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New Mexico State University URC Minutes - November 7, 2003

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Present: Becky Keele, Barbara Coppola, James Cowie, Lisa Dalton, Ida Baca (Everett Egginton),Wynn Egginton, Richard Hills, Nirmala Khandan, Chuck Kozel, Ken Martin, Kevin McIlvoy, Martha Mitchell, Rudi Schoenmackers, Edmund Scribner, Ronda Skaggs, Elizabeth Titus, Karl Wood

Absent: Brenda Benefit, Inigo Garcia-Bryce, Dean Hawkins, Michael Hites, Stephen Horan, Linda Lacey, Bernard McNamara, Enrico Pontelli, Marc Pruyn, Rasler Smith

1. Minutes - Minutes for October 3, 2003 were approved with corrections.

2. Ideas were shared on what has or could benefit research efforts. Some ideas presented were:

• Infrastructure to support rapid response to interdisciplinary federal program opportunities
• A database that researchers could access for information about faculty capacities
• Development of good relationships with federal program managers
• Attendance at regional conferences, which can lead to other opportunities
• Pursuit of unsolicited proposals
• Attention to Washington’s fiscal year-end opportunities where leftover funds can be targeted
• Reduction of heavy teaching loads
• Recruitment of faculty who can bring grants with them
• Start-up incentives for junior faculty

Suggestions for support of new researchers included mentoring, team efforts, and developing partnerships with other universities who have good track records. Rich Hills asked that suggestions be forwarded to the Vice Provost for Research’s office. Hills also mentioned that lobbyist Rick Meyers would be developing a list of some contacts in Washington DC.

3. Research Growth at NMSU

Rich Hills spoke on research growth and distributed handouts showing NMSU’s ranking among benchmark universities. He mentioned that NMSU has declined in rank related to R & D expenditures. With regard to federal earmarks, NMSU has dropped from 12th in the nation to 56th in 2003. To remain competitive, Hills suggested that an advisory sub-committee be formed from URC that would look at the following:

• Other universities’ growth (and reason behind their growth)
• Contextual information for the statistics
• Suggestions of what should be done to increase NMSU’s research growth (why isn’t NMSU growing as rapidly as other universities)

Becky Keele asked that council members contact her with any ideas they may have on this sub-committee and/or its volunteers.

4. Summary of CORC Meeting (November 5, 2003)

Rich Hills updated URC members on the recent CORC meeting where lobbyist, Rick Meyers had visited. Meyers discussed lobbying efforts and upcoming federal initiatives. Meyers expressed concern about initiatives that have been submitted over and over again. He also urged faculty to spend time with federal program managers. Meetings with congressional staffers are primarily reserved for the President, the Vice Provost for Research, and other high-level administrators.

5. Update on Mandatory PI Certification Training

Becky Keele said the training provided a good basic overview, however it doesn’t give specifics. Evaluations submitted for the training sessions have been good. A schedule was distributed for next semester.

6. Agenda items

(6) Issues related to time in getting research accounts set up and spending guidelines; and (7) URC goals for 2003-2004 Academic Year, were deferred to the next URC meeting in December.

7. National Speaker

Becky Keele suggested members should consider whether or not URC should bring a nationally known speaker to campus and to also consider whether there should be a theme or focus to the speaker’s address. Keele said this item would be followed up on at the December meeting.

 

The meeting adjourned at 4:40p.m. The Executive Committee met following the regular meeting.

Minutes by Frances Schumacher