Monday Matters
13 September 2004
This week I am presenting a summary of my report that I gave to the faculty in our fall faculty meeting. Most of the report focused on external funding activities (i.e. grants and contracts), but I also made a few comments about the College budget and our new service offices surveys.
External Funding History and Goals
Figure 1 illustrates external funding from grants and contracts that the College secured in the past eight fiscal years. We have gone from just over $2 million in FY 1997 to approximately $5.3 million in FY 2004. This 150% increase paralleled a decrease in the number of tenured or tenure-track faculty members from 86 in 1997 to 74 in 2004. Funding hit a plateau at around $5.5 million annually for the past four years.
Figure 2 illustrates both the amount of funding that we have requested and the award dollars we have received. Funding request data are only available since FY 2000. Funding lags slightly behind awards and some awards are for multiple years so that one year awards actually exceeded requests. This lag might also suggest that awards are preparing to increase in the current fiscal year.
Figure 3 illustrates how annual grants and contracts expenditures compare to the awards received. Generating external commitments is a good first start, but the dollars that are not spent do not enhance research, training, or service projects. Money that is not spent is typically returned to the funding agency. If funds are not spent because the project was operated more efficiently than projected, that is wonderful. Unfortunately, though, money is often spent out of College budgets that were not intended to support these projects. When this happens, money is returned to the funding agency that should have been used to offset costs. The College budget is strained by paying for these projects that could have been paid for by money that had already been committed to the project.
In order to enhance our standing among the research colleges within the University as well as to be among those colleges of education that have a reputation for providing a quality graduate experience in a research and service setting, I am proposing that we create a target of $10 million in annual grants and contracts by 2010. To reach this goal I suggest that we embrace five key strategies:
The College administration has recently established an external funding target of $10 million per year to be achieved by FY 2010. To reach this target the College will embrace five key strategies:
• The establishment of a grants coordinator to assist with securing funding and to provide logistical support during the proposal process and throughout the term of the project
• The recruitment of two to three new faculty members to lead major research proposal efforts. These faculty would be supported, in part, through recurring funds from the Provost's Office and with research support faculty funded through the Centenary Plan from the USC Office of Research
• An emphasis on a history of or strong potential for procurement of external funding during the annual faculty hiring process
• The implementation of research supplements to provide incentives and recognition for successful grant procurement
• The further development of College offices and centers with a funded-research focus (e.g. the Policy Center and the Office of Program Evaluation) to include full-time research faculty and support staff
We have already submitted a proposal to the Vice President for Health Sciences and Research in hopes that his office will assist with start-up funds for a grants coordinator. I am also working with department chairs to develop a faculty recruitment plan that will address the second and third key strategies. At Administrative Council this week we will be reviewing a proposed research supplement policy to address the fourth strategy. Finally, we have hired two new full-time faculty members for the Office of Program Evaluation and plan on including a search for a new OPE Director in the faculty recruitment plan.
Teacher Quality Grant
While on the subject of external funding, I cannot resist adding my voice to those who have offered congratulations to Teri Kuhs and those who assisted her with the preparation of the “Diverse Pathways in Teacher Preparation” grant proposal to the U.S. Department of Education. Senator Lindsey Graham's office called last week to inform Teri that the project partners will receive $4.7 million over the next five years. This money will be used to establish a model for encouraging minorities to enter the teaching profession. You can read more about this work and the grant award on our College news page at http://www.ed.sc.edu/News.asp .
Congratulations to Teri, Ed Dickey, Stephen Thompson, Robert Johnson, and Jane Zenger. Others who helped in planning and proposal development included Nancy Freeman, Lora Bailey, Katherine Chaddock, and Bruce Field, as well as our colleagues from outside the College of Education: Manfred Stoll, Bob Feller, and Nina Levine.
College Budget
Our College budget has now reached $15 million in annual income and expenditures. Figure 4 is a summary of the FY 2005 budget.
Service Offices Survey
Thank you to those who have taken the first of our short, monthly service office surveys. This first survey focuses on the Dean's Office, but surveys to come will allow you to give us feedback about other offices in the College. These surveys will be used to identify strengths and weaknesses so that we can address these in our strategic planning. Quality assurance is one of the major ongoing initiatives of the College and these surveys provide one approach to quality assurance. You can participate in this initiative by September 15 at http://CTLSilhouette.wsu.edu/surveys/ZS25544 . Remember that the survey is brief and anonymous.
Until next time,
Mike