Research Council Meeting #1
September 17, 2007
Members and Guests Present:
Tina Cipara (Guest)
Keith Howell
Dave Harr
Matt Kluger, Chair
Mike Laskofski (Guest)
Ann McGuigan (Guest)
Jennifer Murphy (Guest)
Jean Moore
Annamaria Nields
Tom Scheinfeldt (for Roy Rosenzweig)
Paul Schopf
Keith Segerson
Solon Simmons
Matt Zingraff
Role of Research Council
After a brief introduction of all members, Matt Kluger shared his thoughts on the
role of the Research Council. In response to the useful suggestion by Research
Council member Danny Menasce, all summaries of meetings are posted on the
website. All members of the Council are expected to circulate the summaries to
their faculty.
One of the goals that Matt indicated he had for Mason when he arrived was for
more units to recruit Associate Deans for Research. At least three additional
units have recruited individuals who now hold that title (and are members of the
Research Council). One of their roles is to provide their faculty with information
being discussed at our meetings.
Another goal of the Research Council is for its members to become more aware
of the research going on in units outside of theirs.
The Research Council needs to be responsive to the needs of the faculty, and its
Council members are encouraged to bring issues related to research to this
body.
Lastly, in terms of process, each meeting will be summarized. The DRAFT
summary will be circulated to the members of the Council for their comments
prior to the posting of the meeting summary. So, please take the time to review
the summary for accuracy.
Update on Research Strategic Planning Committee
Matt Zingraff discussed the progress of his committee (which was charged by
Peter Stearns and Matt Kluger). To date they have met three times and have
had broad discussion of issues influencing research at Mason. The goal of the
committee is to come up with short term strategies and long term
recommendations about where the University should be in terms of research.
One of the questions they are asking themselves is: “What can we do for faculty”
to increase the quality of proposals?
In response to a question of gathering outside input, Matt Zingraff indicated that
they will not be doing that for two reasons. One is that there is a short time
horizon for completion of their work (early November). The other is that with the
recruitment of several new Associate Deans for Research, who are members of
this committee, they have quite a lot of expertise already on the committee.
These new members have all come from other institutions, and thus have a
broad range of experience.
Keith Howell added that the committee has been looking at why things haven’t
worked and are now at the stage of attempting to come up with constructive
principles and suggestions.
Matt Kluger urged members of the Research Council to get any
ideas/suggestions to Matt Zingraff or other members of the Research Strategic
Planning Committee.
Update from Mike Laskofski (Interim Director, Office of Sponsored
Programs)
Mike provided a handout (see attachment #1). He then described the Townhall
meeting that occurred September 12, 2007. This meeting was attended by about
40 to 50 faculty. There was a great deal of feedback (positive and negative, and
for the most part very constructive). Some common themes that emerged was
that there is a need to focus on improved communication and to define better the
roles and responsibilities within OSP, the units (e.g., faculty, departmental or unit
administrators).
This week OSP will be distributing a survey to give people, who were not able to
attend the Townhall meeting, an opportunity to provide constructive feedback.
Mike then discussed the upcoming consulting project by Huron. Huron will be
onsite beginning October 15, 2007. They will focus on the organizational
structure and roles/responsibilities within OSP. Huron will be meeting with
groups of faculty and administrators. Interested faculty should contact Mike, who
is developing the schedule for this review.
If there are further questions relating to the Huron review, please contact Mike
Laskofski.
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Update from Ann McGuigan (Director of Office of Research Development)
This is a newly created position that provides a central place where people can
go for information regarding research resource activities. Ann described the
programs she is working on. More information may be obtained from her website
(http://www.gmu.edu/research/ResearchDev/index.html), which lists
workshops/seminars that may be of interest to faculty.
A discussion followed pertaining to SPIN. This service will allow faculty to enter
keywords, and then receive emails alerting them to potential funding
opportunities. Peter Barcher is giving workshops on the use of SPIN. This is
open to all faculty. The general consensus was that uses of SPIN is not clear to
most faculty, and Ann’s website (homepage) needs to be clearer regarding what
SPIN is and how easy it is to sign-up for this service.
Another suggestion was that new faculty should be targeted with emails to alert
them to the assistance available within Ann’s office in terms of identifying funding
opportunities, useful workshops, etc.
Ann then gave a brief update on our contract with Strategic Partnerships, which
is a firm that is helping faculty identify funding opportunities. Strategic
Partnerships is being paid by 4 colleges/schools (School of Management,
College of Education and Human Development, College of Health and Human
Services, and College of Humanities and Social Sciences), 1 institute (Institute
for Conflict Analysis and Resolution, and the Offices of the Provost and Vice
President for Research & Economic Development. In the three months that
they’ve been employed by Mason, they have identified numerous potential
funding opportunities, many of which are outside of the units identified above
(i.e., College of Science, School of Public Policy, Volgenau School of Information
Technology and Engineering). The members of this partnership will be meeting
later this week to discuss our progress, and how to handle the non-paying
members, who may benefit from the contacts and assistance provide by
Strategic Partnerships.
Next Meeting: TUESDAY, October 16, 2007
Agenda items:
1. Ann McGuigan will share with the group a spreadsheet showing the
potential funding opportunities provide by Strategic Partnerships.
2. Update from Matt Zingraff or other members of the Research Strategic
Planning Committee
3. Update on Faculty Research Expertise Database
Please contact Matt Kluger to get other topics on the agenda.
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