We don't have such an advisory group at Colorado State, but over the years
I've mused about the possibility.  U of IL has one, and will maybe
contribute to a discussion on the topic....

Some thoughts:  PIs are your customers, your audience, your market,
depending on your perspective, so it is valuable to find out what they
feel they need.  However, PIs aren't your ONLY customers, audience,
market (in light of regulations, agencies, upper administration,
accountability, sometimes not even the primary one!), in spite of what
they might think. It is sometimes difficult to disuade them of that--but
the rewards of having a body of PIs who recognize the *full*
responsibilities of a SP office should be significant. A growing body of
faculty will know SP and what it does well, have confidence in its
ability, integrity, and relay that to colleagues.

Can such a group be truly representative?  If not at any one time, then
perhaps over a length of time?  That is, is the history researcher
included, as well as the social worker, the biochemist, the engineer, and
the range scientist?  Is the untenured person, or the postdoc,
represented, as well as the center director with $5M over 2 years?  Given
that their interests are so diverse, can they offer integrated advice for
the welfare of the institution?

How much influence can/should such a group exercise?  Is the role/mission
of the group very well defined (and to a degree limited??)?  If the group
changes annually, must SP change annually as well to respond to the
mutating desires of the group?  Or is there a longer perspective to its
involvement?  Were a budget crunch to hit (the big ones, not the monthly
ones!), who has final say about measures to be taken--if the director of
SP senses a need to reduce effort in one area, but that goes against the
opinion of the group, who overrides whom?

Are you willing to accept the group's collective wisdom?  Or is it a
window dressing?  In part, this depends on the group's assignment, but
also on SP's acceptance of participatory management.  Increasingly I am
aware of the value of assisting people to help themselves, rather than
doing it for them, but it takes some patience with the process?

These are just some thoughts over a desk lunch . . .perhaps reflective of
the left-over nature of both the lunch and 10 years of kicking the idea
around.  The question is a good one--as have been others--and I hope
participants will post some discussion.

................................................................
Celia S. Walker
Assistant to VP Research      INTERNET:xxxxxx@vines.colostate.edu
Colorado State University     TEL:303/491-6355   DESK:303/491-7784
Ft. Collins, CO  80523        FAX:303/491-6147