To: All Faculty <everybody@illinois.edu> 
    From: "Charles F. Zukoski" <czukoski@uiuc.edu>
Reply-To: jmadigan@uiuc.edu

 Subject: MASSMAIL - Research Board

March 27, 2007

Colleagues,

A number of you have contacted me regarding the article that appeared in 
Inside Higher Education Thursday, March 15 
(http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2007/03/15/uiuc), which focused on the 
impact that reductions in Research Board funding could have on the 
humanities. Below I share the background of that story with you. I would 
like to begin by summarizing several key points.

(1)  The Research Board is a valuable resource for scholarship.  A
     discussion has been launched as to how best to use funds dedicated to
     the Research Board in the future.
(2)  We are soliciting input on the issue from the Senate appointed 
     Research Policy Committee, Deans, and Department Heads.
(3)  Our common goal must be to build excellence.
(4)  We are a single university and in seeking comprehensive excellence we 
     recognize diverse modes of scholarship

The humanities are engaged in the study of the human condition and how we 
express our humanity and engage with society.  They support our mission as 
a public land grant university.  We, in turn, need to provide an 
environment in which all of our faculty can succeed at the highest level.

The Research Board plays a significant role in building our capacity to 
undertake research and scholarship programs that are institution and 
society changing.  In the deep past, the Research Board was focused on 
granting start-up funds for new faculty, providing them with the capacity 
to undertake projects of significance.  In the more recent past, faculty 
have come to depend on the Research Board for gap funding, for help in 
initiating  new projects and for support in sustaining ongoing projects.  
This long-standing and valued campus resource is feeling the financial 
impact of five years of campus budget reductions and rescissions.  In 
addition, the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research faces significant 
demands for resources allocated toward strategic campus priorities 
including faculty recruitment and retention.  These financial pressures 
cannot be reconciled without significant reallocations.  

The Research Board oversees three programs: a grant program, the 
Humanities Release Time and the Scholars Travel Fund. Total awards in FY06 
were $2.7M, while carry forward of those awards made in FY05 was an 
additional $700,000. This yielded total expenditures in FY06 of $3.4M. 
These funds are distributed ~52% to the Fine and Applied Arts and 
Humanities and ~48% to other disciplines across campus. 

Earlier this month, I met with the Research Policy Committee (RPC), 
chaired by Professor Lizanne DeStefano, to ask its advice regarding the 
best use of limited funds available to the Research Board.  The 15-member 
RPC is appointed by the VCR and includes eight faculty members nominated 
by the Senate, plus the Dean of the Graduate College, a representative 
from the Campus Research Board, one graduate student and one undergraduate 
student. 

The question before us is how to build and sustain excellence within the 
available budget. I have asked the RPC's advice regarding policies to 
ensure that available Research Board funds support strategic initiatives 
and build excellence by increasing our capacity to establish 
transformative scholarship and research programs.  In addition, I have 
asked the RPC to provide advice on the appropriate balance of the Research 
Board allocations relative to other strategic funding mechanisms such as 
Critical Initiatives in Research and Scholarship and funding for faculty 
recruitment and retention.  In conjunction with the RPC recommendations, 
as well as recommendations of the committee on scholarship in the arts and 
in the humanities, policies will be established for increasing support and 
expanding strength and excellence on the campus.  

In addition to this review of the policies of the Research Board, and as 
part of the campus desire to sustain comprehensive excellence, Provost 
Katehi and Chancellor Herman are working with the Senate to create an 
informal working group to develop a campus-level initiative in the area of 
arts and humanities.  A preliminary outline of this initiative was 
included in the February 2007 campus strategic plan.  The next step is to 
engage the campus community in a dialogue about how to work within this 
framework, and how to adapt it, to foster creative innovation and 
excellence in humanities and arts scholarship and inquiry across campus. 

As the RPC examines this issue, your views and ideas are very welcome.  If 
you would send them to researchboard@sab.uiuc.edu in my office we will 
make sure that they are considered by the RPC.

Best wishes,

Charles Zukoski
Vice Chancellor for Research

This mailing approved by:
The Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research

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