Chiming in from a smaller campus, I realize that I am fortunate to have only about 200 faculty, which allows me the opportunity to get to know most of them at least well enough to know their general research interests. Even without these more personal connections to them, I consider my roll as one that has responsibilities equally to the institution and to individual faculty, regardless of their "productivity" levels. I've been in research administration long enough to have known many faculty who may experience scholarly slumps, whether it's a bit of post-tenure coasting or for family reasons, and who then go on to a new phase of research. Often those who cease to be active in looking for funds for a while need only a kindly, consistent nudge from someone like me to get beyond their inertia. Others may take a bit more support over a longer period. In the end it's worth my extra effort because of the contributions they eventually make to their fields, perhaps more so in those cases where they temporarily ceased to believe that they could do so. Sally (self-professed Pollyanna of Scholarship, perhaps) Troy Boni wrote: > So what you're saying is that there is a sort of funding survival of > the fittest? Professors that haven't actively sought out funding have > only failed to do so to this point because they are > unmotivated/incapable? Interesting proposition, Research > Administration-Last Bastion of Social Darwinism? > > Charlie Hathaway wrote: >> Learning to get grants (searching for opportunities, learning the >> process, WRITING the proposal) happens best when the individual is >> truly motivated (i.e. threatened) and has a genuine personal interest >> in the area for which funding is sought. Exercises and classes for >> the unmotivated only masquerade as valuable training and experience. >> For the musicians and runners out there...do you practice more when >> there is a recital or race coming up? >> >> Technological Luddites and curmudgeons must be heard! Mike talked >> about faculty trying to bolster their image. What about research >> administrators, eager to assist but stoned on the opium of automated >> email alert smart systems? If your objective is to present fancy >> software to your faculty and make grant SEEKING a democratic >> endeavor, then go ahead and spend money on the shotgun approaches. >> But if you really want to increase grant GETTING, hand out the rods >> and reels and wait to see who walks in your office asking for help >> baiting the hook or showing you their first tiny catch. Then, as Mike >> says, GET TO KNOW THOSE PEOPLE, and help them all the way to the NOGA. >> >> Charlie >> >> >> >> At 09:49 AM 9/24/2008, you wrote: >>> I was just discussing how to link faculty to funding with a >>> department head this morning. I had an idea and was wondering how >>> this sounds. We have a community fellows program that links graduate >>> students with community organizations that pay part of their tuition >>> in return for the student working for the organization. I was >>> wondering if a course could be developed where grad students would >>> be teamed with either an organization or faculty member/department >>> and learn how to search for funding. Then they could write proposals >>> as a capstone experience. Anyway, part of the process could be >>> updating faculty information and actively >>> searching/augmenting/refining that data. Could be a good way to >>> promote cross-disciplinary research and also strengthen community >>> organizations by doing the same. I was also thinking the course >>> could bring in Office of Research personnel and community fund >>> raisers to share their expertise. Any thoughts on this? Has it been >>> done? >>> >>> Pratt, Esther wrote: >>>> We take a two-tiered approach. Individual focus and group focused: >>>> >>>> *Individual: *We use COS (Community of Science) database to with >>>> the COS Expertise feature. Their database allows faculty to create >>>> a searchable expertise profile which features their keywords, >>>> research interests etc. Their searchable funding opps site features >>>> a faculty match option to match faculty to the opportunity. We >>>> encourage all faculty to create an expertise profile (but of >>>> course…this has its limits.) and help them create a targeted >>>> funding search & email alert. COS does the work for us once their >>>> searches are set up. >>>> >>>> *Group: * We have several large general email groups/listservs of >>>> faculty for key research areas at the college (e.g. Cancer biology, >>>> Alcohol & Drug Abuse…) and we have Departmental Expertise profiles >>>> posted on the department sites. When we have key opportunities we >>>> can send to these groups. >>>> >>>> We are working on a third approach (database driven) which will >>>> search expertise based on key words in proposal titles, and >>>> abstracts, webpages etc. Our primary goal is to make the process as >>>> “automatic” as possible since we do not have the personnel to >>>> maintain the faculty interest profiles. >>>> >>>> Esther Pratt >>>> Faculty Research Development Specialist >>>> Office of Grant & Research Development >>>> Washington State University >>>> 509-335-3796 xxxxxx@wsu.edu <mailto:xxxxxx@wsu.edu> >>>> >>>> ** > -- Sally J. Southwick, PhD Associate Director, Corporate and Foundation Relations Bates College 2 Andrews Road Lewiston, ME 04240 (207)-786-6240 Fax (207)-786-8242 xxxxxx@bates.edu ****************** This email message (and any attachments therein) contains information that may be confidential and is for the use of the addressee only. If you are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender and delete it from your computer. ====================================================================== Instructions on how to use the RESADM-L Mailing List, including subscription information and a web-searchable archive, are available via our web site at http://www.hrinet.org (click on "Listserv Lists") ======================================================================
