Angela,

There are perfectly good reasons to have grant proposal writing workshops.
It is not sufficient to simply do that, however.  You need to develop an
institutional strategy on grant competitiveness which provides incentives
and rewards.  You need to develop follow-on strategies that involve Deans
and Chairs.  You need to have a Provost and President who are unafraid to
cross the Rubicon and publically associate with the entrepreneurs and
visibly praise and support them.  Your RTP policies must encompass your
grant and contract goals.  More importantly, your grant and contract goals
must be seen as means to institutional goals, not as goals themselves.

Not everyone is cut out for competitive grant proposal writing.  Some
faculty just never get it.  Some are good writers, but terrible project
administrators.  Do not give the impression that anyone can do this.  It
simply is not true.  Hold your workshops in groups of similarly situated
faculty, such as workshops for new faculty, or workshops for faculty in the
Humanities or in the Natural Sciences, etc.  Some element of homogeneity
will make things easier all around.  For most, young and not, there are
usually some behavior modifications that are necessary.

When you think about it a little, you realize that proposals are
translations from one vocabulary to another.  At the risk of
oversimplification, they are translations from an academic to a business
vocabulary; they differ as "profess" differs from "persuade."  And, don't
forget, they are organized on paper differently than they are organized in
time.  An accomplished proposal writer knows what it takes to organize one's
thoughts and one's activities to get it done effectively.  You should tell
your budding proposal writers ahead of time what is going to be required of
them to do this.  This is one of the purposes of workshops.  If you make the
case honestly, you can expect some of them to opt out and focus their
energies elsewhere in the institution.

There are several important points to be made:  an outsider often has a
better chance of being heard--use them.  Peers have something to say; use
them.  Faculty development personnel often are in a position to counsel on
behavior changes--if available, use them.  Above all, consider that grant
proposal writing workshops are spadework, fundamental, and unlikely to show
a direct profit.  They are but one method of communication, a necessary
social situation in which faculty can determine whether they want to really
get involved or in which they can review and compare their own proposal
writing process and pick up helpful hints.

Follow up!

Jim

Angela Sgroi wrote:

> We are planning several faculty development workshops in May and would
> appreciate advice and recommendations in two areas.
>
> 1.  Grant writing workshop to help faculty make the transition from
> scholarly writing to grant writing.  We are in the process of contacting
> Bob Lucas, but we would appreciate any other recommendations.
>
> 2.  Research ethics and IRBs.  We are seeking an individual who could
> present a lively overview of research ethics issues to the
> faculty-at-large.  Secondly, we also want to present a more substantive
> workshop for current and prospective IRB members.
>
> Thank you for your help.
>
> Angela Sgroi

--
James R. Brett, Ph.D., Director,
Office of University Research
California State University, Long Beach
562-985-5314  562-985-8665 fax
http://www.ur.csulb.edu

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