Members—

Charges—

Standing Charges

1. Monitor the administration of the General Research Fund (GRF) and make recommendations, as needed, to ensure its effectiveness and appropriate utilization.
2. The next three year review will take place Fall of 2025, for 3-year reallocations.  Note that the revisions must be completed and sent to Research no later than October 31, 2025 for FY2026, 2027 and 2028.
   
   
   
   The FSRC should pay particular attention to the entities’ different eligibility requirements for the competition (some entities accept applications from tenured or tenure-track faculty only while at least one other entity accepts applications from lecturers) in determining the degree to which entities are making effective use of the GRF.

Specific Charges

1. Analyze and provide a timely report from faculty survey regarding GRF sent May 1, 2023. The survey is to determine whether the faculty would like to see the GRF changed with the question, “Is there a charge from the faculty to change the current GRF allocation model?” The committee should analyze the results and submit new recommendations based on the data. If the faculty are open to changing the GRF, then it is recommended that the committee develop a new recommendation using the previous recommendation as a starting point. If the survey indicates that the faculty are not open to changing the GRF, then the Faculty Senate should reconsider the standing charge of the Faculty Senate Research Committee to evaluate the use of the GRF and make recommendations for its allocation.
2. Explore ways to assess the effects on KU research and scholarship on budget cuts and budget models.
3. The committee should discuss the following issues and make recommendations:
   1. Follow up on recommendations that the School of Professional Studies can be included in the GRF distributions for FY24.
   2. The amount of funding that KU allocates to the GRF is decreasing, which is concerning, given the expectations of high research productivity. In addition, the budget has undergone two cuts since 2019.  Explore a comparison of KU’s internal research funding (possibly including strategic initiatives, Research Rising, and other special funding opportunities, KU Endowment funding) to peer universities.
   3. Explore how the reduction of tenure track faculty lines is impacting overall KU faculty productivity.
   4. Investigate the process by which KU solicits funding from KU Endowment to support the research mission of faculty.  

Meeting Minutes—

Final Reports and Outcomes—