letting this debate over genetically modified food lapse push us back into the 19th century. We need to reassure the public that our food is safe; expand research into new areas; and keep the politics of food safety from derailing the progress of biotechnology. Fourth. We need to build science literacy from the ground up. The truth is, a child's interest in science can be ignited - or stamped out - well before she arrives at college. That's why we need a school curriculum - starting in pre-K - that taps into our children's curiosity and provides an irreplaceable foundation for learning. After all, we know children love Star Wars. Now we need to turn that fascination with science fiction into fascination with science fact.

Which brings me to my fifth and last principle. Give science teachers the tools they need to teach.

In the novel, Hard Times, Charles Dickens created a portrait of a notoriously bad teacher named Mr. Choak'um-child. It was perfect name because his biggest accomplishment was squeezing every ounce creativity out of children. I suppose we've all had at least one such teacher in our life. Nevertheless, most science teachers love their work and love their students.

But they need help. In particular, better textbooks. Better training. And better equipment. Top research and engineering universities, like RPI, are a voice for greater financial support for science education. Share with local schools what you've learned about making science interesting. And work with foundations and businesses to bring new resources into the science classroom.

But we have to do more than chase the Mr. Choak'um-childs out of the science classroom, while bringing better trained and better equipped teachers in. We need to make every teacher a science teacher. No, I'm not saying that English teachers should stop teaching Hamlet and start teaching Heisenberg's Principle. But I am saying that we need all teachers to bring a scientific context and perspective to their courses.

I'll give you two examples. In Professor John Keegan's new book, World War I, we learn about the terrible consequences of applying 20th century military technology to 19th century military tactics. Millions died - and the ground was laid for World War II.

Or consider Manet's paintings of Paris railroad stations. They're great works of art. But they also help tell the story of the Industrial Revolution. The fact is, we won't have a science literate country as along as our non-science faculty - both high school and college - remain blissfully ignorant or fearful of what science teachers teach - and why they teach it.

As important as I believe science literacy is, I don't want to leave you with the impression that the mere accumulation of scientific knowledge is enough. It never is. So we must never let our science get ahead of our ethics. Scientific knowledge - in fact all knowledge - must be tempered with human values, restraint, tolerance, ethics and the need to make sure that we move ahead without leaving anyone behind. After all we're less than two years away from 2001, the year that Arthur C. Clarke turned into a metaphor for technology run amuck.

I don't know anyone who is more concerned about tempering human knowledge with human values than Dr. Shirley Jackson. She proved that at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. In fact, she's been proving it all her life.

And she's doing so again here at RPI - by making a forceful commitment to diversity, and to expanding the ranks of women and minorities in all areas of science.

Let me say: The case for diversity is simply beyond dispute.

How many potential scientists of Dr. Jackson's caliber do you suppose we've lost over the last several decades simply because a great intellect went looking for a great opportunity and couldn't find one? Far too many, I'm certain. We must start creating those opportunities. Not simply for the individual student - but because diversity broadens the intellectual and cultural horizon of an academic community, making a good university even better.

As President Clinton has said, "When we give all Americans a chance to develop and use their talents, to be full partners in our common enterprise, then everybody is pushed forward." And pushing forward is exactly what this great university must do - and what we as a nation must do.

I mentioned the Heisenberg Principle. I can't say I know much about quantum physics. But the idea that observing changes what is being observed has relevance beyond the subatomic world. When we look at our academic institutions. When we look at our histories. When we look at the linked destinies of both individuals and nations, we can, if our eyes are truly open, see the path to a better, fairer, more just result.

In Dr. Shirley Jackson, you've found a leader who has walked that path - and now invites the students, faculty and staff of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute to walk with her.

My advice: Take the journey. And enjoy!

Thank you.