Advisory Committee on Research - UTDPP1033

Policy Statement

The Advisory Committee on Research is a Standing, Concurrent Committee of the Academic Senate of The University of Texas at Dallas.

The Committee is charged with recommending policies to promote and facilitate the research activities of the faculty of the University. These policies may include, but are not limited to, long term research planning, communication and contracting with research sponsors, publicity for the University’s research activities, internal policies to assure that returns to the university from patents and overhead are applied in such a way as to encourage and promote additional research, the identification of new and potentially important research areas and activities, the University’s physical facilities for research, the use of internal grants to initiate promising research programs, and the operations of the Office of the Vice President for Research.

The concerns of the Committee include all aspects of the interface between faculty and the administration relating to pre-award and post-award services. These include strategies for administrative staffing, communication with the faculty regarding possible funding sources, the establishment of guidelines, where feasible, regarding internal submission deadlines, turnaround time for specific actions, expectations for the times within which faculty may expect monies received by the University to be credited to accounts allocated for their research, procedures for allowing faculty to monitor such accounts, and assuring that clearances from internal review committees are obtained in a systematic and efficient manner.

The Committee shall have at least eleven voting members appointed by the President upon recommendation by the Committee on Committees. Seven of the members, including the Chair, shall be from the general faculty and will be selected to represent the areas of activity with the most involvement with, and dependence on, external funding. Appointments will be for two-year terms, and members may be reappointed for additional terms. The Deans of the Schools of Engineering and Computer Science, Behavioral and Brain Sciences, and Natural Sciences and Mathematics, or their designated representatives, shall serve as voting members, ex-officio. The Dean of one of the remaining schools shall be appointed each year for a one-year term, with vote. The Committee may recommend that the President appoint additional members of the faculty as voting members for terms of up to one year, and may form specific working groups or subcommittees to consider and report on special questions of research policy that may arise from time to time. The Responsible University Official shall be the Vice President for Research.

To ensure continuity, appointments of general faculty Committee members, who have two-year terms, will be for staggered terms. Initial appointments of three members from the general faculty will be for one-year terms, and the appointments of the remaining four general faculty members will be for two-year terms. One-half of the appointments expire August 31 of each academic year. The Chair of the Committee shall be appointed by the President annually.

The Committee shall maintain a section of the governance website to which faculty members may easily direct questions, complaints, and suggestions. The Committee shall meet at least twice a year, once each long semester. Notice of the times of the meeting shall be provided to the general faculty at least thirty days in advance. The Chair shall provide the Senate with minutes of each meeting and an annual report.