|
The Task Force on Enhancing the Research Environment
was charged with taking a broad look at research and scholarship
within the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Washington,
and with identifying steps that could be taken to improve upon an
already impressive breadth and strength of intellectual activity.
The task force considered issues ranging from the demands on faculty
and staff time to the special role that Centers can play in fostering
large-scale research. We feel that the research aspect of the University's
mission is inextricably linked to the educational program, and some
of our suggestions are designed to enhance this linkage.
The Task Force suggests that in order to meet
the aspirations articulated by the stakeholders in this activity
(namely the faculty, students and staff), the College consider implementing
the major recommendations listed below. Other suggestions are contained
in the main body of this report, but we judge the following to be
particularly worthy of consideration:
Research and Education
- Establish a high-profile Postdoctoral and
Graduate Fellowship program to attract the most capable young
minds to the University of Washington.
- Increase level of stipends to graduate students
for TA, GSA, and RA positions.
- Significantly increase the number of RA positions,
especially in the Arts and Humanities.
- Adopt student participation in independent
creative work or research as a College-wide undergraduate degree
requirement.
- Establish a program of competitively funded
Graduate Student Research Groups.
Inter-disciplinary and Multi-disciplinary
Scholarship and Research
- Establish a new faculty track, Assistant/Associate/Full
"College Professors", as an explicit way to overcome
the internal administrative barriers that inhibit multi-disciplinary
scholarship.
Research Centers
- Revise a portion of the UIF program to solicit
initiatives that would span a 5-10 year time frame, rather than
a permanent reallocation of funds.
- Provide staff support for the preparation
of Center-scale proposals, in return for the proposers meeting
an early internal deadline. Proposals prepared in this fashion
would then be subjected to an internal review that would help
identify aspects of the proposal that could be strengthened.
Single-Investigator Scholarship
- As part of a broad initiative in faculty
professional development, reprogram a portion of the Royalty Research
Fund to provide for one month's summer support (awarded through
a competitive peer review process) for faculty to prepare and
submit a proposal to an external funding agency.
- Enhance the centralized accounting infrastructure
at the UW to allow for the elimination of the "shadow"
grant accounting systems that are presently large time sinks for
faculty and staff.
- Establish web-based resources to facilitate
proposal preparation, including budget spreadsheets and points
of contact who have experience with various federal and private
funding sources.
- Appoint College Human Subjects advisors to
facilitate compliance with human subject research regulatory requirements.
Sabbatical, Leave and Faculty Time
- Establish a Sabbatical Supplemental Fund.
- Establish a Program of Research Quarters
for Associate Professors.
- Establish the Dean's Research Award for Full
Professors.
- Decisions about Faculty Advancement quarters
(formerly Research/Service quarters) should be made at the department
level following the guidelines established below. They should
be reported annually to the Divisional Dean.
Faculty Time and Research in the Humanities
and Arts
- Establish a source of institutional support
to provide release time from teaching for long-term, relatively
inexpensive projects in the humanities and arts.
- Establish a "Travel Fund for Scholars"
in the Humanities and Arts.
Outreach and K-12
- Expand programs targeting exposure of K-12
students to UW research in an intimate setting. The Principals
of every K-12 school in the Puget Sound area should have a clearly
defined path for establishing direct contacts between individual
K-12 classrooms and individual UW faculty.
- Establish a College-wide annual Liberal Arts
Day.
| View
Full Report | Return
to the Innovations page |
|
