Research office welcomes input to develop new strategic plan
March 28th, 2007
Raising the University of Louisville to its next level of research excellence is a task that “will take the effort of many.”
So says Manuel Martinez-Maldonado, who became the university’s executive vice president for research in January. Martinez is seeking faculty and staff input for a new strategic plan to advance UofL toward its goal of becoming a leading research institution.
Martinez and UofL President James Ramsey sent an e-mail Tuesday to all university faculty and staff that asked for their feedback on a list of possible ways to advance the university’s research mission.
The Office of Research has extended its original deadline to allow more faculty, staff, alumni and community members to submit suggestions for the research plan. The new deadline is April 13. Suggestions can be submitted by using a form built into the website.
The new research plan will be part of an overall university strategic plan now being developed to take UofL through the year 2020, Martinez said.
“We are at a critical point in determining our future as a research institution,” he said. “We are well positioned to move into the top tier of metropolitan research universities, but to achieve that goal we have to find a way to leap ahead.”
UofL has significantly boosted its research capabilities by expanding its technology transfer efforts and creating more new research space, Martinez said. However, that “task is becoming more challenging every day” because of fierce competition for talented researchers and a shrinking pool of federal research dollars, he added.
“Every member of the UofL family has played a role in ‘growing’ our research,” he said. “That’s why we want their help in coming up with our road map for the future.”
Total research expenditures at UofL increased 344 percent from 1999 to 2005, climbing from $28.9 million to $128.3 million. The number of faculty research proposals in the same period rose from 890 to 1,441.
In 2005, UofL received $76 million in National Institutes of Health funding, which put it at a rank of 66.
“We need to move that ranking higher,” Martinez said.
Martinez, president and dean of Puerto Rico’s Ponce School of Medicine from 2000 to 2006, succeeds Nancy Martin, who stepped down after 10 years as UofL’s senior vice president for research.
Related Link
Research Strategic Plan
