 |
|
|
|
Guidelines for the Establishment and Operation of Research Centers- Those who propose the establishment of a new research center are to prepare
a formal plan and submit it through academic and administrative channels.
For actual establishment, approval of the plan is needed and commitment is
required in writing from the provost and vice president for academic affairs
to the effect that a proposed research center is concerned with a subject
area that can and is to receive special financial support because of its organizational
and conceptual soundness and specific relevance to one or more of the principal
goals and/or missions of the university.
In the plan or initial justification for a new research center, the topics
and ideas expressed in statements 2 through 6 should be addressed.
The actual operation of a center must enhance the level of externally funded
research activity in some area of importance to the university. A center should
be evaluated within three years to determine whether this criterion is being
satisfied. It is expected that centers will usually also benefit graduate
programs, public service, teaching indirectly, and visibility of the university;
however, these advantages are secondary to the main role as a research center. In the plan, the capital and developmental costs must be identified for
each of the first three years of operation, indicating the sources of funds
from the department, college, university, gifts, and outside funding agencies
(as estimated). Typically, a research center is multidisciplinary or interdisciplinary and
thus engages in activities that span more than a single academic department. Within the schedule given in the plan, a new research center is to become
self-sustaining, i.e., its revenues (external grants and contracts and gifts)
are equal to or exceed total expenditures (direct costs and facilities and
administration costs). - All operations of the center will be supervised by a director who will report
to either: the chair of a department in the case of centers whose members
are mostly from a single department; the dean of a college in the case of
centers whose members are mostly from more than one department in the same
college; or the vice president for research in cases where there will be a
significant number of the members from two or more colleges. All tenure-track
faculty members will have their tenure in an academic department not the center,
although funding lines will not be restricted. Centers existing at the time
of implementation of this amendment to the policy (May 24, 2005) will either
retain their current reporting line or have that line redefined on a case-by-case
basis after review by the president, provost and vice president for academic
affairs, vice president for research and appropriate dean(s). The president's
decision will be final on the reporting line.
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
