Structure
The Office of Research (OoR), led by the Vice Provost for Research, includes three organizational entities:
- Office of Research Services (ORS)
- Office of Compliance (OC)
- Undergraduate Research Center (URC)
Office of Research Services (ORS)
The ORS, directed by Dr. Myra Norman, is primarily responsible for all pre-award and post-award grant and contract activities. The ORS pre-award group helps faculty identify funding opportunities and submit proposals to federal and state agencies for research, instruction, and public service funding. The post-award group monitors grants and contracts and ensures compliance with federal and state laws and reporting requirements. In addition, ORS is responsible for new faculty orientation, proposal development workshops, and faculty training in securing funding and in managing grants and contracts.
Office of Compliance (OC)
The Office of Compliance (OC) is responsible for the Institutional Review Board (IRB), the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC), the Institutional Biosafety Committee (IBC), and Responsible Conduct of Research. The OC ensures compliance with all applicable state and federal laws pertaining to research involving human subjects, animals, and specific biological agents. The Vice Provost for Research is the Institutional Official for the IRB, IACUC, and IBC and has responsibility for the Responsible Conduct of Research.
The Undergraduate Research Center (URC)
The Undergraduate Research Center (URC), managed by Peggy Duszynski, is responsible for fostering and managing undergraduate research programs. Last year MTSU invested almost $700,000 in undergraduate research through the URC, the STEPMT grant, and the McNair Scholars program. The URC will award approximately $127,000 for the 2009-2010 academic year to undergraduate scholars as competitive funding for research in their chosen discipline.
Mission
The mission of these groups is to provide service and support to faculty involved in research, instruction, and/or public service grants and contracts. We encourage principal investigators to get the pre-award staff involved in proposal development and submittal and the postaward staff involved in grant administration as soon as possible in the process. Our goal is to help make grant work easier for the faculty and support staff.
