Higher education in America has experienced periodic "inflection points" that have served to significantly alter the higher education landscape and dramatically change the focus and actions of the American research university community. We are on the leading edge of a new inflection point that could be--despite prevailing economic challenges--an opportunity for higher education to meet and address some of the great challenges facing our nation, such as economic competitiveness, health care and health care delivery, and environmental sustainability. These are challenges higher education is, in fact, uniquely suited to address.