The Research Culture initiative was charged with developing support services and infrastructure to fuel a vibrant research culture across the university. To this end, the initiative champions worked with Office of Research and Sponsored Programs to set goals for their office, including:
- maintain an environment that nurtures early career researchers;
- provide pre- and post-award services that optimize faculty ability to win awards;
- maintain a robust research infrastructure that supports faculty and student research and a culture of research with integrity; and
- develop research processes efficiencies.
Four colleges (COPE, CON, COHS, and CAS) have appointed associate deans for research.
The Office of Research and Sponsored Programs (ORSP) has accomplished a number of milestones since the start of this initiative. They ushered in a new Institutional Review Board platform, Cayuse, that was successfully rolled out to all three campuses in March 2019.
ORSP has continued to support faculty using the scholarly activity portfolio called Sedona. The university now has 799 active Sedona users, with 62% of faculty updating their profiles in 2018-19. There are 59 research profiles, 49 faculty profiles, and 2 creative profiles, and five staff profiles live online.
Through ORSP, Texas Woman’s is co-hosting an iCorps program with UT Austin to facilitate moving inventions to the market. Eight teams participated in the iCorps program.
The total externally awarded grants and contracts at Texas Woman’s for AY 2017-18 was $7 million, well above target for one of the university’s key performance indicators.
Below we have bulleted a few outputs of the initiative from the research centers.
Center for Research Design and Analysis
- Faculty who use the Center for Research Design and Analysis (CRDA) grant proposal services are more likely to be awarded funding than faculty who do not use the CRDA.
- Created a funding forecasting plan to anticipate large program grants and facilitate timely completion.
- Hired a grant-writer to prepare large university funding proposals. One proposal has been submitted to the National Science Foundation for $16 million to support construction of the new research building.
- Adapted Hanover consultant services to create the Hanover Grants Academy. This cohort-based program walks faculty researchers through the entire grant writing process in a structured way led by experts at Hanover Research Services.
Center for Student Research
- The small grants program facilitates research opportunities for students with a faculty mentor. There were 35 small grants awarded in 2018 and 25 awarded thus far in 2019.
- The travel program facilitates travel for students to present their research with a faculty mentor. This program started in AY 2018-19 with 28 awards thus far.
- Sponsored 35 students to participate in the National Conference for Undergraduate Research in 2018 and 30 in 2019.
Next steps for Research Culture initiative
- Locate sufficient space for the CRDA and CSR.
- Identify research clusters and work with Deans and Associate Deans of Research to facilitate needed cluster hires.
- Annual Research and Discovery marketing piece (e.g. magazine) highlighting TWU research and creative arts
- Create a position to assist faculty in successfully applying for prestigious national and international awards.
- The goal for externally awarded grants and contracts for TWU for AY 2018-18 is $8 million.
- Extend the Hanover Grants Academy to two full semesters for a larger cohort and include a course release for each participant.
- Create a TWU Research Enhancement Program for multidisciplinary teams (anticipate an award of $25,000).
For more information, contact initiative champions Carolyn Kapinus or Donna Scott Tilley.
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Written by the Strategic Plan Design Team