Date of Meeting:
12:30pm – 201 Gilmore Hall
Council Members present:
Manar Al-Ghabeish, Jordan Cohen, Carolyn Colvin, John Doershuk, Edward Gillan, Robert Kirby, Kevin Kopelson, Miriam Landsman, Yasar Onel, Cheryl Reardon, John Rosazza, Alberto Segre and Linda Snetselaar
Guests:
Richard Hichwa and Ann Ricketts
Agenda Item 1: Approval of minutes from December 8th meeting
Bob Kirby made a motion to accept the minutes from the December 8th meeting and John Doershuk seconded the motion. The minutes were approved.
Agenda Item 2: Authorship Policy update
Although President Mason approved the new Authorship Policy, and it has been incorporate into the University’s Operations Manual, the Faculty Senate suggested some rewording. The Research Council agreed with most of the rewording, which was not substantive, but in the following section the suggested change from should to must was disputed, since in some cases it would be impossible to get written permission.
“Since it is possible that readers may infer endorsement of the data and conclusions from an acknowledgement of support, those acknowledged must give written permission to be acknowledged and a disclaimer shall be included specifically indicating that inclusion in the acknowledgements does not imply endorsement by those named”
Alberto made a motion to keep the word should in this section, seconded by Carolyn Colvin, the motion was approved. Rich Hichwa will explain the Council’s position to the Faculty Senate.
Agenda Item 3: Centers and Institutes Guidelines update
Jordan Cohen and Rich Hichwa attended a meeting with Provost Butler and the Deans with respect to centers and institutes. The Deans want to be involved in determining guidelines for centers [and/or institutes]. The Colleges of Medicine, Public Health, Business and Liberal Arts and Sciences are “rich” with centers and are already investigating them. There is still no clear distinction between a center and an institute. All are aware that the establishment of centers is out of control. The OVPR and the Office of the Provost will keep the Research Council advised.
Agenda Item 4: Undergraduate Research update
Bob Kirby will send the draft Undergraduate Research Survey for Students to the Research Council members for review and input.
Agenda Item 5: Other business
Alberto opened discussions for the next meetings’ agendas.
Suggestions and comments:
Have a joint Research Council and Economic Development meeting (if doable) for the March 20th meeting.
Possibly have Derek Willard attend a meeting to speak regarding federal initiatives.
There’s interest in the Council being more involved in the OVPR internal funding initiatives (IFI). The Council was consulted regarding IFIs in the past, but hasn’t been consulted for a few years. Members aren’t certain what funding is currently offered through the OVPR and what is offered through colleges, departments and centers. (It was mentioned that the OVPR IFIs were listed on the OVPR website* and that a list of pilot funding had been compiled by the OVPR, which will be sent to the Council via Alberto.)
Applications for OVPR internal funding are down. All innovative applications are now accepted. The standard peer review process is used in reviewing applications. The internal funding process is meant to be a feasibility study that assists an application on to external funding. Dovetailing the questions on IFIs with those of NSF and/or NIH for a seamless progression of application forms was suggested. The Research Council might discuss a strategy for streamlining the OVPR IFI application process. There will be a discussion at the next Research Council meeting on the information gathered by the Council members on UI IFI processes.
The meeting adjourned at 1:12 p.m.
*The OVPR IFIs are:
Biological Sciences Funding Program (BSFP)
Mathematical & Physical Sciences Funding Program (MPSFP)
Social Sciences Funding Program (SSFP)
Grow Iowa Values Fund (GIVF) Seed Grant Program
Arts & Humanities Initiative (AHI)
Digital Studio for the Public Humanities (DSPH)
