Research Council Meeting

Monday, December 18, 2017

Members Present: Johna Leddy, Nicholas Borcherding, Jane Nachtman, Titus Hou, John Nelson, Kevin Kelly, Jessica Boyle, Jason Rantanen, Bob Kirby, Jennifer Fiegel, George Hospodarsky, Alberto Segre

Members Absent: Jane Paulsen, Steven Mickelsen, Barbara Eckstein, Amanda Haes, Elizabeth Constantine

Others in Attendance – John Keller, Ann Ricketts, Jennifer Lassner, Aliasger Salem, David Gier, Aaron Kline, Michael Weaver

Item 1:  Call to Order (Johna Leddy)

• The minutes from the October 27 Research Council Meeting were approved with no changes

Item 2:  Opioid Project (Aaron Kline)

• Aaron Kline introduced himself to the committee and talked about his position in the Office of the Vice President for Research and Economic Development.  He discussed the Research Development Team’s project to develop a proposal to combat the opioid epidemic.

Item 3:  Research Intensive First Year Seminars (Bob Kirby & Cornelia Lang)

• The Iowa Center for Research by Undergraduates has created a series of ten seminars as a response to the call for more undergraduate research.  The goal of these seminars it so have students learn more about research, connect them with faculty who can talk to them about their specific research, and identify faculty/undergraduate research partnerships that would follow into the spring semester.  Seminars are worth one semester hour of credit and are open to 15-18 students per class.  One student will be picked by the instructor for an ICRU fellowship in the spring.

Item 4: Vice President for Research Search Committee Chairs (Aliasger Salem & David Gier)

• Salem and Gier introduced themselves to the committee and provided their backgrounds.  Be for starting the formal search, the co-chairs are completing approximately 60 interviews with internal and external stakeholders, discussing the optimal structure and job description for the VPR position.  This phase of the process should be done by January or early February. 
• The co-chairs and the Research Council discussed themes and qualities that would make an ideal VPR.  Common ideas were:
  • Someone who can reach out to faculty rather than waiting for faculty to come to them. 
  • Consistency in leadership and vision.
  • Clarity on Economic Development should be provided before candidates are brought in.  Economic Development should be more engaged with faculty in identifying potential intellectual property. 
  • Someone who can encourage, facilitate, and support interdisciplinary research.  They should be able to identify specific problems (opioids) and serve as a high-level leader in fomenting research.
  • Someone who can better publicize successes.