When someone thinks of KU, they say unquestionably that is an institution that is in the top 25 of American public universities. To accomplish that goal, I think KU has to recognize its dual mission to be a research and teaching university for the state of Kansas. That's our responsibility and our mission and we need to carry it out. But we also need to be a research and teaching university for the greater Kansas City bistate area. I think that's our responsibility and our opportunity, and we need to think about carrying that out also.
Rankings can be problematic.
Rankings can be useful if you know the methodology and what is being ranked. The US News rankings, for example, have been very helpful to me. Secondly, I think rankings have the great virtue of being something the public understands. It can also be considered a disadvantage. As a national research university, KU is always going to be included in rankings.