RESEARCH COUNCIL MINUTES




                              April 29, 1996





Attendees:  Bill Blass, Chair, Jim Adcock, Gayle Baker, Tammy

Berry, Bobby Bledsoe, Ham Bozdogan, Chris Cox, Mike Devine, David 

Dobbs, Burt English, Michael Gant, Dorothy Habel, Zoe Hoyle, Kim

Jensen, Andrew Kramer, Kula Misra, Ben Oliver, Ted Paludan, Steve

Pulik, Phyllis Turner, Ken Walker, Carolyn Webb, Jodie Wehr, Gail

White, and Dhyana Ziegler.



Comments by Bill Blass:  Blass introduced Gayle Baker as the Vice

Chair for the Research Council for 1996-1997.  Blass introduced

Dhyana Ziegler who is currently completing her term as President

of the Faculty Senate.  Blass appointed her as a member of the RC

for a three-year term.  Blass thanked all the members who were

rotating off the Research Council for their service.



Comments by OR:  Mike Devine also thanked all the members for

their time and effort on RC initiatives.  He believes strongly in

faculty governance and felt that the RC has made a lot of

progress this past year.  Ken Walker stated that he would like to

form two groups this summer to confront the following questions: 

(1) how to revise the "yellow" sheet so that faculty receive

credit for interdisciplinary research and whether the data OR

collects is complete and pertinent, and (2) how can OR change the

Sponsored Programs Report to make it better and should we report

awards and expenditures in future reports?



Chair's Perspective on the Budget Crisis:  Blass reported that he

spent an hour discussing the 3% budget shortfall with the

Chancellor.  His main concern was for part-time faculty and staff

that may be RIFed.  He felt that the University should not be

dismantling its staff but rather find other creative ways to deal

with the budget crisis.  The Division of Information

Infrastructure's budget was reduced by 40%.   This will result on

zero growth in ATM and high-speed connections.  The research

enterprise may also be seriously affected as a result of the

budget crisis.  Blass stressed  that the RC be aware of what is

going on and send comments and concerns to Chancellor Snyder.



Council Comments:  Ziegler felt that the University does not

"package" itself well.  She felt that UTK needs to find out what

is trendy in research and broadcast it nationally.  Kula Misra

commented that most colleges do produce newsletters that help to

distribute newsworthy research items.  Ziegler responded that

this does not get the news out on a national level.  Kim Jensen

commented that she has tried to work with the UT News Center but

they act only as a news center and not in public relations.  Jim

Adcock commented that UTK public relations people need to be

judicious in the type of information they distribute.



New Business:  Nominations for Chair of the Research Council for

academic year 1996-1997 were solicited.  Ham Bozdogan nominated

Blass for another term; it was seconded by Gayle Baker.  The

motion was passed.



Committee Reports:  



Research Network and Computation Needs:  Ham Bozdogan, Chair. 

The draft committee report that was distributed at the March 25

meeting has not finalized. Additional comments will be

incorporated and forwarded to the Council.



Policies and Procedures Committee (attached):  Jim Adcock, Chair. 

Walker requested that the requestors be identified by name rather

than by initials on the Policies and Procedures Agenda-02. 

Following is a list provided by Adcock.



 JA - James L. Adcock

 BB - Bobby Bledsoe

 DD - David Dobbs

 AK - Andrew Kramer

 PK - Paula Kaufman

 RP - Ray Popp

 EW - Earl Wehry

 DM - Denny Mullins

 DR - Don Reed

 DR - Don Fesh

 CR - Charlene Rice

 DB - Denise Barlow

 BC - Betsey Creekmore

 SH - Susan Hartzog



The two major issues that must be addressed on Agenda-02 are the

purchasing of computers (Item 1) and replacing and upgrading

obsolete equipment (Item 3).



Centers Review Committee (attached):  Pat Fisher, Chair.  Walker

commented that the Centers Review Committee takes their role in

reviewing centers seriously.  Ted Paludan inquired about the

closing of the Institute for Technology Management.  Walker

responded that it will close effective June 30, 1996.  This is

the first center that was closed down by OR due to the review

process, but others have chosen to close when the review process

led to the realization that it no longer served a necessary

function.



Web Page Committee (attached):  Gayle Baker, Chair.  Baker

commented that the Web Page has been functional since February

1996.  She asked members to let her know if they want a link from

the RC Web Page to their own personal Web Pages.



Chancellor's Research and Creative Achievement Awards Selection

Committee (attached):  Michael Gant, Chair.  The final report is

self-explanatory and suggests two recommendations for future

solicitations.



Research Advancement Committee (attached):  Kim Jensen, Chair. 

Jensen commented that the committee has compiled a list of 15

individuals with interest in research news information.  She also

provided a list of Web sites that contain research-related

information.  Jensen suggested that an "Award for Excellence in

Research Communication" via a UTK Web Page be considered by the

Research Council next year.  Jensen requested that the Research

Good News be given higher priority on the UTK Home Page.  Jensen

hoped that cross-searching of the Faculty Information Service and

the Funding Opportunities databases could be considered next

year.  Jensen stated that the position of Coordinator of Research 

Information Services in the Office of Research has currently been

suspended.



SARIF/GRA Awards Committee (attached):  Ben Oliver, Chair. 

Walker emphasized that the GRA awards are to faculty for graduate

students.  Kula Misra inquired if departments could submit more

than the requested number of proposals.  Walker responded that

the committee already has a difficult time reading the number of

proposals received.  Jim Adcock felt that by requiring department

heads to endorse GRA proposals, they already have given top

priority to certain applicants.  Walker stated that this is a

department-level problem.



SARIF/EPPE Committee (attached):  Dorothy Habel, Chair.  Habel

commented that the EPPE funds help to boost morale and hoped it

was not endangered by the budget cuts.  Walker was concerned

about the low number of requests compared to last year.  Adcock

felt that the EPPE funds were mainly used to support the

non-sciences since it does not pay for reprints.  He felt the

amounts awarded were too small and not worth the effort of

writing a proposal.  Walker responded that requests should be

brief (one-page) and need not be elaborate.



Adjournment:  2:00 p.m.