1.) Hennessy's technological experience at MIPS link Stanford to Silicon Valley
2.) San Jose Mercury News Editorial: New Stanford President Gets High Marks
3.) Hewlett Group Gives Stanford $400 Million
4.) Hewlett Foundation's $400-Million Gift to Stanford Is Largest Ever
Hennessy's technological experience at MIPS link Stanford to Silicon Valley
By JULIANA LIU
STAFF WRITER
The San Jose Mercury News
When Provost John Hennessy takes
over Stanford's
top spot this fall, he may
be
Stanford's first president
to embody the
convergence of scholarship
and entrepreneurship.
During a sabbatical in the early
1980s, Hennessy
transformed a University research
project
into MIPS Computer Systems.
MIPS, which is an
acronym for millions of instructions
per
second, was renamed MIPS Technologies.
The
company is now publicly traded
and
partially owned by Silicon
Graphics Inc.
MIPS has a $2.1- billion stock
market value, with
$71 million in sales last year,
according
to The San Jose Mercury News.
As one of Silicon
Valley's earlier start-ups,
MIPS has
experienced the kind of longevity
to which many
dot-coms now aspire.
Many of Hennessy's business
associates have said
that its success is due to
Hennessy's leadership.
"One of John's greatest contributions
to MIPS is
establishing the culture of
company,
allowing people to believe
in the company
themselves, to feel responsibility
for the
company," said James MacHale,
a director of
marketing at MIPS. "It's that
kind of culture
that allows an organization
to have a long and
fruitful life instead of being
just a flash in the
pan."
Many publications, including
The San Jose Mercury
News and Newsweek, believe
Hennessy's entrepreneurial
experience and ties to
Silicon Valley's elite could
make
Stanford the university of
the new economy.
"In the coming decade, Hennessy
could turn
sun-drenched Stanford into
the information
age's must influential breeding
ground," B.J.
Sigesmund wrote in Newsweek.
Startup dreams
The ideas that formed the basis
of MIPS's
innovations were actually developed
in a
research project at Stanford,
Hennessy said.
At first, Hennessy and his team
had no intention
of commercializing the technology.
"Only when we were coaxed by
a famous computer
designer, Gordon Bell, and
saw that
industry was going to either
ignore or be quite
slow in adopting the ideas,
did we decide to
start MIPS and try to do it
ourselves," Hennessy
said.
In 1984, Hennessy took a sabbatical
to found the
company with Edward Stritter,
now the
chairman of the Board of Clarity
Wireless.
"I spent considerable time at
Stanford, since I
still had an active research
group,"
Hennessy said. "I didn't teach,
and I missed
teaching very much."
The dramatic shift from academia
to business
taught Hennessy a few lessons
in
administration.
"Probably the biggest benefits
[of the
experience] are that I learned
a different range of
leadership challenges and leadership
approaches,"
Hennessy said. "I learned an
appreciation for the business
world that helps me
talk to people in business
and discuss
how universities work in comparison."
MIPS history
In 1991, MIPS came out with
R4000(tm), the first
commercial 64-bit microprocessor.
The microprocessors based on
Hennessy's research
help computer chips to be faster
and
more efficient.
Silicon Graphics, Inc. was one
of MIPS'
customers. It specializes in
computers that can
display three-dimensional graphics,
and it opted
to buy MIPS out of concern
that the
smaller company would not have
the financial
resources to stay in front
in the chip-design
race, according to the
San Francisco Chronicle.
In March 1992, MIPS and SGI
announced a merger
valued at about $400 million,
according to the Financial
Times.
MIPS sales fell as customers
questioned whether
the company, after the merger,
would
keep supplying chips on favorable
terms,
according to the Chronicle.
After the
announcement, MIPS reported
disappointing
first-quarter earnings and
its stock price fell
sharply.
Partly to reflect MIPS's poor
performance in the
first quarter and the dissolution
of a
computer consortium that would
have further
promoted MIPS products, SGI
and MIPS
renegotiated the terms of the
merger. SGI bought
MIPS for about $200 million,
half the
value of the original deal.
In 1998, MIPS made an initial
public offering of
5.5 million shares. The company's
strategy is to focus on high-growth,
high-volume
markets and to continue to
build on its
strengths in traditional embedded
markets,
according to the MIPS Web site.
Back to the Farm
Perhaps more interesting than
the decision for a
professor to launch a startup
is
Hennessy's leap from business
back to academia in
the fall of 1985.
"I have always felt that people
should do what
they love, especially if they
are good at it,"
Hennessy said. "I love both
teaching and
research, and, for me, students
are the best part
of teaching and research."
Hennessy resumed his work at
Stanford while
continuing to collaborate with
MIPS and
many other technology firms.
