New Business —

Celka Straughn presided as chair. The committee members introduced themselves.

Celka reviewed the membership. The graduate student, Angel, is a voting member of the committee. Candan is the secretary of the committee and oversees the committee’s records. The committee will continue the momentum it has made in the GRF allocation. The committee membership includes members across Schools. 

Celka provided a link to the Final Report last year. The report is in Teams and the members have access.

The main changes in the GRF over the last 30 years were discussed:

• It has decreased in real numbers and in value because of inflation.
• There have been changes in inclusion/exclusion.
• We hope to work with the Office of Research in a phased change over 3 years.

Celka reviewed the 2025 charges. A discussion of the charges followed.

• Celka confirmed with Candan that this committee does a report in October of 2025 for FY 2026. Standing charge #3. Candan confirmed. The report is due to the Office of Research Oct. 31, 2025, not this October.
• KUEA charge. Endowment has nothing to do with GRF. Has Endowment contributed to GRF Funding? Are they responsible and if so, what is their responsibility? An annual contribution by KUE could offset reductions.

Celka shared an excel spreadsheet that is a reporting tool for the GRF allocation. Celka asked if there were any adjustments to the questions. 

A discussion followed:

• Question 1. Students in the unit. Do we want to keep this? How do schools that do not teach get represented, such as the Libraries? 
• Productivity of the funds is what is important
• Are we trying to look at this as where the funds are going? To assess the productivity of the funds. 
• Question on effort allocation. The percentages are different across separate groups, for example lecturers, professors of the practice, and others.
• Funding for the GRF is not that great. We could consider it a pilot study. 
• Do we want to know how many tenure track faculty are receiving the awards? 
• These questions cover all the bases for the most part.

The GRF allocation was approved by Faculty Senate in the spring 2024. This was communicated with the Provost and Chancellor. Suzanne will follow up with Sam Brody on next steps to finalize.