RESEARCH COUNCIL MINUTES

March 27, 2000

Attendees: Bill Blass (chair), Gayle Baker (Co-Vice-Chair), Andy Kramer (Co-Vice-Chair), Pat Fisher, Marion Hansen, Mark Dadmun, Otto Schwarz, Pete Wicks, Chris Cox, Ted Labotka, Laura Franks, Benjamin Bates, Mike Devine, Marth Alligood, Kim Jensen, Zoë Hoyle, Gail White, Ron Maples, Surya Singh, Dwayne McCay, and Debbie Bowles

• Introductory Remarks:
  • Bill Blass reminded Council members that the election 2000-2001 Chair of Research Council will be done at the luncheon meeting on April 24. Nominations and committee reports are to be sent to Gayle Baker before that meeting. He brought the Council's attention to one of the meeting handouts, a copy of a newspaper article in The Tennessean, entitled "Open Records vs. Netting the Corporate Grant," an update on proposed changes to Tennessee's open records law to improve the University's chances of increasing corporate grants. Alice Woody, Associate General Counsel for the University, spoke about this at the December meeting. Blass also mentioned a recent article in Metropulse about Dr. Gilley's efforts to expand the University's efforts in research.

  • Mike Devine spoke of two recent newspaper articles. One, in The Tennessean, described the positive effects of a research university on a state. The other article, in the Knoxville News-Sentinel, featured the recent takeover of the management of ORNL by UT-Battelle.

  • T. Dwayne McCay told Council about legislation in Nashville that will affect the University:
    1. The right to have a research foundation.
    2. Modification of the open records law
    3. Appropriations bill with two major line items for new research funds

• Updates:
  • Faculty development opportunities: Andy Kramer stated that he has been working with the Faculty Development Committee of the Faculty Senate. A final report will be given at the last meeting of Research Council for the year.

  • Workstation refresh: Gayle Baker spoke for Clif Woods. The program is well underway. Some departments did not request their quota, so the program was opened up to faculty in other departments. T. Dwayne McCay stated that funds for refreshing one third of the faculty workstations will be part of the base budget in the future for all University of Tennessee campuses.

  • Thematic areas: Five of the interdisciplinary councils overseeing research in the thematic areas have been active. Representatives from three of the councils reported on their activities:
    • Bob Ward, chair of the Computational and Information Sciences Interdisciplinary Council, spoke about the group's efforts to stimulate research proposals and develop new interdisciplinary courses. A seminar series has also begun.

    • John Zomchick, of the Council for Intellectual & Cultural Expression, described the Council's recent activities: lobbying the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), sponsoring a Faculty Collaborative Workshop in May 2000, and sponsoring grants to support multidisciplinary collaborations among UT faculty.

    • George Pharr represented the Interdisciplinary Council on Materials. The group has added representatives from ORNL. The umberella organization for the group's activities is the Tennessee Advanced Materials Laboratory. They are in the process of identifying equipment needs and have begun a colloquium series. Council members are also working on multidisciplinary proposals for large amounts of funding.

• Discussion of planning grant program proposal: Mike Devine's draft memo for a funds to support proposal writing efforts was discussed. Council members agreed that the program had merits. Gayle Baker will solicit input from members on specifics of such a program. It will be discussed again at the April meeting.

Meeting adjourned at 5:11 p.m.