RESEARCH COORDINATING COUNCIL

Memorandum 128

April 20, 2000

 

Members Present:                Barbara Adamcik, Phil Blick, Jonathan Blotter, Steve Byers, Deb Easterly, Nancy Griffin for Kay Flowers, Will Hamlin, Dianne Horrocks, Edwin House (presiding), Frances Hughes, Barbara Cunningham for IRHS Director, Dave Kleist, Rudy Kovacs, Skip Lohse, Mark McBeth, Subbaram Naidu, Doug Wells, Dan Wolfley

 

Members Absent/Excused: Chris Daniels, Frank Harmon, Richard Inouye, Sue Jenkins, Keith Weber, Cindy Wilson, Paul ZelusDr. House

                                                declared a quorum was present.

 

 I.         It was MSC (8y,0n) to approve Memorandum #127 with the deletion of the word “to” before “2%” in the next to the last paragraph on page 2.

 

II.         REPORTS

 

A.        Dr. Hamlin reported that the Faculty Research Committee met on March 24 and selected Dr. Maribeth Watwood from Biological Sciences as the Distinguished Researcher.  She will be honored at commencement.  There have been 20 grant proposals received for the spring competition.  The committee will meet next Friday and the following Friday to award the $42,000 available for this competition.

  

B.        Frances Hughes reported that the Graduate Student Research and Scholarship Committee met on April 14 and awarded ten or possibly eleven research grants.  (Editorial note: Thirteen research proposals and four dissemination proposals were awarded.)  The awards ranged from $100 to $1,000.

 

C.        Karl DeJesus reported that there was a good turnout from the campus for the poster sessions of the Undergraduate Research Symposium held April 14.  There was one presentation from English and the other presentations were from the sciences.

 

D.        Dr. House reported that the Humanities/Social Sciences Research Committee received five research proposals and awarded two.   The first was awarded for about $22,000 and the second for about $9,000.  These proposals were solicited with a second call as funds were not expended with the first call.

 

E.         Dr. House reported that the University Research Committee has received nine proposals.  This committee has about $80,000 to award and will meet during the next two weeks  to make these awards.  PIs will be notified the first week of May of the results.

 

            F.         Other - None

 

III.       COUNCIL BUSINESS

 

A.        Released Time to Seek External Funding - All proposals were determined to be complete and eligible with no previous RTSEF funding.  Proposals #2, #3, and #5 have had previous external funding in the last five years.  The proposal ranking was:

 

                                                                        Proposal FY2001-04            187 points

                                                                        Proposal FY2001-01            172 points

                                                                        Proposal FY2001-05            163 points

                                                                        Proposal FY2001-02            161 points

                                                                        Proposal FY2001-03            156 points

 

It was MSC (10y,0n) to recommend that Dr. Lawson support all five proposals.

 

Items that need to be addressed related to RTSEF: 1) Revise the rating sheet so that it addresses only proposals, 2) add a sentence to the guidelines requesting that the PI write to a lay audience (use nontechnical terms), 3) add a sentence to the guidelines requesting that the PI inform the Council if submitting the proposal to other University research committees, 4) clarify that the activity to be addressed is the activity of writing the proposal.

 

It was MSC (10y, 0n) to change the Bylaws of the Research Coordinating Council to add the Chair of the Undergraduate Research Committee as a voting member of the Research Coordinating Council.

 

B.        Karl DeJesus discussed the changes in the Undergraduate Research Committee’s Guidelines for Symposium Presentations and Guidelines for the Preparations of Proposals.  It was MSC (10y,0n) to approve the Undergraduate Research Committee’s Guidelines for Symposium Presentations with the change on page 5.  This sentence was changed from “The completed application must be received by 5:00 p.m. on the third Friday in March” to “The completed application must be received by 5:00 p.m. on the date specified in the Call for Proposals.” The Undergraduate Research Committee addressed the changes that RCC had previously recommended in the Guidelines for the Preparation of Proposals.  It was MSC (10y,0n) to approve the Undergraduate Research Committee’s Guidelines for the Preparation of Proposals as revised on April 18, 2000.

 

C.        Dr. House asked Council members how they felt about 2% of the indirect cost collected going to the library.  He said this had been brought up three years ago at a 5% rate and was defeated.  One concern was whether the money would come out of the administration’s 45% or out of the college’s 55%.  An option discussed was 1% from each.  Another issue was how would the money be spent--put into a general pool or would the funds generated by a specific department be used to purchase the journals that department would want to be purchased.  Dr. House asked Council members to discuss these concerns with their constituents and revisit this issue in the fall.

 

 

                        Rudy Kovacs brought up the issue of the library hours that was discussed at the previous                                     meeting.  He said many students have evening jobs and really would like to see the library open until midnight.  Dr. House informed the Council that the decision had been made not to reduce the library’s summer hours.

 

D.     Evaluation of Research Faculty (draft) - Dr. House told the Council that these evaluation criteria were created for two people currently being hired.  However, it may be desirable to make them universal for research faculty throughout the University.  These are non- tenure-track full-time research faculty positions.  Dr. House informed the Council that the main issues to be aware of were:  1) the teaching load is limited to one 3 or 4 credit course and one seminar per year, 2) they are expected to obtain significant extramural funding and will be evaluated on that as well as peer-reviewed publications and presentations at national and international meetings, and 3) they are expected to maintain a level of research significantly higher than regular faculty.  Dr. House reminded the Council that a new category of faculty was created entitled “Continuing Clinical and Research Faculty.”  The category was for non-tenure track faculty who would be employed year after year as long as their performance was adequate.  This new category is in the Faculty/Staff handbook.  The two new positions currently being hired fit into the new category.  Dr. House asked Council members to discuss the proposed evaluation guidelines with their constituency and bring concerns back to the Council so a recommendation can be made to Faculty Senate.

 

E.         Other - None

 

            The meeting adjourned at 4:45 p.m.