At a time when higher education is facing mounting pressures, from funding gaps to political scrutiny, Stacie Bloom delivered a clear message to the audience gathered for the 47th Pullias Lecture: “I believe that philanthropy—strategic, patient, bold giving—has never been more important to the future of the research university than it is at this very moment.” As the newly appointed president and CEO of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the role of philanthropy in supporting university research has been top of mind for Bloom.
In her introductory remarks at this year’s lecture, which took place on April 7, 2026, Julie Posselt, co-director of the USC Pullias Center for Higher Education, highlighted Bloom’s distinguished career in higher education and reflected on the essential question Bloom has pursued: “What are the conditions that make excellent research possible?” This question, Posselt said, is similar in spirit to the one that USC Professor Emeritus Earl Pullias dedicated himself to during his years at USC: “What does it mean to teach well?” Pullias’ appointment spanned 1957-1977, and his legacy and rigorous line of inquiry continue through the annual Pullias Lecture.
Bloom was previously the chief research officer, vice provost and vice chancellor for global research and innovation at New York University, where she spearheaded the university's research efforts. Before her time at NYU, Bloom earned her PhD in cell biology from Georgetown University and served as a postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Nobel laureate Paul Greengard. Suffice it to say, Bloom has both conducted research and helped build the infrastructure needed for organizations to execute research on a global scale. She brings this wealth and diversity of knowledge to her new role at the Sloan Foundation.
The Pullias Lecture marks Bloom’s first public speaking appearance since being named to her new role at the foundation. The timely topic for her lecture, “Strategic Philanthropy in Higher Education: Investing in Research, Innovation and Institutions,” provided insight into the essential role of private foundations like the Sloan Foundation for funding future research while tracing the history of federal funding in higher education.
Bloom began her lecture by providing a short history of federal funding of university research. As she noted, Vannevar Bush, an MIT engineer, delivered a report titled “Science, The Endless Frontier,” to President Truman in 1945, which has since defined the government's role in funding research. “Bush’s argument,” Bloom explained, “was that the federal government should fund basic research at universities, not to control the research agenda, but to provide the resources while universities maintain their scientific freedom. And in return, the knowledge and innovations would fuel American prosperity, health and national security.”
This premise has proven incredibly effective, and nearly all of the major innovations over the last 70 years have their roots in university research, from Google to the mRNA vaccine. These innovations have not only saved lives, in the case of the mRNA vaccine technology that helped the nation battle the COVID-19 pandemic, but have also played a huge part in the U.S.’s economic growth. “Federal funding was the seed, and university entrepreneurship was the harvest,” Bloom said. However, despite these impacts, federal investment in university research peaked in 1970, Bloom explained, and governmental funding has declined ever since
Yet before federal funding was poured into university research, private philanthropists laid a solid foundation for innovation to thrive in higher education, Bloom said. Individuals like Leland Stanford, Johns Hopkins, Andrew Carnegie and Elihu Yale made large gifts to fund some of America’s most well-known research universities. Foundations like the Rockefeller Foundation helped fuel the scientific revolution of the 1900s. CEO and Chair of General Motors Alfred P. Sloan, namesake of the foundation that Bloom now helms, provided generous gifts that created institutions like the MIT Sloan School and the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.
At a time when federal funding is continuing to diminish, Bloom stressed the impact and importance of philanthropy. Unlike federal funding, private funds often don’t have the same parameters as federal funding, and they can move quickly and tolerate more risk. Philanthropy can also fund areas that are perceived as politically sensitive, and programs like the Sloan Research Fellowship don’t require deliverables from its awardees, giving scientists freedom to pursue speculative lines of inquiry.
While Bloom acknowledges that universities certainly face numerous challenges as federal funding is withdrawn and indirect costs for overhead have been reduced, foundations can help fill some of the gaps. Bloom is seeing foundation funds being given to networks of universities rather than sole institutions, which enables institutions that might have once viewed one another as competitors to work together, sharing data, knowledge and resources. Investing in early-career scientists and the STEM pipeline is also essential, Bloom said. Projects like the Pullias Center’s Equity in Graduate Education Consortium and Shared Equity Leadership, which the Sloan Foundation helps to fund, help ensure this continuity, Bloom says.
The Pullias Lecture has long served as a platform for difficult and essential conversations about higher education. As Bloom emphasized in her lecture, the future of the university is inseparable from the future of sustained investment in innovative research that drives economies, solves vexing problems, and, ultimately, makes the world a better place. In her new role, Bloom said, she hopes for a future where foundations “can partner together with universities, fund the long game with unrestricted support, take risks the government cannot take and build the coalitions that challenges require.”
Watch the 47th Pullias Lecture in its entirety:
Julie R. Posselt
- Professor of Education
