ANNUAL REPORT RESEARCH/CREATIVE ACTIVITY COMMITTEE DATE: July 29, 1983 TOs Dr. Caroline Ayers, Chair, Faculty Senate FROM: Barney Kane, Chair, Research/Creative Activity Committee Membership Ex Officio: Dr. Joseph Boyette, Dean Graduate School; Mr. Doug Moore, V.C. Inst. Adv. Planning; Dr. Susan McDaniels, Academic Affairs; Dr. Caroline Ayers, Chair of the Faculty; Dr. John Howell, Chancellor af £00. Regular: Collett Dilworth, English; Frances Eason, Nursing; Margie Gallagher, Home Economics; Robert Gowen, History; Robert Hause, Music; Bernard Kane, Allied Health; Ruth Katz, Library Science; Joong Ho Kim, Mathematics; Ed Leahy*, Georgraphy; Chi-yu Li, Chemistry; Larry Means*, Psychology; Eugene Ryan, Philosophy (Arts & Sciences). *Larry Means joined the committee following Ed Leahy's resignation. . Meetings 1982: Aug. 23 (organizational); Oct. 29 & Nov. 5 1983: Feb. 28, March 25, April 11, April 13, & April 18 Plus several other meetings called for discussion of grant proposals and meetings of subcommittees for grant review. Absences: Regular members: none without prior notification. Al] meetings with action taken were with a quorum. Ex Officio members did not usually attend except Dr. Boyette who was never absent and Dr. Ayers who attended the early meetings when guidelines were being reviewed. Reports to the Faculty Senate 1. Nov. 16, 1982 - offered a resolution concerning the establishment of guidelines for the development and use of East Carolina Foundation Line 1018. (Resolution 82 - 69 passed). 2. April 19, 1982 Reports of grants recommended for funding. Instruction Given to the Committee by the Faculty Senate The Committee Name and Charge Brief statement of committee organization, subcommittees,research activities Officers elected were: Chair, B. Kane; V. Chair, B. Gowen; Secretary, M. Gallagher. Three subcommittees appointed by the chair for review of proposals were: A. Boyette*, Gowen, Katz, Means B. Hause*, Eason, Chi-yu Li, Eldridge, Gallagher C. Kane*, Dilworth, ®--n, Kim > *indicates subco: ‘a chair VII. Committee accomplishments ue Solicited, reviewed and evaluated 87 proposals requesting a total of $133,005 Renegotiated funding of selected proposals resulting in substantial savings to the University. Recommended funding of 51 proposals requesting approximately $60,000 (see April 19, 1983 report to the Faculty Senate) A computer program was written (by M. Gallagher) to aid in budget reviews A fund was initiated (Line 1018) with the East Carolina University Foundation for extra-mural research support. The Faculty Senate authorized the committee to formulate policy for the use and development of the Foundation Fund. The call for proposals was revised to improve communication with the faculty in the following ways: 1) The average amounts requested and funded were provided; 2) A preface was included highlighting solutionsto chronic problems with past proposals. 3) The instruction and regulations were modified to clarify committee policy (especially items 5 & 7). Note: The committee was advised that any changes in criteria must be approved by the Senate. The changes made were in the instruction and regulations, not the criteria and were considere@ by the chair to be improved communication of de facto policy. They were not submitted to the Senate. The procedure for committee consideration of proposals was formalized (see attachment A of committee minutes of Nov. 5, 1982) through the excellent efforts of F. Eason and R. Hause. VIII. Citation of resolutions that originated with the committee Faculty Senate Resolutions: 82-69 originated with the committee and was passed by the Senate. IX. Proposals and/or business to be carried over for next year. A. The development of guidelines for the use of E.C.U. foundation account #1018 in a manner that will encourage the growth and support of this account (see Faculty Senate Resolution 82-69 and attachment to committee minutes of April 11, 1983). Recommendations of R. Katz were recognized to be included in the Annual Report for consideration by next year's committee as follows (see also Katz letter of April 11, 1983 attached to April 18 minutes): Applicants should be aware that requests for travel funds and for equipment purchase will be reviewed carefully. The following guide lines may assist applicants in developing their proposals. X, Travel Sites to which travel is proposed must clearly be essential to completion of the project. International travel and travel out- side the Continental United States will be approved only when the evidence presented as justification for such travel is very convincing. Examples of such evidence are full explanation of data collection/observation that are site specific, personal monies already expended by the investigator in traveling to the site, and attempts to obtain international travel funds from other (Non-ECU) sources. Need for travel within the region (i.e. Southeast) must be documented. Applicants requesting payment for use of a personal car must explain why ECU cars cannot be used. Reasons for multiple, short-distance trips must be given. Evidence of personal funds expended for similar travel during the past year should be pre- sented. Equipment Requests for major equipment purchase or repair (i.e. in excess of $500) will not be considered when the needed equipment exists elsewhere on campus and is accessible to the applicant, when the equipment is thought to be essential to the department or school and therefore is the responsibility of the department or school and the Academic Affairs Office to purchase and maintain, and when the equipment requested appears to represent one-time use by one investigator. Requests for library materials in print or non-print format must document the need for the materials and present evidence that the needed materials are not in an ECU library or readily available on interlibrary loan. Such evidence includes a statement from the director of Joyner Library or the Health Sciences Library. In most cases, funds approved for the purchase of library materials will be turned over to the appropriate library so that the materials purchased will be processed in the standard way, entered into the library card catalog, and made available to all ECU library users. Evaluation of Committee A. Structure: Large but satisfactory. It is the opinion of the chair that ex officio membership by the V.C. for Institutional Advancement and Planning is a historical consideration. Initially the funding allocated to the committee was E.C.U. Foundation funds and this membership was essential. The committee is attempting to re-develop such funds (Res. 82-69) through line 1018. If this avenue is aggressively developed and supported by the administration then it will be useful to continue this ex-officio membership. Duties: Time consuming and important. The chair and secretary estimate that between $10,000 and $20,000 of faculty time was spent in evaluating this year's proposals. The committee continues to receive its charge from the Senate and its funding from the Office of the V.C. of Academic Affairs which makes the awards. This # “dual master's" situation has worked surprisingly well because of the support from both master's. There is a minor problem in faculty perception, that the committee makes the award when in reality we only recommend to the Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs. Function: Excellent in completion of its charge from the Senate. Concern exists for the need for post-grant evaluation of benefits and accountability. These items are not included in the Senate charge to the committee. Personnel: Excellent. The members functioned with energy and integrity in the execution of their duties. XI. Suggestions for improving the effectiveness of the committee. The committee continues to refine procedures and operations. Con- structive suggestions are anticipated to originate with the committee members in the next academic year. It is the opinion of the chair that the lst level of consideration of proposals (Minutes of Nov. 5, 1982) should be rewritten. At this level no budget considerations are to be considered according to the policy and in theory. In fact, as continuing members will recall the sub- committees were unable to uniformly adhere to this policy. Respectfully submitted, 8 rney Kafle, Jr., Chair Margie Gallagher, Secretary