we do have a form: http://www.canisius.edu/sponsored_programs/funding_search.asp
but it doesn't really provide enough information when completed/returned.  i have now asked asked dept chairs/deans to provide me with a copy of annual reports AND their strategic plans (usually 3-5 years out).  that has been more useful.
also, a good long sit-down with individual faculty is helpful.

Research is formalized curiosity. It is poking and prying with a purpose. It is a seeking that he who wishes may know the cosmic secrets of the world and that they dwell therein.
~Zora Neale Hurston~

Kim A. Pachetti, Ed.M., C.R.A.
Director
Office of Sponsored Programs
Canisius College
2001 Main Street
Churchill Tower, Room 313
Buffalo, New York  14208
Voice:  716-888-2103
Fax:  716-888-3743

---- Original message ----
>Date: Thu, 19 Apr 2007 18:05:11 -0400
>From: Edmund Brackett <xxxxxx@NETSCAPE.NET>
>Subject: [RESADM-L] Inventory of faculty interests
>To: xxxxxx@hrinet.org
>
>   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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