Research and Scholarship Committee

Mandate from Policy B02.0

The Research and Scholarship Committee shall formulate, monitor, and review policies and procedures pertaining to research operations and facilities, research regulation and compliance, and infrastructure in support of scholarly activities.  The committee shall also serve as liaison for the Senate with the vice president of Research and with other appropriate administrators and administrative policy bodies of the university.  The committee shall consist of one faculty member per college, each to be elected by their collegial faculty; three members at large elected by the Faculty Senate; one associate dean for Research (or equivalent) selected by the Deans Council; and the vice president for Research or their delegate (ex-officio, voting).

Charges for AY2022

1. Revisit the RIT policy that precludes reimbursement for dependent care associated with research and scholarship, even in cases when the funding agency allows these as direct costs. (Carry-over charge)
2. “Task Force Statistical Support” Responsible Party – Karin Wuertz-Kozak. Propose the creation of a task force charged to i) conduct a needs assessment for a centralized statistical support consulting center, ii) provide recommendations for the extent and nature of statistical expertise/support that this center would provide. (Carry-over charge)
3. “Faculty Information System” Responsible Party: Stephen Jacobs - Charge: Seek a formal mechanism to actively collaborate with the Provost’s office, the Information Technology Office, the Wallace Center, and RIT Marketing on the selection and adoption of a modern faculty information system, and faculty input on the RIT web pages, particularly for individual faculty. (Carry-over charge)
4. “Professional Leave Faculty Senate Discussion” Responsible Party: Chris Collison. Charge: Present the findings from AY2020-2021 Charge 4 (Policy E18.0 and Professional Leave) to Faculty Senate in fall 2021. Further investigate the ability of different colleges to fund incremental sabbaticals, beyond those approved and funded by the university. Lead a Faculty Senate discussion/forum to address i) whether colleges should be restricted from the ability to independently fund applicants, and ii) how sabbatical applications should be ranked and prioritized (if at all) based on research, versus program development, versus course development. (Carry-over charge)
5. “Institute Scholarship Allocation” – Responsible Party Chris Collison. Evaluate the current merit scholarship and tuition remission policy and practices for research-based MS programs across campus. Present best practices for how these policies and practices are used to attract higher quality students, while moving the needle towards diversity equity and inclusion goals. Determine how current policies and practices compare with peer and/or research institutions. (Carry-over charge)
6. “Graduate Courses taught by Female Faculty” – Responsible Party Rong Yang. Partner with AdvanceRIT to collect data on teaching opportunities for female faculty at RIT, and determine the extent to which female faculty have the same opportunities as male faculty to teach advanced undergraduate and/or graduate courses in their area of expertise. (Carry-over charge)
7. “Intellectual Property Policy” Charge:Review the notion of “Significant Use of RIT Resources” with regard to course materials in policy C3.0 Intellectual Property Policy. (Carry-over charge)
8. “Human Subjects B05.0” Responsible Party: Bob Pollard, Shal Khazanchi. Charge: Per policy B05.0, review policy C05. [ Human Subjects ]  (Carry-over charge)
9. Clarify university policy regarding evaluation during leave term(s) (professional leave, family leave, other leave). Consider various edge cases including one term professional leave, two term professional leave, mix of professional leave and family leave. Carefully examine edge cases and consider best ways _to encourage and acknowledge_ outstanding faculty work that may come to fruition during these terms. 
10. Assess actions taken in response to the report of the Senate Ad hoc Committee on Library Holdings for Research, and develop recommendations for next steps to strengthen library holdings and services.

Research and Scholarship Committee reports can be found on RIT’s Digital Media Archive