Review of Research, Creative, and Scholarly Activity

usm home | a-z index | contacts | help

From the Provost

Taking USM Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity to the Next Level
January 5, 2005

I have engaged a team of external research consultants to help us understand USM's institutional capacity for research, scholarship, and creative activity and help us chart a direction for strengthening our capacity to achieve national recognition for regional excellence. The consultants, Claire Collins and EJ Lovett from Lovett Collins, a regional firm that specializes in integrating research within institutional mission and culture, and Ed Derrick from the Research Competitiveness Group of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the world's largest general scientific society, will guide us through a review, assessment, and planning process over the next year. You will become accustomed to having EJ, Claire, and Ed on campus as they work with the University community to:

Talk with many of you about how research, creative and scholarly activity can broadly support faculty members, USM's colleges and schools, and each of USM's campuses as we transform USM into a nationally competitive regional university;

Solicit input and advice from the USM community as we plan, through an inclusive process, what levels of research, scholarship, and creative activity we can and should achieve;

Explore how research can best contribute to the institution's evolving teacher/scholar model for faculty members;

Bring in outside national experts to look at who we are, how we are structured, and what our strengths are or could be, and to recommend strategies to move ahead over the next 5 to10 years;

Engage the University community in an implementation process to integrate the strategies we choose into the University's culture and systems; and

Create the appropriate infrastructure to support a comprehensive research enterprise that supports scholarship and creative activity.

The team is NOT here to:

Create a separate R&D agenda;

Focus narrowly on funded research activity; or

Bring an externally prescribed view of what research, scholarship, and creative activity at USM should be.

As the review and assessment begin, I will be in touch about how you can engage the consultants. EJ and Claire will be on campus at least two days a week and I will notify you, in advance, when Ed is on campus. My office will also maintain an interactive web page to keep you informed of our progress and to allow you to communicate with the consultants and myself about the process as it unfolds.

[Provost Wood's signature]
Joseph S. Wood
Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, and Professor of Geography

Comments/Questions: researchreview@usm.maine.edu


		From the Provost Progress Reports Consulting Team Committees Reference Documents Provost Home Home