Thursday, April 1, 2021

Date of Meeting: 

Thursday, April 1, 2021

Call to Order

  • The meeting was called to order at 8:32 AM

Item 1:  Updates from OVPR

  • Vice President Scholtz provided an update on the P3 grant process. Funds from the proceeds of the P3 agreement and partnership with Engie should provide $15 million annually, which will be used to fund strategic initiatives. Additionally, university administration is in the process of revising the new strategic plan and its development process. This will work in tandem with initiatives developed through the P3 process. There are some funds available currently, but the process is more condensed. In the fall of 2021, there will be a call to campus for proposals. VPR is planning on requesting seed funding through the program.
  • Airport interviews for the next UI President are currently taking place. The plan is to bring four candidates to campus in April and May. Some in person attendance will be allowed for the open forums, but a majority of the meetings will be virtual. The search committee plans to meet on April 28 with recommendations going to the Board of Regents shortly thereafter. The new president will hopefully start in August or September but that will depend on the candidate.
  • The Budget Review Board is making its final recommendations to lock in the FY22 budget. VPR has one proposal going forward for the eRA project. There was a proposal for funding UIRF, but it has been pulled because a different long-term funding mechanism has since been identified.

Item 2:  Academic Analytics Presentation

    • Representatives from Academic Analytics joined at 9:00 AM and provided a demonstration of the software and an upcoming trial for the University of Iowa.
    • Academic Analytics curates publicly available data on grants, awards, etc., layering it for benchmarking research insight, faculty insight, and other comparative analytics.
    • The council discussed the pros and cons of partnering with Academic Analytics, including limitations to representation and favoring traditionally recognized/rewarded activities.

Meeting adjourned at 10:07 AM