He said his
experience off the Farm has
enriched his
teaching.
"It has certainly affected the
way I teach ?
especially in how I relate
principles and ideas to
the real world," Hennessy said.
In research, it
taught me team building and
motivational
insights that are helpful for
leading larger
research projects."
Despite the successful foray
into the business
world, Hennessy was confident
about his
decision to come back to Stanford.
Hennessy said he has no regrets,
"not this week,
not ever. "I have had the best
of both experiences, and I
am where I most want to be,"
he said.
Valley ties
Hennessy "understands Silicon
Valley from the
inside and appreciates the
complicated
relationship between the University,
the
high-tech business world and
surrounding
community," The Mercury News
wrote in an April 4
editorial. Many of the next
president's business associates
agree, partly because Hennessy
has not
only been observing Silicon
Valley's takeoff but
has also been an active innovator
in technology.
Hennessy "is the father of the
RISC
microprocessor architecture,"
MIPS Director of
Human Resources Susan Raskin
said.
RISC is the most popular microprocessor
in
digital consumer appliances
and networking
infrastructure systems, according
to MacHale.
"[Hennessy] has a much bigger
view of what's
going on [in the Valley] than
any of us,"
MIPS's Director of Architecture
Mike Uhler said.
Hennessy is chief scientist
at MIPS and has an
honorary title of co-founder,
said MIPS
Vice-President of Human Resources
and
Administration Rena Creager.
MacHale said Hennessy spends
half a day every
week at MIPS and has his own
cubicle
there.
Hennessy also holds a board
seat at another
company, T-span.
"Over time, I have had advisory
roles with a
number of Valley companies,
but I now have
only these two. A provost's
life is busy!"
Hennessy said.
But not too busy for significant fundraising.
According to The Mercury News,
when Netscape
co-founder Jim Clark, who was
on the
faculty with Hennessy in the
early 1980s, was
considering a substantial donation
to the
university, Hennessy sent him
a gift: a biography
of John D. Rockefeller. The
book
includes a section on Rockefeller's
conversion to
philanthropy after retiring
from Standard Oil.
Last year, Clark gave $150 million
to the
University's Bio-X program.
Although he has previously refused
to say so,
Hennessy admitted that his
long-standing
friendship with Clark influenced
the contribution.
Hennessy the visionary
"He is very much a visionary,"
Raskin said. "He
has a very Socratic way with
people,
asking questions that energize
people's thinking."
If Hennessy has his way, Stanford
will take
advantage of its proximity
to Silicon Valley to
strengthen ties to entrepreneurship.
"Clearly, technology plays a
bigger role now than
in the past, and I hope my
understanding can be used to
Stanford's
advantage," Hennessy said.
"Similarly, I hope that we can
build on the
relationships with the Valley,
both as firms and
as individuals."
Colleagues at MIPS praised Hennessy's
perspective
and interpersonal skills, saying
his
years at the firm have proven
his leadership
skills.Hennessy said one of
his most important
duties is to lead the entire
institution.
"This requires an appreciation
of everything we
do, from the arts and humanities
to the
Business School to the social
sciences to
engineering, the sciences and
the Medical
School," he said.
"As a problem solver, I am a
pragmatist, but
university presidents are also
leaders, and
there I like to approach our
challenges as an
optimist and a visionary."
San Jose Mercury News Editorial: New Stanford President Gets High Marks
THE next president of Stanford
University is known as a world-class
scholar, a gifted teacher,
a good
listener. He also understands
Silicon Valley from the inside and
appreciates the complicated
relationship
between the university, the
high-tech business world and surrounding community.
Sounds like John Hennessy is the right person for the job.
The university trustees announced
Monday that Hennessy, Stanford's provost,
will take over from
President Gerhard Casper Sept.
1. After a worldwide search, the trustees
chose the man who has been
at
Casper's right hand since last
July.
Hennessy has spent his entire
career at Stanford. He joined the engineering
faculty in 1977, fresh out
of
graduate school. He became
a respected professor of electrical engineering
and computer science,
department chair and dean of
the engineering school. He was appointed
provost last year.
But Hennessy did get a view
of life off the Farm when he took a sabbatical
to turn a university research
project into a successful computer
company. He has first-hand knowledge of
the link between scholarship
and entrepreneurship that has
contributed so much to Stanford's success.
Stanford took an unusual step
in 1992 when it hired Casper, who had no
previous Stanford connections.
With the university mired in
a controversy over government research
funding, it made sense to bring
in
someone without ties to the
past.
