Office of the Executive Vice President and Provost

Integrated Interdisciplinary Inquiry (III) Task Force

Proposal

To develop necessary policies, strategies, priorities, and structure to create an environment that is conducive to significant growth in integrated interdisciplinary inquiry in the areas of research and innovation, curriculum development and teaching, and community engagement and service. This is a significant component of Goal 2 of our institutional Strategic Plan 2007-2012. This Task Force will be advisory to the Executive Vice President and Provost.

Rationale

Though the need for growth in research, innovation, curriculum development, and community service in interdisciplinary areas are well accepted and understood at USF, there remain major barriers to accomplishing them at a scale necessary to propel USF to the aspired AAU tier. Our faculty has achieved much through individual and small group efforts/vision. It is time to build on this foundation through concerted USF wide initiatives.

Charge

The Task Force on Integrated Interdisciplinary Inquiry (III) will conduct a thorough investigation of the best practices nationwide, strengths and opportunities at USF, and current impediments. The task force will submit a detailed report outlining the necessary policies, strategies, priorities, and structure. The following are some of the key areas/topics/steps to explore among others.

Identifying Best Practices

• Define the scope of III in research & innovation, teaching, curriculum development, and community engagement
• Identify institutions (preferably AAU) that have done well in various areas of III and could serve as our benchmarks.
• Learn approaches used by benchmark providing institutions and invite their leadership to visit and help us.

Strengths and Opportunities at USF

• Identify existing pockets of III; examine how they started; how they are doing; and if they are able to achieve their potential
• Identify the pockets of opportunities that are yet unexplored; investigate why they are unexplored; what would trigger them off
• What new opportunities can be created through new hires, reorganization, etc.

Current Impediments (Institutional, Cultural, and Individual)

• Investigate institutional impediments and their possible remedies
• Joint appointments; faculty responsibilities in joint appointments; tenure promotion guidelines; performance yardstick; reporting structure (overlapping with the Faculty Roles, Responsibilities, and Rewards taskforce)
• Credit sharing for joint grants and rules for determining credits; sharing F&A; credits for joint publication; credits for joint advising of doctoral students (implications on tenure and promotion)
• Credit sharing for developing interdisciplinary curriculum and teaching classes; how to count them in performance evaluation
• Investigate cultural impediments and their possible remedies:
  • Examples are
    • We have never done this before….
    • Why do we need to chase AAU …
    • We are supposed to be “open access teaching” university…
• Investigate individual impediments and their possible remedies:
• What will motivate the faculty to take the next step to III (explicit expectation)
• Balance between “single investigator” research and III
• What to seek in new hires; format for interviews for faculty with III expectation

Policy Recommendations

• Recommend a set of policy and procedures to create the environment in which III can thrive

Strategy Recommendations

• Based on the above, develop a detailed strategy that could help us undertake the III initiative

Setting Action Priorities

• Provide recommendations in terms of action priorities for projects to undertake

Tentative Timeline

• Task Force of up to 10 members established by mid Sept 2008
• Task Force deliberates till end October, creates and initiates task based committees
• Interactive webpage open for faculty input from mid-March to early-April
• Specific task based committees deliver their recommendations early April 2009
• Task Force reconvenes to prepare the final report to the Provost and Senior Vice President by May 15, 2009

Task Force Documents

• Task Force Report
• Task Force Faculty
• Facilitating Interdisciplinary Research, from: National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of
  Engineering, and Institute of Medicine
• Task Force invitation email from Drs. Das and Tobin

Coordinators

Tapas K. Das and Graham Tobin
Sondra Fogel - Chair of Task Force

Task Force Members

View a list of the Task Force and Committee Members