10/15/2012: I wonder if her office was going to explain this to the potential applicants for these grants? The email I got certainly didn't make it clear - but then that would have involved admitting to a mistake. And UO administrators never make mistakes. But at least Espy fixed one.
The new policy is here. It again allows summer pay, as had been done for many years prior (though apparently not last year). It also removes the phrase that prioritized GTF-included projects, and the bit about prioritizing proposals with matching funds, apparently added this year.
New:
Funds may be used as budgeted for allowable costs necessary to conduct the stated research project, consistent with all rules and policies, for travel, equipment, supplies, contractual services, core/shared user facility use, graduate or undergraduate student effort, or as a summer award (i.e., paid as a stipend in the summer term). Funds may NOT be requested or used 1) to replace or fund faculty salary, 2) as stipend during the academic year, 3) for instructional release/course buyouts, or 4) for construction or facility renovation.
Old:
Funds may be used as budgeted for allowable costs necessary to conduct the stated research project, consistent with university and state rules, for travel, equipment, supplies, contractual services, core/shared user facility use, and graduate or undergraduate student effort. Funds may NOT be requested 1) to replace or fund faculty salary or stipend, 2) for instructional release/course buyouts, or 3) for construction or facility renovation.Note that the rules for research support are very different if you are an administrator. Interim Provost Jim Bean's sabbatical contract promised him 9 months of regular pay and 3+ months of summer salary, at 60% of his $322,140 administrative pay. But my understanding is that he actually completed his research early, enabling him to collect the full rate plus beamer stipend over the summer.
Is Espy also behind the 'Celebrate Oregon Research' breakfast email that faculty received this a.m. or did Stormshak and Phillips come up with that all by themselves?
ReplyDeleteAs someone with a ph.d. and a long research record I am just plain insulted by the idea that we should come to breakfast and 'tack up' the front page of a journal article on a 'University Research Wall' and that doing so will somehow foster research excellence. This is like something a well-meaning high school student would come up with, and hardly an appropriate product from folks who are supposed to be facilitating research at a research university and being paid handsomely to do so (yes...Stormshak and Phillips are being paid plenty more than average TTF).
Come on people...if you are going to be this lame, please don't do it in such a public way. We should all be asking seriously why we are paying administrators to come up with this kind of crap. And who knew that we had 2 more associate vice presidents...
I don't know if others had such a visceral reaction, bu I was just about ready to quit when I read that email this morning.
Would it make you feel better if UOMatters emails them the front page of the Huron report?
DeleteAbsolutely!
DeleteThe research wall should also include all of the IRB applications that are waiting for approval.
DeleteCongrats for submitting the comment of the week!
DeleteStop by for your free UO Matters mug, or let me know if you'd prefer a $10 credit towards the Huron public records request.
Please clarify who wins the comment of the week. Is it the original poster (bat girl), the anonymous post about the Huron report, or the anonymous post about the backlog of IRB applications?
DeleteI think this may be like getting a Nobel Prize that is shared three ways. If only we were splitting 8 million Krona in prize money...
DeleteHmm. The startup and spreadsheet comments below are pretty good too. And the "Wall to Research" - respect, dude. I'm going to have to pass this decision off to my advisory committee. We hope to have a response within 45 days.
DeleteThe research wall should also include the fact there are no startup funds from Espy to support research.
ReplyDeleteA literal wall to research!
DeleteThe wall should also include a spreadsheet that accounts for all of the time wasted by faculty committees charged with reviewing $5,000 research proposals.
DeleteDog like this
Deleteno shit sherlock!
methinks the Dog is showing his age. while I agree with the sentiment, I was getting gold stars on my forehead last time it was actually in vogue
DeleteThis is all such a distraction. I've got to get to the Science Fair.
ReplyDeleteI love the Science Fair. I volunteer at the Science Fair. Don't dis the Science Fair on my blog!
DeleteSo, it's true about you not being an economics professor! Because we all know that's not a science.
DeleteMaybe Espy's office should also give out ribbons to people who publish or win grants. You can bulk order those from school supply stores pretty cheap. Though admittedly, stapling to a bulletin board is about as cheap as it gets.
ReplyDeleteOoooo...Blue ribbons for pubs in A-list journals. Red ribbons for pubs in B-list journals. (Unless you are Canadian, in which case apparently, the colors should be reversed.)
DeleteAnd...a special gold star for NSF grant recipients!
Vice-Provost Espy, Tear down this wall!
ReplyDeleteBringing things back - let's give her office credit for correcting a mistake with the summer research grants, shall we? It's RESPONSIVE! Yes, it could have been accompanied by a clarifying 'in response to comments, we have revised....' but at least it's a good step.
ReplyDeleteAgreed--though it did take a full-court admin+faculty press to make it happen.
ReplyDeleteSo Espy listens when there is a full court press. Here are two ideas: (1) She should dump the "Celebrate Oregon Research" research event and (2) she should ask Stormshak and Phillips to focus on more important tasks. If they don't have enough to do, then get down to the IRB office and help out by working on reducing the IRB application backlog.
Delete[sheepishly] I thought the wall sounded kind of fun...
ReplyDeletesounds like the group of kids with nothing to put on the wall....so it must be a stooopid waste of time...
ReplyDeleteWe're a research university. Everyone has something to put on the wall.
ReplyDeleteVery naive assumption that it is.
ReplyDeleteFrohnmayer and Bean got $500k for their sabbaticals, enough for a science start-up. Presumably they'll get a wall panel each to list their research accomplishments, with or without gold stars and ribbons.
ReplyDelete