Promoting Diversity Through Synergy and Collaboration in Research Administration

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 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The University of Puerto Rico at Cayey (UPR-C) seeks funding to develop health research administration capacity. UPR-C ranks 13th nationally as a baccalaureate source institution for Hispanic PhDs in STEM disciplines. But budget cuts (13% between 2008 -2013) and loss of tenured teaching faculty due to retirement (25% 2006-2014) have challenged campus capacity for management of external funding in biomedical and behavioral sciences, and mentoring for new faculty. Recent improvements include 1o new hires that are slated for 2015. This proposal will capitalize on existing UPR-C research management infrastructure and resources for faculty mentoring, to catalyze sustainable incremental improvements in research administration to attract new funding, and to provide new and existing faculty with expertise, for long term capacity to train students to enter biomedical and behavioral research careers. This overall goal will be implemented via 1) Growing competency, policy, and organizational structure for long-term effects by establishing bylaws, assessment procedures, and restructuring research administration services to ensure efficiency and guide institutional improvements in research administration over time.; 2) Increasing faculty productivity and effectiveness in competing for external research funding with a step-by-step pre-award training for submitting a competitive proposal; facilitated by favorable working conditions, incentives, peer-support networks, and mentoring tailored to individual needs, and 3) Improving compliance services for biomedical and socio-behavioral research through coordinated integration of functions between the two units that offer most of these services to most faculty with biomedically-related projects: the UPR-C Office of Sponsored Projects and Research (OSP&R) and the Institute for Interdisciplinary Research (IIR). This proposal is innovative for UPR-C in that it 1) puts in place administrative policy and infrastructure transformations that promote better continuity between appointments of upper administrators, 2) provide a coordinated beginning-to-end mentoring program for faculty in grantsmanship, and 3) is based on collaboration and consolidation of research administration support services between the OSP&R and IIR for greater efficiency and better service. The proposed approach will place administrative support services closer to researchers and students active in biomedical, socio-behavioral research at the IIR, while centralizing final approval and at the OSP&R, thereby increasing IIR's efficiency in assisting OSP&R staff in the preparation and submission of required reports and ethical compliance certifications. The Expected Outcomes will include a proven, model for attaining sustainability in research administration at predominantly undergraduate minority- serving institutions facing similar institutional transformation and challenges.