Talk:Dr. Kiran C. Patel Center for Global Solutions

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is just a "center" at USF, and a very recent one at that. I don't see any signs that it has any independent facilities, staff, or identity. Things like this should be covered in the article for the relevant college or university. Some universities have dozens of these things. Brianyoumans (talk) 21:06, 29 April 2008 (UTC)

Brianyoumans: I am the original author of this article.

Can you show me one such example of a Center/Organization that is merged into the university's wiki? I don't feel it would appropriate to merge this into USF's wiki. It doesn't describe information about the university itself, but rather a research center that is based at USF. There is a stark and dramatic difference, in my opinion. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Tau.reanb (talk • contribs) 17:26, 15 May 2008 (UTC)

• There are not many such "centers" that are mentioned prominently in the university articles, mostly because most centers are just not very notable. If you look at Cumberland Law School, you will see some info on their "Center for Biotechnology, Law, and Ethics" which was merged there (as the result of some discussion). If you look at the article Computational Center for Nanotechnology Innovations, you will see a univerity center which probably does deserve its own article - it has a solid claim to notability (one of the world's fastest computers). I don't see any such claim for the Patel Center, other than the size of the donation (which is to the University, not the Center - which to me says that the Center is part of the University - they control the money). And other universities have received much larger donations. The center has no big name faculty, no notable research results, no notable facilities or controversies associated with it. And since it is very new, one would not expect it to. I would say put a sentence in the University article saying "The largest private donation to USF was in 2005, when Drs. Kiran and Pallavi Patel gave $x million to fund a research center to solve problems in the developing world." Brianyoumans (talk) 20:48, 15 May 2008 (UTC)

• Brianyoumans:

SInce you're so confident this should be merged with the University of South Florida page, how should that be done? Frankly, if you're that adamant this page should be merged there, I'd rather it not exist at all. While the Patel Center is a center at USF, it will soon have its own building (to be completed by Fall 2009) and it relies almost entirely on donor money. It only receives state matched funds and no money from the university itself. I know this because I am an employee there. The center is new and is lead by its Executive Director, Betty Castor, a former state senator as well as a national education leader and it is also lead by its academic director, Dr. Mark Amen, scholar who currently edits several journals including Globalizations. The center is new, but growing and could very soon attain a more prominent status university-wide and nation-wide.

Merging it with the USF page seems a bit awkward. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.180.209.189 (talk) 04:01, 1 June 2008 (UTC)