I would like to respond to the May 4 article by Luke Holmen entitled “Professors leave UNM for better salaries.”
While the salary issue is definitely one that requires attention, I would like to comment on the assertions that faculty research productivity and support for faculty research are decreasing.
Neither of these assertions is accurate. It is true that there have been significant cuts in the “Research and Public Service Projects” support from the State Legislature.
Despite this, main campus faculty research productivity is increasing, and this office, Research and Economic Development, continues with initiatives that broaden and enhance research opportunities for faculty, staff and students.
A few examples follow, and I encourage everyone to look at additional information available on the Office of the Vice President for Research (OVPR) website: research.unm.edu.
Main Campus Research Funding: Main campus researchers have been extraordinarily productive in the past few years. Expenditures from externally funded research grants (not including scholarships) increased from $106.7 million in Fiscal Year (FY) 08 to $120 million in FY10.
Faculty successfully competed for a range of stimulus-funding opportunities that have bolstered infrastructure and provided additional opportunities for students. The stimulus funding means that research grant expenditures for FY11 will exceed FY10.
Main Campus Research Support: I was appointed vice president for research in FY09 and since then, the OVPR has developed a number of initiatives to facilitate proposal development and submission and to provide new opportunities for faculty, staff and students.
Faculty Research Support Officers (FRSOs): For two years, we have funded four FRSOs to assist faculty who have not previously conducted sponsored research, who need assistance with budgets, or who are working on complex multi-investigator proposals.
Arts and Humanities Research Initiatives: Since 2009, Dr. Jane Slaughter has spearheaded an effort to provide research funding opportunities and proposal preparation assistance for Arts and Humanities faculty. For example, this spring, the National Endowment for the Humanities held a proposal writing workshop at UNM, which was attended by 56 faculty and staff.
Electronic Research Administration: We are in the midst of a multi-year process implementing proposal development and award-tracking software for main campus. Cayuse 424 (already implemented) eliminated paper forms requiring signatures and has simplified proposal submission for faculty and staff.
Response to new NSF and NIH Requirements: National Science Foundation and National Institute of Health now require responsible conduct of research (RCR) training for students and post-doctorates and that all proposals contain data management and archiving plans.
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The OVPR provides the RCR training and, in partnership with University Libraries, provides faculty assistance with the development of Data Management plans. Since August 2010, 14 faculty, 12 post docs, 150 graduate students, 16 undergraduate students and six others (198 in total) have completed RCR training.
Graduate Student Funding Initiative (GSFI): This new initiative consists of 50 distinct one-hour sessions on topics ranging from finding funding sources to writing winning proposals, budget preparation and compliance. During this first year, we have offered 80 sessions, and a total 94 students participated, with some attending up to 20 sessions. Fifteen of these students have completed certificates in grant-writing, PI eligibility, research ethics or research compliance. For additional details, visit research.unm.edu/graduatefunding.
STC.UNM: This is a nonprofit corporation formed by UNM in 1995 to protect and transfer its faculty inventions to the commercial marketplace. STC.UNM works with the OVPR to assist faculty in obtaining patents or copyrights and in transferring technology to the marketplace.
Patents and copyrights awarded to UNM inventors increase every year. Despite the tough economy, STC.UNM assisted in the creation of five startup companies based on UNM technology in FY10, with six startups based on UNM technology in FY11 to date.
Faculty Retention: The OVPR actively works with colleges, schools and centers to assist in faculty retention. We have been partners in a number of successful retention efforts.
The Future: We are actively developing and strengthening external partnerships that will broadly benefit main-campus faculty.
Efforts range from strengthening partnerships with the National Labs and AFRL to developing visibility at the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Endowment for the Arts. These efforts will enable UNM faculty to remain competitive in the tight federal funding climate that the FY11 and FY12 federal budget cuts will create.
We are the state’s leading research university. We award the majority of graduate degrees in New Mexico, including 74 percent of all Ph.D. degrees in the state.
Faculty, staff and students continue to demonstrate that UNM can advance during budget challenges and the associated turmoil. My staff and I remain committed to assisting them and to finding new ways to facilitate main campus research.
I would be glad to provide additional details and examples about the outstanding research accomplishments of our faculty, staff and students.
