Month: April 2011

Executive Vice President for Finance and Administration Mike Mandl reported to the Faculty Council at its April 19 meeting that a new Faculty Advisory Committee is currently being formed to provide feedback for his areas of responsibility. This new advisory body results from yearlong conversations between Mandl and the Executive Commitee of the Council. The committee, which will consist of eight to ten faculty members with at least three from the current Council, will offer guidance on potential changes in practice and policy, advise on priority areas of focus that support faculty in their work, and provide channels of communication between the Executive Vice President for Finance and Administration and the larger Emory faculty community. Particular areas of consideration include human resources, finance, campus services, master plan, internal audit, investment management, and two areas of shared responsibility with the provost and EVP for health affairs, information technology and research administration. The committee, now being populated, will meet four to six times per year beginning next year.

At the April meeting, President James Wagner discussed his service on an American Association of Universities committee to advise a National Research Council study on university-government research partnerships. “We were asked for a list of suggestions that are budget neutral but that would improve our access to funds or our ability to carry out the national science agenda,” he said. “We’ve identified a handful of policies that have accreted over the years that cost us money and do no one any good.” For example, he said, there may now be some traction for eliminating NIH effort reporting while allowing universities to retain related funds. Also being reconsidered, however, is the calculation of indirect costs, so that the percentage provided in federal research support to cover facilities and administrative costs would be uniformly applied to all universities, Wagner explained. “We have a negotiated rate in the neighborhood of 55 percent,” but with uniform application, that rate could be significantly adjusted, affecting university research support. President Wagner added that he would like to identify a faculty group to “become experts” on this issue.

From other reports the Faculty Council heard at its April meeting:

• Professor of Marketing Doug Bowman reported that the University Research Committee had allocated more than $1 million in short-term grants to 38 faculty in 2010-11.
• Wright Caughman, executive vice president of health affairs and CEO of the Woodruff Health Science Center, updated the Council on the agreement between Emory Healthcare and St. Joseph’s Hospital to form a joint operating company. “We put forth a partnership in which Emory Healthcare would have controlling interest . . . but it would be a partnership to operate St. Joseph’s as a part of Emory Healthcare,” Caughman said. “There will be lots of planning over the summer, but the contractual relationship will not be finalized until after Labor Day.” Caughman also noted that the “core assets” and strategic direction of Emory Healthcare and the Woodruff Health Sciences Center would not be compromised, but “only enhanced in terms of education and translational research.”