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History of the Social Science
Research Institute
The Social Science Research Institute (SSRI), a unit of the College of Arts
and Science at The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, was established in 1988, and
began operation in FY 1988-1989. The original Director was Dr. Alvin
Burstein, Professor of Psychology. Dr. Burstein was succeeded by Dr.
William Lyons and Dr. John Scheb, respectively,
both Professors of Political Science. The current Director is Dr. Michael
M. Gant, Professor of Political Science, who assumed the position in 1998.
The original mission of SSRI was to foster research and dialogue among
the social sciences, and between social scientists, at UTK. Pursuant to
this mission, SSRI originally engaged in applied social science research,
especially survey research, being supported by grants and contracts. SSRI
also was envisioned to assist faculty in the social sciences in preparing
grant proposals, and to support various social-science related activities
across the UTK campus. In sum, it was hoped that SSRI would forge links
between social scientists regardless of departmental affiliation.
Specific activities of SSRI in the early years of its existence included
brown-bag seminars on topics of interest to social scientists; the
establishment of a Fellows Program and an Associates Program, under each of
which a limited number of faculty would receive released-time from
instructional responsibilities to engage in grant proposal preparation and
on-going research; and a research proposal support program, which would
provide assistance to non-Fellow faculty in preparing grant proposals.
These activities were supported in part by a "hard money" budget,
originally set at $55,000. An administrative stipend and released-time
subsidy for the Director also came out of this appropriation.
Within a year, SSRI established a Survey Research
Center, directed by
Dr. William Lyons. The Survey Research Center
was charged with conducting periodic state-wide public opinion polling in Tennessee. Beyond
providing time-series data on demographic and public opinion trends, these
polls would also be used to generate information for UTK administration, as
well as for faculty research.
Within a few years, and in response to both internal and external needs,
survey research became the focus of SSRI activities. As hard-money support
diminished, however, it became necessary for SSRI to provide survey
research on a contract basis. Ultimately, the "crown jewel" of
the survey research of SSRI, The Tennessee Poll, became less viable,
eventually relying on outside news media sponsors to fund it. Today,
however, The Tennessee Poll is conducted on a regular basis in conjunction
with national and state-wide elections.
With the elimination of hard-money support, SSRI is now a soft-money
operation, relying exclusively on grants and contracts to support its
activities. The sole exception to this is 75% of the nine-month base salary
of the faculty member serving as Director. As a consequence, SSRI has been
forced to abandon its original mission, since support for campus-wide
social science dialogue and activities has been
all but eliminated. Today, SSRI concentrates almost exclusively on survey
research.
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