Minutes of the September 13, 2006 Meeting of the
Research/Creative Activity Grants (RCAG) Committee
Attending: Seodial Deena, Chair, English;
Paul Gares, Vice Chair, Geography; Daniel Wong,
Allied Health Services; Karen Hall; Elias Katsoulis,
Mathematics; David Rosenthal, Representative of the Chancellor, Business; John
Bishop, Economics; Tarek Abdel-Salam,
Technology and Computer Science; Jeff Bair, School of Music; John A. Tucker, Secretary,
History.
Attending ex officio
members included Alan Schreier, Representative of
Vice Chancellor for Research and Graduate Studies; Glen Gilbert, Representative
of Provost, Health and Human Performance; Salman Abdulali, Representative of the Chair of the Faculty,
Mathematics.
The meeting, held in Bate
1006, was called to order at 4:10.
After new and returning
committee members introduced themselves, the RCAG
Committee turned to a review of the minutes of the February 17, 2006 RCAG Executive Committee meeting. At that meeting it was
decided to restructure the grant competition schedule to permit awards to be
available to faculty for a full fiscal year. This measure was approved. It was
noted during the September 13 meeting that the RCAG meeting
described in the minutes as February 17, 2006, apparently took place on April
17, 2006. The minutes appear to have been mistakenly dated. Questions arose
regarding whether or not there was a quorum at this meeting, and whether the
decisions made were binding.
The April 17 meeting also
voted to clarify the mission of the RCAG Program. This
measure was reportedly approved. The same meeting also moved to eliminate the
perceived conflict of interest problem when members of the RCAG
Committee submit proposals by recommending that committee members be ineligible
to submit applications to the RCAG Committee.
The April 17 meeting also
moved to extend the time between awards from 2 to 3 years. This measure was
approved. Discussion of the appropriateness of this ensued. With a quorum of
the committee present, the RCAG Committee then considered
a motion to reconsider measures 3, 4, and 5 as they are described in the
minutes of the February 17 (April 17) meeting. The motion was not approved.
The committee then
reviewed measures 6 and 7 from the February 17 (April 17) meeting. Measure six indicates
that committee members be selected from those who have experience in
submitting/reviewing grant applications. Measure 7 states that the committee
should handle appeals internally and that the internal decision be final. The
February 17 (April 17) meeting also noted that both measures had been approved.
After a brief review of
the eighth measure (regarding
instituting a formal process to capture substantive and constructive comments
from reviewers and transmit them to the applicants) there was no further
discussion of it. The Committee decided to return to measure 9, regarding
limitation of the salary awards, at a subsequent meeting.
The committee turned to
consideration of materials related to the 2006-07 calendar and evaluation of
proposals that had been circulated by Paul Gares.
Following shifts in subcommittee assignments, the committee discussed the
overall calendar for the submission, review, and award process. The proposed
schedule, with the deadline for applications January 16, 2007, would give
successful applicants more time to utilize effectively their awards. The vice chair
then discussed the work of the three subcommittees --- Humanities, Natural
Science, and Social Science --- and their chairs in the review process.
The vice chair next
explained the application guidelines and the application form itself.
Clarification was also requested regarding why faculty in the
The Committee decided to
table other issues until the next meeting, to be called in the near future.
The Committee adjourned
at 5:55 pm.
Submitted by John A.
Tucker, Secretary