Faculty Research FY2025

Committee Details:

Committee: Faculty Research
Committee Category: Standing Committees of the Faculty Senate
Fiscal Year: FY2025

Members—

  • Chair: Celka Straughn, Spencer Museum of Art, Faculty, Voting, 2025
  • Randall Fuller, English, CLAS, Faculty, Voting, 2026
  • Rick Dobrowsky, Pharmacy, Faculty, Voting, 2025
  • Laura Mielke, History, CLAS, Faculty, Voting, 2025
  • Mugur Geana, Journalism & Mass Communications, Faculty, Voting, 2026
  • Marcy Lascano, Philosophy, CLAS, Faculty, Voting, 2026
  • Kaela Byers, Social Welfare, Faculty, Voting, 2026
  • Neal Kingston, Education & Human Sciences, Faculty, Voting, 2025
  • Sarah Morris, Libraries, Faculty, Voting, 2027
  • Xiaobo Quan, Architecture & Design, Faculty, Voting, 2027
  • Michael Orosco, Educational Psychology, Faculty, Voting, 2027
  • Najarian Peters, Law/JD Degree, Faculty, Voting, 2027
  • Shelley Hooks, Vice Chancellor for Research, Ex-officio, Faculty, Voting,
  • Candan Tamerler Behar, Associate Vice Chancellor for Research, Ex-officio, Non-Voting, 

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.
  3. 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. Implementation of the revised GRF Allocation. Work with Faculty Senate following any faculty or administrator comment, and the further processes toward adoption of the new GRF allocation,. Work with KUCR to begin transition of new GRF allocation for the next year’s allocation.
  2. Annual monitoring of GRF: Monitor the administration of the General Research Fund (GRF) annually and make recommendations to ensure its effectiveness and appropriate utilization. 
  3. Three-year Review of GRF: For the three-year review, consider data and data collection methods that will be useful with the new GRF allocation
  4. Explore ways to assess the effects on KU research and scholarship on budget cuts and budget models.
  5. The committee should discuss the following issues and make recommendations:
    1. 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.
    2. Explore how the reduction of tenure track faculty lines is impacting overall KU faculty productivity.
    3. Investigate the process by which KU solicits funding from KU Endowment to support the research mission of faculty.  
  6. Be prepared to consult with United Academics of the University of Kansas (UAKU), if requested, in matters relevant to the work of the committee.

 

Faculty Research FY2025