RESEARCH COMMITTEE MINUTES, JANUARY 29, 2004

The meeting was called to order by Chair Suzanne Mabrouk at 11:05 AM.
Present: Adelman, Chen, Cretacci, Davis, Heisser, Knapp, Templeton, Toubiana, Woolsey.

The Committee reviewed and made recommendations for proposals for Presentation of Research and New Faculty Research grants.

Announcements.
The Chair announced that the Provost’s Office will put in each grant award letter a request that faculty acknowledge CF funding in any resulting publication. Also General Carter has approved our request to hire a graduate assistant for the Committee; the paperwork is now being processed. Lee Howes, Office of the Provost, on behalf of the Research Committee, has asked the Citadel Foundation if they would like copies of books, journal articles, etc., funded through CF grants. The Foundation would prefer to have a list of the publications and presentations, but not the actual items. Suzanne said she will have the graduate student work on gathering and listing these materials.

Old Business.

Definition of Research Activity. The Committee on Committees has requested that the Research Committee define "research activity" as a qualification for committee membership as stated in the Committee charter. The charter says that members must have been engaged in research during the past five years. The Committee on Committees will submit a clarified definition to the Faculty Council for final approval. Keith Knapp suggested that, during the preceding five years, the member must have a scholarly publication or made a scholarly presentation. David Heisser observed that someone may be working on a book or other large project that may take longer to yield a publication. Guy Toubiana said we should require a publication or participation in a conference during the period. Saul Adelman suggested that we could require people to be involved in research activity as defined by the department. Suzanne Mabrouk said that the requirement needs to be defined a little more precisely. Virginia De Roma (not present) had suggested, in a message to the Chair, that the department head should review or screen nominations to the Committee. However, Suzanne said that there might be a popularity problem if membership were up to the department head. Keith Knapp said that the person should have some publication or have attended a conference in the past five years; the publication need not have been refereed. Bill Woolsey asked whether people who are doing some magnum opus, and not publishing a series of papers, should serve on the Committee.

Josey Templeton moved, seconded by Saul Adelman, that membership on the Research Committee should be limited to faculty members conducting, publishing or presenting research within the previous five years, as indicated on their electronic curriculum vitae. The motion was approved unanimously.

Complete applications or abstracts of grant proposals on the Web.
The Chair said she had received comments that some faculty objecting to putting details of their research proposals on the Web site. She said she the materials could be made available via WebCT, a limited access location on the Web. Guy Toubiana reported that most faculty in Modern Languages are against posting their proposals or abstracts on the Web. Mei Chen observed that in Mathematics there is concern that non-Citadel people might steal an idea and work to publish it first. Bill Woolsey said the problem recalls the history of publication of the structure of the DNA molecule. Keith Knapp observed that papers or abstracts of papers at conferences for which Presentation grants have been been awarded are usually published afterwards. Bill Woolsey suggested that applications be made available sometime later to avoid the aforementioned problems. Keith Knapp said that perhaps just the titles of projects could be listed.

Bill Woolsey said that posting information about successful proposals could give faculty a clear idea of what could be achieved with a research grant. Saul Adelman said he understands why people don’t want the entire proposal to be on the Web; and he suggested that we put up the project titles, and that the departments could share information with their new faculty about what is expected of them. Perhaps, he added, the graduate student can put up some sample proposal. Keith Knapp suggested that the Committee seek some volunteers to agree to post the entire proposal on the Web. Guy Toubiana suggested the application form could ask: "Do you agree to have the text of your proposal available on the Web?" Keith Knapp opined that perhaps abstracts of proposals might be sufficient. Mei Chen agreed that we could restrict the posted texts to abstracts.

Saul Adelman had to leave the meeting shortly after 12:00 noon, so the quorum was lost. Jeff Davis proposed that a final decision on this question be tabled until the next meeting. It was decided that some discussion could continue, although no votes would be taken.

Comments on the Electronic Forms.
Suzanne Mabrouk distributed some comments from faculty received regarding the electronic forms. She said she had received a question from Dean Metts as to whether applicants might opt for submitting proposals in paper. Bill Woolsey remarked on a problem some people have with scanning materials for inclusion in their applications. Suzanne pointed out that people can scan materials as picture or as a file, then cut and paste into the application form. Bill Woolsey asked whether, if every member of the Committee does not need to see scanned paper price quotes, why not let people submit paper copies? Suzanne commented that it would not be fair for the Chair or a few Committee members to check each submitted proposal for supporting documents (travel quote, lodging quote, registration information, etc.). By applicants’ embedding the quotes, etc., into the document, each Committee member will be able to check the information. David Heisser suggested that the electronic form could be changed so that people would not have to type in zeroes in the budget section; and Suzanne said she proposed to do this when the form is revised. Josey Templeton recalled that, last semester, some of the scanned materials were difficult to read. Bill Woolsey said typewritten copies of letters of acceptance could be scanned and attached, if the original letters did not scan clearly.

The Chair suggested that the Committee meet again to discuss remaining business on Thursday, February 12, in the Achurch Room of Capers Hall, at 11:00 AM. The meeting was adjourned at 12:25 PM.

Respectfully submitted,
David Heisser, Secretary