Partnerships to Leverage, Enhance, and Sustain Internal and External Support:

From Individual Collaborations….to National Coalitions

AASCU Grants Resource Center • Sofitel, Washington, DC • August 17, 2015

Elizabeth Ambos, Executive Officer

Council on Undergraduate Research

“ORGANIZING AS A PARTNERSHIP CAN BE DESIRABLE IN HUMAN-CAPITAL INTENSIVE INDUSTRIES WHERE PRODUCT QUALITY IS HARD TO OBSERVE. ”

Levin, Jonathan and Tadelis, Steven, A Theory of Partnerships (October 2002). Stanford Law and Economics Olin Working Paper No. 244. Available at SSRN:

http://ssrn.com/abstract=311159 orhttp://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.311159

Main Points Partnerships serve to create

a “whole that is greater than a sum of the parts”

Individual – the importance of relationships, particularly Ph.D. lineage

Academic institution – the importance of the region

Societies/Associations – the importance of aligned mission

Advocacy/Thought Leadership Coalitions – the importance of crisis/readiness

National Conference on Undergraduate Research University of Kentucky, April 2014

Individual

• This is where all partnerships start

• What is particularly important for research and sponsored programs staff to know:

• Ph.D. lineage, post-doctoral appointments, first academic position play a big role in:

– Research topics

– Research culture

– Predicting likely partners

Yes….Academic Genealogy has its own wikipedia entry….

Academic Genealogy Studies on the Rise

Examples of Academic Genealogy

CUR

Started by 10 chemists in 1978

Academic Institutional

• How partnerships often are administered

• What is particularly important for research and sponsored programs staff to know:

• Regional associations and/or institutional history/mission affinity play a big role in:

– Federal categorical funding (e.g. NSF EPSCoR, NIH IDeA, Department of Education Title III, V)

– Systems of state higher education

– Research matched to regional workforce and services needs

CUR

Started by 10 chemists in 1978

All at small private undergraduate institutions

Societies/Associations

• How partnerships align with value propositions

• What is particularly important for research and sponsored programs staff to know:

• Societies/Associations play a big role in defining partnership value

– AASCU “Stewards of Place” paradigm offers important cultural framework to assist AASCU institutions in presenting their value to regional stakeholders

CUR

Started by 10 chemists in 1978

All at small private undergraduate institutions

With support from the American Chemical Society and Research Corporation for Science

Advancement

Council on Undergraduate

Research • The mission of the Council on Undergraduate Research is to support

and promote high-quality undergraduate student-faculty collaborative research and scholarship

• Eleven discipline-based divisions: Arts & Humanities, Biology, Chemistry, Education, Geosciences, Health Sciences, Mathematics & Computer Science, Physics & Astronomy, Psychology, Social Sciences, Engineering.

• Two multidisciplinary, administrative-based divisions:

At-Large and Undergraduate Research Program Directors.

• From central core of small PUI four-year college membership – rapid expansion to comprehensives, research-intensive and community college institutions

• CUR joining with NCUR in 2011 means expanded emphasis on and direction from undergraduate students

0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000

08-09

09-10

10-11

11-12

12-13

13-14

14-15

CUR Membership Growth Patterns: Rise of non-STEM and UR Directors

Arts and Humanities

Biology

Chemistry

Social Science

URPD

Advocacy/Thought Leadership Coalition

• How partnerships rise to the challenge to address crises and foster opportunities

• What is particularly important for research and sponsored programs staff to know:

– Coalition for National Science Funding (CNSF)

• Recent emphasis on social, behavioral, and economic sciences funding

– Non-Defense Discretionary Task Force

• Created in response to sequestration, which squeezes investments in NSF, NIH, NASA, DoE, etc.

COEUR – Characteristics of Excellence in

Undergraduate Research Key Factors: Establishment of central UR

campus office Extensive student/faculty

participation in campus celebratory events

Development of consistent assessment of UR’s impact

Establishment of policies for recognizing/rewarding faculty engagement in UR

Increasingly used as a benchmarking strategy by institutions

CUR instituted a recognition program in 2015

Coalition for National Science Funding (CNSF)

• CNSF is an alliance of over 140 professional organizations, universities and businesses

• Dedicated to increase NSF funding

• Sees the need for more NSF funding as urgent

• Strives to creatively support and advocate for NSF

– Special effort in 2014-15 to help support advocacy for the NSF SBE

– Currently engaged in advocacy for America COMPETES reauthorization

http://www.cnsfweb.org/

Http://www.nddunited.org

NDD United – More than 3,000 Strong!

Questions for the Future

• Given that federally-funded research undertaken by higher education is both under siege, and is a “human capital intensive industry where product quality is hard to observe”[Levin and Tadelis, 2002], how do we:

– Partner to connect the AASCU “Stewards of Place” paradigm with federal funding?

– Communicate the benefits of research to all stakeholders?

– Translate the outcomes of research to tangible benefits for all stakeholders?

– Form the most effective research partnerships, starting with individual faculty members?

734 15th St NW, Suite 550

Washington, DC 20005

202-783-4810

www.cur.org

cur@cur.org

Council on Undergraduate Research Learning Through Research

For more information about CUR please

contact:

Elizabeth L. Ambos (eambos@cur.org)