RESEARCH COORDINATING COUNCIL

Memorandum 139

February 7, 2002

 

Members Present:          Sean Anderson, Curtis Anderson, Alok Bhushan, Deb Easterly, Kay Flowers, Larry Ford, Dianne Horrocks, Edwin House (presiding), Terry Livingston, Subbaram Naidu, Pamela Park, Kris Robinson, Rosemary Smith, Steven Weeg for Beth Stamm, Dennis Stowe, Jane Strickland, Doug Wells, Brian Williams, Carmen Harris for Dan Wolfley, Paul Zelus

 

Members Absent/Excused:       John Bennion, Phil Blick, Steve Byers, Frank Harmon, Richard Inouye, Skip Lohse, Keith Weber

 

Dr. Edwin House declared a quorum was present.   Dr. House had members introduce themselves and state which unit they represent.  He mentioned agenda items from Council members are welcome.

 

 I.      It was MSC (12y,0n) to approve Memorandum #138.

 

II.      REPORTS

 

A.     Faculty Research Committee – Dr. Bennion, FRC Chair, was on travel but submitted a report which was distributed to the Council.  It summarized the changes made in the Bylaws and Guidelines for Proposals and listed the ten grant proposals that were funded for a total of $36,229.  Dr. House told the Council this left about $44,000 for spring awards.

 

B.     Graduate Student Research and Scholarship Committee – Terry Livingston reported that the Committee met last Friday.  The Committee received 25 research proposals and 2 dissemination proposals in the fall.  Fourteen of the research proposals were funded.  The Committee did not fund either of the dissemination proposals because the travel had already occurred.  The Committee established that travel must be pending for funds to be awarded.  The Committee made a change in the Call for Proposals—the approval from a regulatory committee must be received prior to 2 p.m. the day of the final meeting each semester when the awards are made.  The Committee also made a request for additional funding so that more proposals could be funded

 

C.     Undergraduate Research Committee – Curtis Anderson reported that the Call for Proposals and the Call for Symposium Abstracts are being distributed.  He asked Council members to let undergraduate students who are doing research know that there are funds available to fund travel, research, and abstracts for the symposium.  The keynote speaker for the Symposium will be Dr. James Lai from Pharmacy.

 

Dr. House told the Council that he sometimes receives requests for travel funds from undergraduate students and forwards those to the chair.  Dr. House has an ASISU discretionary fund that is strictly for graduate students.  This fund is reserved for those graduate students presenting results of their research.  If a graduate student wishes to request assistance with travel from this fund, he/she needs to write a letter of request to Dr. House listing the title of the paper to be presented, the name of the conference, the location and the estimated cost of travel.   Dr. House will grant $50 - $150 in assistance if funds are available.

 

D.  Humanities/Social Sciences Research Committee – Dr. House reported that $90,000 is allocated to this committee for research grants.  The awards range from $4,000 to $24,000.  The Council will consider raising the minimum from $4,000 to $5,000 today under Council business.

 

E.      University Research Committee – Dr. House reported that the call is being distributed and the deadline is April 1, 2002.  This committee has an $80,000 budget and awards average between $6,000 and $10,000.  Most of the items awarded by this committee are equipment; however it does not fund desktop computers.  The Computer Services Advisory Committee has been set up for this and has a $50,000 budget. The Faculty Research Committee maximum grant amount is used as the University Research Committee’s minimum grant amount.  The Council will be considering the change from $4,000 to $5,000 as a minimum grant amount under Council business today.

 

F.     Dr. Ford gave an update on the federal relations.  He reported that Cassidy and Associates visited ISU about a month ago for the presentation of proposals for federal initiatives.  There were about 20 new proposals submitted and 7-8 continuing projects.  This was a preliminary discussion; Dr. House will be in Washington D.C. next week to decide which proposals will go forward.

 

          G.  Dr. House reported the Deans Council approval of 2% of indirect costs for the library.  This is not to come from the administrative side.  Kay Flowers reported that it was used this year to save some budgets.

 

H. Dr. House shared a proposed addition to the Human Subjects guidelines that was developed by Beth Stamm in conjunction with Dave Sorensen, the current chair of the Human Subjects Committee.  This concerned reporting payments made to research participants to the Internal Revenue Service.  Dr. House emphasized that the Research Coordinating Council has no supervisory authority over the Human Subjects Committee.  The Human Subjects Committee’s only charge is to make sure people are properly protected and must be free from all political pressure.  This Council can, however, make recommendations and bring items to the Committee’s attention.

 

III.     COUNCIL BUSINESS

 

A.            The approval of changes in the Faculty Research Committee’s Bylaws was tabled until the next meeting when Dr. Bennion can be present.  It was MSC (12y,0n) to approve the change from $4,000 to $5,000 as the maximum grant amount in the Faculty Research Committee’s Guidelines for Proposals and to approve the change from $4,000 to $5,000 as the minimum grant amount in the University Research Committee’s Guidelines for Proposals and the Humanities/Social Sciences Research Committee’s Guidelines for Proposals.

 

 

 

 

B.            It was MSC (12y,0n) to approve the first page in the Guidelines for Evaluation of Research Faculty.  The second page was amended to read:

 

Annual Evaluation Procedure

 

1.        For each Research Faculty member, the Chief Research Officer shall determine which Department Chair or Research Center Director shall have primary responsibility for writing an annual evaluation of the candidate’s research, teaching, and service. This evaluation shall be forwarded to the Dean of the appropriate College and to the Chief Research Officer. If the candidate is associated with a Research Center, the Center Director should play the primary role in evaluating the candidate’s research productivity.

 

2.        The College Dean will review the evaluation of the candidate’s research, teaching, and service. The Dean will then make his or her own evaluation of the candidate’s performance in the three categories, and pass that evaluation on to the Chief Research Officer.

 

3.        The Chief Research Officer will use the evaluations from the Dean and Department Chair or Research Center Director to provide full evaluation of the candidate’s research, teaching, and service to the Vice President for Academic Affairs.

                 

              It was MSC (12y,0n) to approve the second page as amended.

 

C.           David McGinnis, who is a geographer and climatologist, presented his proposal that the Western Institute for Sustainable Rural Environments (WISRE) be classified as a Level I research center.  The primary goal of this project is to bring research from ISU to the rural communities and make a difference in their lives.  Another goal is to promote and foster interdisciplinary research.  Dr. House reviewed the criteria for Level I and Level II research centers.  At Level I, a unit is allowed to use “center” or “institute” in its title to facilitate obtaining external funding; at Level II, a unit is entitled to resources from the University.  It was MSC (12y,0n) to recognize the Western Institute for Sustainable Rural Environments (WISRE) as a Level I research center.

 

 

The meeting was adjourned at 4:45 p.m.