Associate Vice President for Research and Federal Relations

Research Advisory Committee

Vision: The Texas State Research Advisory Council (RAC) will be a model program for the state of Texas of providing seamless research administration for universities and colleges.

Mission: The mission of the RAC is to serve Texas State faculty and staff pursuing grants and contracts by making the process, from conception to completion, simple and thorough, while at the same time assuring that Texas State is compliant with all regulations (federal, state, board of regents and university).

Council Makeup: The RAC is made up of one representative, who has significant grant experience, from each academic college and staff from the Office of the Associate Vice President for Research.

Responsibilities of RAC Members: College-level RAC representatives meet with faculty in their colleges to discuss the process(es) to learn what processes are problematic for faculty. The full council meets once a semester, or more often if deemed necessary, to review problems, to discuss ways of improving processes, and to make recommendations to modify, abolish, or create new processes and/or policies. College reps also report to members of their colleges how these suggestions are being dealt with.

Goals:

1. Improve processes for faculty/staff who prepare proposals and administer grants/contracts
2. Assure that Texas State is compliant with federal, state, regents, and university regulations

Objectives:

Goal 1: Improve processes for faculty/staff who prepare proposals and administer grants/contracts

1. Each college-level representative meets individually with all faculty or staff in his/her college who have prepared proposals and/or have funded grants or contracts.
2. Each college-level representative develops a list of complaints/suggested improvements.
3. At monthly meetings, the Council representatives suggest ways to improve processes they have identified. If several issues/problems/processes are identified at one time, they will be dealt with in order of priority.
4. As appropriate, the Directors of OSP and GCA will make recommendations and/or refer suggestions to GAP, the VPFSS and VPAA, and/or the President.

Goal 2: Assure that Texas State is compliant with federal, state, regents, and university regulations

1. The Directors of OSP and GCA will review all UPPSs and PPSs on grants administration. This review will take place on a systematic basis (for example, one document per month) so that all UPPSs and PPSs can be examined annually on a regular, rotating schedule.
2. The Directors will identify processes and policies that should be changed in existing policies.
3. The full Council will discuss ways to modify the existing policies and revise them.
4. The Directors will make sure that each UPPS and PPS is submitted through the proper channels to make official revisions and get the revised document posted on the Texas State web site.
5. The full Council will review Texas State practices to make sure that all Texas State policies are being followed.
6. The Directors will review, on a regular schedule, federal, state, and regents policies to make sure that Texas State is in compliance.
7. In cases where Texas State is not in compliance, the Directors will work with the full Council to make suggestions for revisions to Texas State practices and policies to assure that the university remains compliant with all regulations.
8. The Directors will share all of these recommendations with GAP and seek advice from GAP before incorporating changes/additions into University policies.