UIF Working Group hears comments from campus

UW President Richard L. McCormick appointed the University Initiatives Fund Working Group in late October to review the UIF process and draft proposed revised guidelines for consideration by the campus community.

The committee chair, Vice Provost for Research Alvin L. Kwiram, met with the Board of Deans, the Faculty Senate Planning and Budgeting Committee, the University Budgeting Committee, the Proposal Review Committee for the first round of UIF proposals and others to listen to concerns and suggestions. The UIF Working Group dealt with several issues, including the evaluation of proposals, the alignment of UIF goals with schools and colleges, the interdisciplinary nature of proposals, the balance between large and small proposals, between large and small schools and colleges and between academic and administrative functions, feedback to applicants, and measuring outcomes of UIF projects.

In the adjacent article are some observations about the findings of the UIF Working Group. The draft revised guidelines (on page 3) represent the committee's effort to respond to the concerns it received.

The UIF Working Group invites your comments and suggests. Please submit them to the Office of Research at Box 351237.

The UIF draft revised guidelines and the observations of the Working Group are also available on the web at http://www.washington.edu/uif/. ¶