This time, it makes sense to
hire from within. Stanford's challenge today
is to maintain its pre-eminence
as a research university without
sacrificing its commitment to
undergraduate education or
exacerbating the
problems of congestion and
overdevelopment in the area. Hennessy won't need
to get up to speed on
those issues, and he already
has gained the trust of campus and community
leaders, who see him as
honest and fair.
We wish him well.
Hewlett Group Gives Stanford $400 Million
By JODI WILGOREN
n what is believed to be the
largest gift ever to a university, the
Hewlett Foundation yesterday
pledged $400 million to Stanford
University for undergraduate
education and the study of arts and
sciences.
The donation comes a few
months after the death of William R.
Hewlett, a 1934 graduate of
Stanford whose $538 partnership with
his college friend David Packard
grew into one of the nation's
largest computer companies.
Together, the Hewlett and Packard
families have already given
about $400 million to the university,
much of it for the school of
engineering.
"Only Leland and Jane
Stanford have played a larger role in
Stanford's success," said John
B. Ford, the university's vice
president for development.
The gift follows Stanford's
most successful fund-raising year. The
university collected $580 million,
more than any other, in 2000,
and now has an $8 billion endowment.
The university has 14,000
students.
As universities nationwide
have enjoyed substantial endowment
growth over the last decade,
the size of individual gifts has also
repeatedly broken records.
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in
upstate New York received $360
million from an anonymous donor in
March; Furman University in
South Carolina received 45 percent of
an estate worth hundreds of
millions of dollars in January; New
York University inherited an
Italian estate and Renaissance art
worth hundreds of millions
of dollars in 1994; Vanderbilt got $300
million in 1998; and Emory
received $295 million in 1996.
But it is never enough.
John Hennessy, Stanford's president, said
the Hewlett grant was seed
money to raise $1 billion for the School
of Humanities and Sciences,
the university's largest school, with
500 faculty members. About
75 percent of undergraduates major in
humanities and sciences fields.
Three-quarters of the
money will go to the School of Humanities
and Sciences, which has a $130
million annual budget and has had
little success in fund-raising.
Much of the $300 million will endow
professorships and graduate
fellowships.
The remaining $100 million
is earmarked for undergraduate
education.
Copyright 2001 The New York
Times Company
Hewlett Foundation's $400-Million Gift to Stanford Is Largest Ever
By JOHN L. PULLEY
Thursday, May 3, 2001
The William and Flora
Hewlett Foundation has pledged
$400-million to Stanford
University, the largest gift ever to
an American institution
of higher education, university
officials announced
Wednesday.
The money will bolster
Stanford's endowment for humanities,
sciences, and undergraduate
education.
Three-fourths of the
gift will support Stanford's School of
Humanities and Sciences
in the form of unrestricted endowment,
endowed professorships,
and endowed undergraduate fellowships.
The remaining $100-million
pushes the university closer to the
$1-billion goal it has
set for a continuing campaign to raise
money for undergraduate
education. Half of that money has been
designated for endowed
undergraduate scholarships; the
remaining $50-million
will pay for new undergraduate programs,
such as an effort to
limit the size of seminars and a series
of independent research
projects, aimed at fostering
partnerships between
undergraduate students and faculty
mentors.
The gift is the 36th
one totaling $100-million or more that
has been pledged to
a single college or university. All but
three of those gifts
have been announced since 1990. In 1999,
the Bill and Melinda
Gates Foundation pledged $1-billion, over
20 years, for scholarships
that benefit minority students
attending institutions
throughout the country.
The latest megagift is
a "tribute" to William R. Hewlett, who
established the foundation
in 1966, said his son, Walter B.
Hewlett, the foundation's
chairman. The gift also reflects the
elder Hewlett's "passionate
belief in the value of a
liberal-arts education,"
said Walter Hewlett, whose father
died in January.
In 1934, William Hewlett
earned a bachelor's degree in
electrical engineering
from Stanford, where he met his
lifelong friend and
business partner, David Packard. They
founded Hewlett-Packard
in 1936. Not including Wednesday's
pledge, the two men
and their family foundations have given
Stanford almost $400-million,
said John B. Ford, the
university's vice president
for development.
Wednesday's announcement
confirms that Stanford's development
office is on a roll.
During the 1999-2000 academic year, the
university raised $580.5-million,
believed to be the most ever
raised by a college
or university in a single year. Stanford's
take was almost $100-million
more than the total raised by
Harvard University,
which typically sets the fund-raising
pace.
As recently as last month,
though, Mr. Ford predicted that the
university's current-year
fund raising would fall short of
last year's total by
as much as $100-million, noting that new
pledges began slowing
in January. Fund-raising experts blame
the downturn on a tepid
economy and market doldrums created by
the implosion, last
year, of the technology sector.
_________________________________________________________________
Copyright 2001 by The Chronicle
of Higher Education