Here's a copy, for the whole list, of what I sent to Edmund:

Edmund,

You've done a good job of defining the problem: so much research and so little time. Our OSP has about 20 employees, but I'm the only one parceling out funding opps, so I understand your problem.

We subscribe to COS, so we can use it to search our own faculty's research interest data. The problem is, not all our faculty have made COS profiles, and most of the ones who do list only the basic information. We promote using COS, but get a poor response.

The best resource I've found so far is going to our university home page and typing research key words into the site-search box. Most of our faculty have at least a summary description of their research posted within their departmental Web sites, because they were instructed to do so from on high; and who doesn't like having their achievements displayed in a public place? When I find some good information, I copy what I need to my MS Outlook Contacts and use it like a database. Building up the information is a slow process, but I do it bit by bit as I'm working with various faculty & interests anyway. I'm also thinking about approaching our director about getting a student worker to make up a real database from online info.

Another thing that works well is getting research interests from new faculty during our annual new-faculty welcome/orientation function (we do our own after school is underway; they have too much to do in the university's new-faculty orientation already). Free food helps to get them there. (In higher ed, you have to catch your fringe benefits as catch can.)

Good luck, and if you find something that works, tell ME about it! : )

Syd

J. Syd Conner, Information Specialist
Sponsored Programs Administration

The University of Southern Mississippi
601.266.4119 Bond Hall, Room 316

xxxxxx@usm.edu

http://www.usm.edu/spa

From: Research Administration List [mailto:xxxxxx@hrinet.org] On Behalf Of Robert Meyer
Sent: Thursday, April 19, 2007 9:52 PM
To: xxxxxx@hrinet.org
Subject: Re: [RESADM-L] Inventory of faculty interests

Can you share your responses, please?

From: Research Administration List on behalf of Edmund Brackett
Sent: Thu 4/19/2007 5:05 PM
To: xxxxxx@hrinet.org
Subject: [RESADM-L] Inventory of faculty interests

I would like to develop an inventory of faculty interests. The information I obtain will be used to more effectively inform the faculty of upcoming funding opportunities. A cursory review of information available on the Internet produced minimal and unsatisfying results. The most common approach appears to be posting a survey containing open-ended, e.g., “Briefly describe your research interests,” on a web page of the office responsible for research administration/sponsored programs on the institutional web site.

I have a couple of concerns with this approach: 1) it would generate a poor response and 2) it would produce data that would not easily lend itself to analysis, i.e., require more time and resources than are available to a small Office of Sponsored Programs.

I would be most grateful if anyone who has been involved in the successful development and use of a faculty interests inventory would share information about the instrument(s) and methodology they used.

Edmund Brackett

Director of Sponsored Programs

Park University

8700 N.W. River Park Drive, Box 51

Parkville, MO 64152-3795

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