Barriers-Finding Solutions Panel, Discussion Topics

Barrier Issues

Finding Solutions

Research mentors for junior faculty

Develop mentor identification program; find peer mentors System wide for proposal review; Link faculty members who publish and/or get grants with junior faculty. Not just senior with junior faculty, but scholarly active faculty with junior faculty.

Teaching loads

Release time for grant writing and research.

At end of semester faculty has written grant proposal to show in lieu of a course.

Prioritizing research directions

Research mentors

Clarify research and teaching expectations of faculty linked to resources and support mechanisms

Make explicit in TRP and merit pay documents. Administrators provide more resources for scholarly active faculty.

Institutional support infrastructures: equipment, instrumentation, resources, grant support personnel, etc.

System listing for shared equipment and instrumentation;

Release time for research development

Scheduling by department heads to ensure blocks of time for faculty developing research

Adequate recent/relevant publication in proposed research area;

Use institutional resource and seed funding wisely to get publications early in the area of the proposed research, and get advice and encouragement from senior faculty how to become persistent in order to get the end product, the results published in reputable journals.

Low institutional expectations

Support for linking teaching and research

System research partnerships are time intensive and require sustaining support infrastructures, travel resources, and expertise in partnership development

Partnerships need facilitators from the System working with local campuses on partnership efforts.  Hire dedication person to help develop System partnerships and work with faculty.

Identify research domain experts at local campuses and System-wide

Mechanisms to identify and connect with potential research partners System-wide

Develop peer research networks System-wide

Peer review of proposals

Identify successful PIs campus wide and work with them to establish a peer proposal review network

Training opportunities and grant workshops for developing and writing proposals

Offer more training in all areas of grant writing and related support services

Make existing opportunities known to faculty through targeted advertisement.

Funding opportunities identification and grant writing support on campus

Bring more grant writing expertise to sponsored projects office

Communications and other mechanisms for developing research partnerships

Develop better local and System wide communications programs on funding, grant writing, peer mentors, research partners, equipment and instrumentation and other support infrastructures

Barriers impact competitive hiring

Solve barrier issues