Goal 2

The CEHD will enhance its presence as part of a leading public research institution.

Scholarly inquiry is central to the CEHD activities and provides a mechanism for advancing knowledge, inspiring teaching, and enabling service. As part of a research university, the CEHD will support basic and applied research performed by faculty and staff, graduate and undergraduate students, and professional educators across diverse environments. The CEHD will support a range of appropriate research methodologies for multiple contexts and questions. The CEHD will further facilitate a systemic focus on research excellence and create an environment and research-oriented culture optimized to encourage high quality, impactful inquiry.

The CEHD faculty and staff must remain current with dynamic influences and versed in multiple areas of study if we are to be leaders in our respective disciplines. More importantly, faculty must lead the field with respect to innovative research initiatives. The CEHD will enhance its culture of life-long learning by supporting professional development that promotes research. The CEHD will expand our ability to support and train investigators in advanced research, with specific emphasis on students who have been historically underrepresented in research professions. To enhance research effectiveness, we will maintain existing training opportunities and establish regular and cutting-edge professional development for faculty and staff through a variety of means such as webinars and face-to-face seminars. We will create an easily accessible library of recordings of prior presentations and training events.

The CEHD will optimize funded research support infrastructure within the College and facilitate access to resources outside the institution. The CEHD will continue to provide external funding support services to research-active faculty while identifying new emerging services based on need. The CEHD affiliated grant administrators and support professionals will collaborate with the University Research Services and Administration to provide quality grant implementation throughout the process. The CEHD affiliated grant administrators will support investigators in a seamless implementation of complex business processes requiring multiple levels of coordination and collaboration. Periodic, formal evaluation of offices and personnel involved with funded research infrastructure will provide essential feedback loops aimed at improving quality of services. While continuing to assure central help, the CEHD will strengthen and expand the embedded grants officers and provide them with systematic and continuing training.

The CEHD will prioritize retention of research-active faculty and staff with multiple efforts. A transparent and equitable policy on indirect cost funds across departments will be developed that incentivizes research efforts and clarifies procedures for grants processing. Such a policy may result in departments providing investigators a percentage of indirect cost funds obtained through their sponsored projects.

Research Centers provide opportunity for the generation, application, or testing of knowledge that informs discussions about issues of importance to learning, health, and well-being. The CEHD will continue to cultivate Centers as hubs of integrative research and research-service activities.

The CEHD is in a position to inform lasting and significant advances through scholarly inquiry and distribution. Mechanisms for tracking and publicizing scholarly contributions by faculty and students will be developed. Academic excellence is continuously established through distribution in prestigious, peer-reviewed national and international publications, and presentations at national and international conferences. Additional distribution efforts will be supported through a multi-modal public relations effort aimed at disseminating research activities to a broad and diverse audience.

The CEHD will continue to develop an environment that rewards high-quality research as indicated via local, state, national, and global research awards, funded grants, and academic editorships. We will support existing mechanisms (e.g., Outstanding Faculty Research Mentoring Award) and new initiatives to recognize faculty and students in their research activities and staff in research administration.