RESEARCH COORDINATING COUNCIL

RESEARCH COORDINATING COUNCIL Memorandum No. 112 April 23, 1998 Members Present: Ron Balsley, Richard Brey, Renee Bunde, Jonathan Blotter, Steve Daley, Leonard Hitchcock, Dianne Horrocks, Edwin House (presiding), Dave Kleist, Rudy Kovacs, Tom LaHann, Mark McBeth, Jeff Meldrum, Kevin Moore, Sarah Patrick, Lin Sherman Members Absent/Excused: Tebbs Adams, Frank Harmon, Richard Holmer, Richard Inouye, Allen Jackson, Ralph Maughan, Dan Wolfley, Paul Zelus

I. It was MSC (12y, 0n) to approve Memorandum No. 111.

II. REPORTS

A. Faculty Research Committee - Dr. Meldrum reported that 15 proposals were received and copies were distributed to committee members. A meeting to review these proposals is scheduled for May 1, 1998.

B. Graduate Student Research and Scholarship Committee - Dr. House congratulated the committee for their outstanding performance this year. Renee Bunde reported that the committee received 32 proposals and made 6 dissemination awards and 21 awards for research ranging from $153 to $999. The Taylor Scholarship, for $850, was awarded to a student majoring in public health.

C. University Research Committee - Dr. House reported that the call is out and the committee has received 19 proposals.

D. Humanities/Social Sciences Research Committee - Dr. House reported that the deadline to received proposals has passed, but because part of the faculty and the chair in a department did not receive the call, the deadline has been extended to April 29. Currently 5 proposals have been received.

E. Humanities/Social Sciences Call for Proposals. - The next call will be put out in the fall, and we will run an external peer review. Dr. House hopes more proposals will be submitted next year.

F. SBOE Call for Research Center Proposals, 98-99 Funds - This RFP has an August deadline. Dr. House wants The Notice of Intent submitted earlier and will be contacting people about this. This competition is not limited to our research centers, nor is it limited to science and engineering. Any discipline can submit a proposal if the group of people fit the criteria for a research center. Summer is the ideal time to be working on this.

G. Specific Research Project Grants - SBOE sent out the information they received from the external peer review. Only 7 or 8 of the proposals have complete data from the external peer review.

H. Associated Western University (AWU) Sponsorship of Faculty/Students (PNNL, INEEL) - Lockheed decided not to contract with AWU effective September 30, 1998. The decision on who will be awarded the contract has not been made; it could be a private company or ORISE. ISU was the beneficiary of more than $800,000 of funding from AWU.

I. HSSRC Travel Fund - All but $76 of this fund has been spent; Dr. House listed the departments who received travel assistance from this fund. There will probably be another $10,000 available next year.

J. Other - None.

II. COUNCIL BUSINESS

A. Center for Ecological and Environmental Anthropology - The Center was established in 1991; however, CEEA is not currently functioning as a center. Dr. House met with Dr. Holmer, the director, and with the Anthropology faculty yesterday--all agreed CEEA did not meet the criteria of a research center. When LMITCo hired their own personnel to conduct research related to anthropology, this eliminated a significant funding source. Dr. House asked the Council for a recommendation that this center disband. He will forward the recommendation to Faculty Senate. It was MSC (12y, 0n) to recommend removal of the designation of research center from the Center for Ecological and Environmental Anthropology.

B. RTSEF - It was MSC (12y, 0n) to forward the ranking of the RTSEF proposals to Dr. Lawson. A friendly amendment was made by Dr. Balsley to limit funding of these proposals to one semester with a maximum of 4 credits--MSC (12y, 0n). Both Dr. Daley and Dr. Kovacs felt these parameters needed to be addressed in the guidelines. Ms. Horrocks asked whether Dr. Kruger’s proposal could be approved without the Dean Hjelm’s signature. Committee consensus was to approve the proposal because it had been signed by the Department Chair. There was also a question regarding Dr. Woodhouse’s proposal because clinical duties are not measured in academic units. The Council agreed to use 30% of time for clinical duties in place of one semester.

C. Good/Bad Practices in Research - Dr. Moore recommended that the words "sufficiently long" in section 2.b. be removed because they are too vague. In the same section, Dr. LaHann recommended the words "of a non-confidential nature" be added following "Results of research." Dr. Patrick stated that time and circumstances for taking out personal identifiers needed to be addressed because of ethical issues. Council consensus was that 3.b. needs to be rewritten. Discussion ensued concerning peer review of information before a public announcement is made. It was MSC (12y, 0n) to table discussion and approval of this document until the next meeting.

D. Level II Research Center status for the Institute of Rural Health Studies - It was MSC (12y, 0n) to remove this item from the table. It was MSC (12y, 0n) to approve the Institute of Rural Health Studies as a Level II Research Center. Dr. Patrick gave an update on the status of grants she has submitted and informed the Council that a proposal for $600,000 had been recommended for funding.

E. Bylaws of the Humanities/Social Sciences Research Committee - It was MSC (11y, 0n,1 abstain) to approve the Bylaws of the Humanities/Social Sciences Research Committee.

F. Other - Ms. Horrocks said the Office of Sponsored Programs will meet tomorrow to discuss who should receive the RFP for the SBOE Research Center competition. Dr. Patrick invited everyone to participate in the Walk America marathon.

Meeting adjourned at 4:00 p.m.