Research and Scholarship Committee
Charges
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 AY 2025:
Carryover Charges
1. Review and revise Policy C05.0 “Policy for the Protection of Human Subjects in Research”.
2. Develop and propose a university research policy to establish standards for evaluating research that meets university criteria in addition to college-level criteria. This includes winning grants and publishing.
3. Investigate and report on RIT’s new PhD tuition policy in comparison to similar policies at other R1 and R2 universities.
New Charges
1. Clarify Policy E18 to indicate:
a.) whether a candidate/eligible faculty member may first take a Professional Leave after six years of full-time service [thus, taking the leave in year 7], or if the policy only indicates such faculty are eligible to apply for leave after six years of service, with the leave to be taken one year later [thus, applying in year 7, and taking the leave in year 8];
b.) whether a candidate/eligible faculty member may then take another Professional Leave after six years of additional full-time service [thus, taking the leave in year 7 of the next cycle], or if the policy only indicates such faculty are eligible to apply for leave after six additional years of service, with the leave to be taken one year later [thus, applying in year 7, and taking the leave in year 8]
Determine if the language in E18 involving "Leave [for Professional/Career Development]" is consistent with other institutions, or if the terms "Sabbatical" or "Sabbatical Leave" as used by peer institutions are more consistent with RIT's current practice.
2. Revise the policy on RIT reimbursement for childcare.
3. Similar to what was done by the RSC last year for the RIT policy on PhD Tuition, the RSC should investigate and report on RIT’s policy on return of indirect costs (https://www.rit.edu/srs/return-recovered-fa-costs) in comparison to similar policies at other R1 and R2 universities.
In parallel, explore adding faculty oversight and guidance to Sponsored Research Services, similar to what was recently enacted with the DSO. This includes: I) A faculty-led board that oversees SRS and handles grievances, II) The requirement that SRS have all policies that directly impact faculty be approved by this faculty board.
4. Explore ways to increase travel budgets and other supports for faculty scholarship (i.e., necessary business expenses for academic work).
5. In light of the addition to "research and scholarship" being added to faculty ownership in B02, request the RSC to explore which research-centric policies should be co-written with the Senate going forward.
