February 19th, 2007

Preset: Judith Anderson (Chair), Tom Busey, Sandra Dolby, Roger Levesque (Recorder), Rosemary Lloyd, Patrick McNaughton and Pamela Walters.

The meeting was convened at 4:02 pm.

We read and approved the February 5th and 12th minutes.

At 4:27, we were joined by Scott Long to discuss developments relating to the proposed Bureau of Social Science Research. He reported how an informal group of social scientists had met last summer and had recommended to the Vice Provost for Research that a cross-disciplinary bureau be established to support social science research. The recommendation eventually led to his appointment as Associate Vice-Provost for Research and the Bureau’s Director. His mission, supported by 3/4 of a million dollars to be spent over the next three years, is to develop the structural supports for the new Bureau.

He noted many goals. Included among his top priorities are the need to

(1) make better use of current funds and resources scattered across campus;
(2) disseminate knowledge of available resources and funding opportunities so that more can benefit;
(3) increase the visibility of current efforts through, for example, separate task forces dealing with qualitative and quantitative research;
(4) create self-sustaining structures, mainly supported by grant overhead;
(5) assist in developing a research commons in the Wells Library so that more faculty and students could benefit from centralized resources;
(6) provide more support for efforts to obtain sponsored research and to administer grants;
(7) publicize the nature and value of the social sciences to administrators; and
(8) secure usable and centralized space. He then noted numerous meetings he had had across campus and at other universities.

We were all impressed with his sense of enthusiasm and his commitment to this effort. CPC members' observations and questions focused mainly on the thorny issues involved in the reallocation or replacement of overhead and the need to increase cooperation among groups that may be less than willing to share resources. We also highlighted the benefits of supporting research efforts that would not directly lead to external funding. He noted that he already had brokered efforts and brought disparate groups together through shared resources.In terms of not ignoring efforts that do not lead to sponsored research, he emphasized that the next few years necessarily will need to be focused on securing external funding simply because the Bureau needs to develop structural supports. This did not mean, however, that other efforts would be ignored in that they benefit, for example, from research that does lead to external funding.

Professor Long left the meeting at 5:12.

We returned to discuss progress in receiving nominees for next year's CPC election. We learned that two candidates had withdrawn, which will delay the election slightly as we seek other nominations.

We discussed and made recommendations for revisions to the first draft of our Social Science Statement, a statement that aims to explain the significance and nature of the social sciences.

Judith distributed a copy of the CPC Constitution dated 1950, apparently the earliest version that exists. Although we found it different from the present constitution, we did find important similarities, such as the provision that mandates the election of faculty members.

The meeting was adjourned at 5:55.

Roger Levesque, Recorder

Questions or comments regarding the minutes and actions of the College Policy Committee may be addressed to its Chair, Judith Anderson (anders@indiana.edu – 855-3845). Past minutes and College Policy Statements can be found at the CPC web page: www.indiana.edu/~college/faculty/policy/policies.shtml.