(07-03-2014 09:30 AM)HawkeyeCoug Wrote:  I'm not sure that academic associations matter as much as people claim. The real money through academics is through research grants, which is usually done in a small level by professors and their teams. When I was at a Big 10 University (Iowa) we collaborated with local industry, a Big 12 school (Texas) and an ACC school (Wake Forest). When I was at a Pac 10 school (Arizona) we collaborated with local industry, the military, an ACC school (Maryland) and had some connections with a Big 10 school (Northwestern).

I think "academic association" only matters to presidents and other high level administrators. Basically, it determines if they get to hang out with the "cool kids." As far as actually doing research and getting funding, that is done by the actual workers. Research interest and likelihood of bringing in funding seems to be the real drivers, not which table the president gets to sit at. Conference affiliation sounds cool, but I think the reality is much different when you talk about actual research being done. In contrast, the Claremont colleges have real cooperation, not just lip service and afternoon tea together.

There is always an exception, and in this case it is probably the U of U. Known for their prominent placement of Pac 12 stickers everywhere, they apparently had Pac-12 banners at their graduation ceremonies. Never saw any Pac 12 garb at the U of A - graduation or otherwise.

I think it's true that it only matters to the high level administrators. That being said, they are the ones making the final decisions. And even then, it is only one factor in the decision, never the factor.

And I think "academic association" has a limited meaning here. That is, I think it has less to do with actual, day to day cooperation or interaction, and more to do with perception. I think presidents generally prefer to be associated with other schools they view as peers. So it's not that they are sitting with the "cool kids". It's a lot like high school, where the jocks sit with the jocks and the nerds sit with the nerds. It's their comfort zone.