Educational and Research Policies Committee
Minutes of
November 5, 2010
MEMBERS PRESENT: Marcus Agustin, Sarah Bailey, Rakesh Bharati, Dave Duvernell, Christa Johnson, Yuliang Liu, Suman Mishra, Joe Schober, Mariana Solares, Terry Yan
GUESTS: Sharon Locke, Director, STEM Center
I. Announcements
Christa Johnson announced that the review of Seed Grants for Transitional and Exploratory Projects (STEP) applications is underway.
II. Minutes of October 1, 2010
Dave Duvernell made a motion to accept the minutes as submitted; Joe Schober seconded. The motion passed unanimously.
III. Continuing Business
A. ICR Distribution on Multidisciplinary Grants
Christa Johnson announced that the National Science Foundation (NSF) will make interdisciplinary research a priority in the near future. The subcommittee chaired by Joe Schober is looking at a number of related issues. She handed out a list of examples of recent multidisciplinary awards at SIUE.
B. ICR Distribution on Projects Involving Research Centers
Sharon Locke gave an overview of the STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Math) Center. Its mission is to do research on teaching and learning and to integrate all research activities at SIUE, as well as to help faculty with proposal writing. Outreach is an important part of its mission. It also provides assistance with managing awards. Its staff includes an office support specialist, a research associate, and a microscope technician. It wishes to add staff with expertise in evaluation of research.
The Fellows program that STEM is developing is similar to the Urban Scholars model of the Institute for Urban Research. One possible avenue the center wishes to explore is using the arts to teach the STEM materials. Locke wants the center to be on the leading edge of innovation. STEM intends to explore developing links to regional work force needs.
The STEM Center is interested in the sustainability of projects that it may be able to pick up after the grant ends. The center is currently funded with the Graduate School’s portion of ICR for projects that are housed there.
The committee had reservations about choosing an arbitrary percentage of funding to allocate to STEM without information about forecasting STEM’s costs. The committee also had questions about incentives for academic units and faculty to work with STEM if a portion of the ICR to the unit is reduced. Any policy developed for STEM would also impact other centers.
C. GS/GC Operating Papers
The proposed revision would add the Director of International Studies to the Graduate Council as an ex-officio member, bringing the total number to nineteen.
There was also a suggestion that Dean Weinberg contact the Director of the East St. Louis Center to determine whether there was interest in maintaining an ex officio seat on the Graduate Council.
Dave Duvernell made a motion to approve the changes as amended; Terry Yan seconded. The motion passed unanimously.
D. Research and Development Operating Papers
Christa Johnson handed out a proposal for staggering the terms of the eight members of the Research and Development Committee. These notes will be uploaded to Blackboard.
E. Support for Student and Faculty Travel
There was insufficient time to address this issue.
F. Cost Sharing Policy
The Graduate School would like to make cost sharing practices an official University policy. The proposed draft tries to separate policy from procedure. This material will be uploaded to Blackboard.
IV. New Business
There was no new business.
V. Adjournment
The meeting adjourned at 11:36 AM.
Respectfully submitted,
Jerry B. Weinberg
Acting Associate Provost for Research and Dean
The Graduate School
