1:00pm – 201 Gilmore Hall

Council Members present:

John Doershuk, Edward Gillan, Carin Green, Erin Irish, Robert Kirby, Kevin Kopelson, Yasar Onel, Cheryl Reardon, Catherin Ringen, Paul Romitti, John Rosazza, Alberto Segre and Linda Snetselaar

Guest:

Richard Hichwa

Agenda Item 1:  Approval of March 7th meeting minutes

John Doershuk moved to accept the March 7th meeting minutes, seconded by Ed Gillan. The minutes were approved.

Agenda Item 2: Publication Waiver Subcommittee update

There have been no publication waiver requests since the last meeting.

Agenda Item 3: Associate Deans for Research Meeting summary

The Associate Deans for Research were given a brief update on the Council’s work this year.  A draft document from the Centers and Institutes Subcommittee and draft surveys from the Undergraduate Research Subcommittee were provided for their review.  There were no objections to the work or documents.

Agenda Item 4: Subcommittee reports and action items

Centers and Institutes Subcommittee

The Council recommendations:

Clarify sections of the policy that seem overreaching to what pertains to new centers vs. existing centers.

Ensure that this policy and the Collegiate centers/institutes policy that Professor Grassian is developing line up. 

Suggested Center levels:

$0 institutional funds commitment - register to be counted with departmental oversight discretionary

$1- $250K institutional funds commitment - departmental, collegiate and/or VPR approval and oversight required

>$250K institutional funds commitment - BOR approval and VPR or Provost Office oversight required

Authorship Guidelines Subcommittee

The General Counsel and Office of the Provost have approved the draft Authorship Policy. John Doershuk made a motion, which was seconded by Paul Romitti, that the document moves on for approval to 1) the Graduate College; 2) Staff Council; 3) Faculty Senate, and; 4) Faculty Council.

Undergraduate Research Subcommittee

The Council made recommendations on some wording and order of questions on the survey for Undergraduate Research for Faculty.   The faculty survey will go out soon in hopes of having feedback to review at the last RC meeting. The Undergraduate Research Survey for Students will go out in the fall.

Agenda Item 5: Research Misconduct Policy and process

The Research Misconduct Policy, Operations ManualII-27.6; II-27.8, applies to all faculty, staff and students, full or part time, at the University of Iowa. The federal policy on fabrication, falsification, and plagiarism (FFP) will remain in the Manual, but the last part, i.e. “…or other practices” will be removed because it complicates the policy. Rich Hichwa, who is the UI Research Integrity Officer, submits allegation outcomes to the VP for Research for next steps. Sometimes allegations are intercepted by a college and the VPR office is not made aware of them. The problem with interception is that the VPR has a reporting responsibility to the federal funding agency as well as a responsibility to protect persons against false allegations. Inquiries must be completed in 60 days. The Research Integrity Officer assembles reviewers with expertise in the area of research of claimed misconduct. If an investigation commences, reviewers must be educated in the particular area of research and funding agencies may ask the institution to re-do the research. All of the allegations Rich has received have come from named individuals or journal editors; none from the EthicsPoint website or anonymous sources. The UI follows DHHS guidelines.

Agenda Item 6:  Final Report

Paul is working on a final report on the work and accomplishments of this year’s Council.

The meeting adjourned at 2:24 p.m.