1. Dean’s Office Support for Faculty Research CCAS 2010 New Orleans, LA Paula M. Lutz, Dean College of Letters and Science Montana State University; Bozeman

2. Montana State University Bozeman, MT

3. MSU-Bozeman: Institutional Information Research expectations—set by departments a. sciences—grant-funded laboratory by tenure, grad students trained and peer-reviewed publications; oral presentations or posters at professional meetings b. letters—dissertation  monograph or peer-reviewed articles; presentation of papers at professional meetings Office of Sponsored Programs: some centralized accounting and grant-writing support; OSP/VPR also provides start-up $ AND incentives (buyouts, Short Term Professional Development Leaves, annual research and creativity awards) GRANTS ($109M in expenditures in FY10 campus-wide; $29M CLS)  F&A  investment in research across all disciplines (start-up funds, $ for incentives and awards)

4. Policies and opportunities for specific disciplines Natural sciences: equipment purchases--grants (NSF MRI), foundations (Murdock Trust), and start-up funds; travel funds from grants and start-up packages; all start-up from VPR at present; equipment maintenance funded from F&A return Social sciences: current emphasis provides grant-writing mentoring and seed grants (INBRE); travel funds available from Research Enhancement Awards (REA’s) in the College and Scholarship & Creativity grants campus-wide; course buyouts through BEST awards Arts and humanities: travel funds available through REA and S&C; course buyouts through BEST awards

5. MSU Opportunities Research Enhancement Awards (REA) within the College: primarily for Letters; provide travel support for conferences; $75- 100K from VPR and College F&A return (internal competition); Buy-Out for Enhancing Scholarship and Teaching (BEST Awards): funded by VPR; competitive—15-20 per academic year; most often for Arts/Letters Short-Term Professional Development Leaves (STPD’s): funded by VPR; funds longer research travel Scholarship and Creativity Grants: funded by VPR; ($250k from central F&A funds via campus competition with external review); grants of $6k to 22k for lengthy, focused research projects/travel for Arts/Letters (such as summer research at an archive or an archeological dig) Interdisciplinary Research/Creativity Proposals: up to $7.5K for ‘ID’ proposal development and submission Montana Research and Commercialization Grants: Dept. of Commerce; $1.4M pool; requires 25% match

6. Policies related to research support Encouragement of proposal production and success: through New Faculty Forum, INBRE seed grants (special emphasis on social science research from NIH and NSF), internal seed grants for interdisciplinary research Annual faculty awards honoring research and creativity: Creative Scholarship & Teaching; Meritorious Technology & Science; Undergraduate Research and Creativity Mentoring; Meritorious Research & Creativity Research leaves: negotiable post-tenure under special circumstances; campus sabbatical policy through Faculty Senate process—10-12 per year; course reductions negotiated with start- up packages or through grant funds Applied research, pedagogical research, community engagement: special emphasis on interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary research provides seed money at present; Teaching and Learning Center provides seed money for research in pedagogy; as a land grant, MSU has Extension as a CE link AND the Montana Agriculture Experiment Station (MAES) funding (primarily for the sciences)

7. Obstacles/issues/challenges? Research faculty/administration communication: a. Frustration over recent, sudden reductions in F&A return to colleges, departments, and PI’s; b. A new Research Board recently created as part of our new president’s faculty governance structure; c. Frustration over VPR, faculty, and deans’ sense that research F&A is used to backfill A&F shortfalls Support services: social science researchers in departments just entering the chase for external funding have increasing needs for staff support; Research space: Constant source of acrimony and discontent; negotiated in start-ups; expansions difficult; success in obtaining federal dollars for several buildings (USDA, NIH); self-funded one research building by bonding on future F&A returns;