The committee identified three primary purposes of research, outreach, and extension at NCSU and proposed specific goals, outcome statements, and measures by which the fulfillment of these purposes could be evaluated. For example, one research goal established by this effort was "NCSU faculty develops new knowledge," and among the five proposed measures were number and percent of faculty publications in refereed journals, number of patents awarded, and use of patents awarded. During fall 1993 the committee's report was distributed for review to the University Research Committee and the Research Operations Council.
As a result of this committee's report, the vice-chancellor for research, outreach, and extension has appointed a Research and Outreach Institutional-Effectiveness Committee, composed of faculty, extension staff, and academic and research administrators. This committee's primary charge is to recommend the data and information collection, storage, retrieval, and reporting procedures necessary to assess the effectiveness of research and extension activities; and to assess the effectiveness of research and extension in meeting one or two of the goals and objectives identified by the 1992 committee. The committee will report on existing and proposed reporting systems by January 1994 and on its study of the University's effectiveness in meeting selected research and outreach goals by May 1994.
There are a number of other assessments of research. In 1988 the vice-chancellor for research and the Research Operations Council initiated a study to assess all administrative support for research at NCSU. The resulting Research Infrastructure Report was submitted to the vice-chancellor for research in May 1989, and in 1992 a committee of Research Operations Council and University Research Council members issued an assessment of progress made toward the goals set out in the Research Infrastructure Report, identified areas that had not been adequately addressed, and suggested strategies for continuous improvement of the infrastructure for research. The University Research Council, which is the University's policy-making body for research and is composed of faculty from all colleges, intends to evaluate progress toward the goals articulated in these two reports annually or biennially.
A third research assessment activity at the University level is the periodic review of centers, institutes and laboratories, where roughly 25 percent of NCSU's research takes place. In addition to an annual report on CILs published by the Office of Research Administration, an in-depth review of each CIL is held at least every five years to determine whether it is functioning effectively.
At the department and college level, each faculty member's research productivity, as measured by publications, research funding, and patents awarded, is documented in annual individual-activity reports. This information is then aggregated by each department and college in their annual reports, which are forwarded to the chancellor and the provost. Much of this information is also included in the annual profile published by the Graduate School for all graduate programs. Progress toward current research goals and objectives, and future research plans and needs are also part of each department's and college's annual plan.
A review of research programs is also included in each graduate-program review. For departments that receive U.S. Department of Agriculture funding (i.e., most departments in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, and many departments in the College of Veterinary Medicine and the Department of Forestry), this is usually coordinated with the Cooperative States Research Service review that USDA requires. These reviews assess not only faculty productivity but also current research focuses and the adequacy of current research facilities and equipment.
As discussed, research is now separately planned for and assessed at the University level and the college and departmental level. For the process to be inclusive and coherent, the levels must be better integrated.
Recommendation 3.12: A major focus of NCSU's Research and Outreach Institutional Effectiveness Committee should be increasing the coordination and integration of research planning at all administrative levelsuniversity, college or school, and department.Recommendation 3.13: NCSU should strengthen faculty input in research planning at all levels.
To accomplish this, NCSU should enhance communication and feedback about the research planning that is currently occurring, and the University Research Council should develop and help implement ways of achieving more inclusiveness and more communication about research planning and assessment.
Recommendation 3.14: NCSU should anticipate space and renovation requirements generated by new research awards and plan accordingly.
University Space Committee representatives must play a more prominent role in the planning for and response to the University's research agenda.
Recommendation 3.15: NCSU should ensure that the achievement of research objectives is a major factor in determining research-resource allocation, especially in the allocation of indirect costs back to the colleges and departments, but also to those other units essential to the research effort, particularly the library.
