Minutes - Dec 3, 2009

Date of Meeting: 

Thursday, December 3, 2009

2:00 pm – 201 Gilmore Hall

Council members present:

Jordan Cohen, John Doershuk, Carin Green, Kenneth Hubel, Erin Irish, Bob Kirby, Johna Leddy, Yasar Onel, George Malanson, Cheryl Reardon, Catherine Ringen, Paul Romitti, Linda Snetselaar, Michael Wichman

Guests:

Francois Abboud,Jay Semel, James Walker

Agenda Item 1: Minutes

The minutes from the April 23 and October 13 meetings were approved unanimously. A draft of the minutes from the November 12th joint Graduate Council and Research Council meeting is still being developed and will be presented to the Council for approval at the next meeting.

Agenda Item 2: Centers & Institutes

  • The collegiate websites were surveyed and a very preliminary list of University Centers and Institutes was developed. It is clear that a centralized clearinghouse for centers and institutes does not currently exist on campus.
  • Committee discussed making the Centers and Institutes discussion a policy-level agenda item for the Research Council. Referred back to the fundamental questions regarding Centers and Institutes developed at the October 13 meeting:
    • What is the definition of a Center? (Collegiate Center vs. Departmental Center). Should definition be expanded to “organized research units,” to include units on campus that do not have the word “center” or “institute” in the title?
    • How can we identify existing Centers?
    • What is the approval process for creating a center?
    • How are Centers funded? What happens if the funding dries up? What are the implications of the current budget situation?
    • How often is effort being duplicated between UI centers? Between centers at other State Institutions?
    • What are the strategic plans for each center?
    • Sub-committees to address this broad topic?
  • Ultimately, there exists a need for institutional accountability standards. In order to address this, the committee discussed organized information gathering -potential questionnaires to all Centers on campus:
    • Mission and Activities
    • Total funding – GEF vs. private funding, administrative resources
    • Institutional approval process for becoming a center
    • Numbers of individuals directly involved in Center operations (active members vs. total members), level of collaboration

Agenda Item 3: Publication Waiver Committee Membership

Volunteers:
  • Paul Romitti
  • Michael Wichman
  • John Doershuk
  • Johna Leddy

Agenda Item 4: Initiatives and agenda items for spring semester meetings

  • Special guests: The Council would like to try to schedule spring semester meetings with President Mason and Provost Loh. Points of discussion would include institutional priorities, capital campaign, and other research-related issues to be determined.
  • Meet with the Provost’s Strategic Initiatives Task Forces
    • Task Force on Research and Creative Excellence – meet with Chair Michael Cohen to discuss the taskforce’s findings: 5 to 10 areas of research, scholarship and creative activities; barriers to multi- and inter-disciplinary collaborations; required infrastructure needed to support high priority research, scholarship, and creative activities.
  • Meet with the Division of Sponsored Programs, Conflict of Interest in Research Office, and the Institutional Review Board (IRB) to discuss the increased administrative burden of sponsored projects on Principal Investigators. Also discuss increased accountability from federal funds, especially the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA) awards.
  • Post-stimulus federal and state funding
  • Research computing and institutional cyber-infrastructure needs. These issues are expected to be addressed by the Taskforce on Research and Creative Excellence.
  • Input on the Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) programs
Meeting adjourned at 2:55 pm.