1 July 2007
Dear Colleagues,
The University of Missouri is extremely fortunate to have a program to foster and encourage creative scholarship of its faculty on all four campuses through a competitively awarded research program administered by the Research Board.
While all research endeavors will be considered, the Board is particularly interested in encouraging the career development of our new, junior faculty and in facilitating exceptional new initiatives of senior faculty who are expanding beyond their traditional areas of expertise. A significant criterion for support is the potential for leveraging additional external dollars; this becomes a “win-win” for the faculty member and the UM System.
As you may be aware, the budget for this program for the last six years has been approximately $2 million per year. While we wish that we had more funding, this is not an insignificant amount; nonetheless, it makes the work of the Board difficult in trying to optimize the utilization of these funds. We have been able to provide support to many researchers in the four campus system which has resulted in expanded intellectual opportunities and external grant funding. We trust that the strong support of the President´s Office and Senior Vice President Lehmkuhle will maintain these funds for the foreseeable future.
We receive many more proposals than we can fund; there are over 20 Board members who are responsible for soliciting reviews of the proposals, evaluating their quality, and making decisions concerning funding. Such judgments cannot be made without the advice of faculty who serve as peer reviewers. Your participation in this critical role is essential to the success of the efforts of the Board and your help in this process is appreciated. New volunteers are always welcome. I encourage you, if asked to review, to take the time to provide a solid, substantive review. This benefits the Principal Investigator, regardless of funding decision.
Research Board members are not allowed to consult with applicants regarding their proposals by a conflict-of-interest policy. However, the System officials responsible for Research Board proposals and awards (Dr. Bill Day, the Board's Executive Secretary, and Ms. Sam Kanatzar) can be contacted with questions concerning proposal submissions and process. Please follow the guidelines available on the UM Research Board website concerning the submission process.
We look forward to receiving your proposals and your reviews in order to support creative and exciting research efforts that benefit all of us within the University of Missouri System.
With best regards,
Ann Miller
Chair, UM Research Board