The University announced June 29 the beginning of its search for a new vice president for research and economic development.
In April, Indiana University announced that the previous vice president for research and economic development at The University of Alabama, Russell J. Mumper, would be joining its ranks in an equivalent position on July 1. Then, in May, The University of Alabama designated Allen Parrish the interim vice president for research and economic development.
The vice president reports to President Stuart Bell as the chief research officer of the University and head of the Office for Research and Economic Development. The position oversees research development, contract and grant accounting, research compliance and ethics, and commercialization.
ORED is composed of several units that serve to promote and protect research on campus by administering grant money, creating industry partnerships and ensuring research compliance.
Clifford Henderson, dean and professor at the College of Engineering, is leading the search committee for the role, accompanied by 10 other members from both within and outside the University.
A UA webpage says the University “seeks a strategic and collaborative leader with a distinguished scholarly profile and enterprising spirit to serve as its Vice President for Research & Economic Development.”
Other qualities the University is looking for include a record of receiving and managing large-scale funded research projects, strong leadership and management skills, and expertise and insight about the future of sponsored research.
Sharlene Newman, executive director of Alabama Life Research Institute and member of the search committee, said in a statement to The Crimson White that the University is at a “critical moment” and needs someone who can continue moving the institution forward.
Newman said that to do that, the new vice president must continue investments in research infrastructure to streamline grant application and management and support research compliance and computing.
“Collaboration between the VP and provost is critical to ensure that we can recruit and retain highly research productive faculty, increase stipends for doctoral students to improve our ability to attract them, increase the number of postdoctoral researchers, and increase the number [of] research scientists within the non-tenure [track] faculty ranks,” she said. “These are all things that top R1 institutions are doing.”
In 2018, the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education granted the University the “R1” status for doctoral universities with very high research activity, the highest possible status an institution can receive.
According to expenditure data from the National Science Foundation’s most recent Higher Education Research and Development Survey, the University had the highest percentage growth rate of research and development expenditures among SEC schools. The school increased its expenditures from fiscal year 2017 to 2021 by 105%, from around $63.3 million to about $129.5 million.
However, the University ranked 13th in the SEC and 150th nationwide for research expenditure amounts for fiscal year 2021 in the same HERD survey. The top-ranking SEC school was Texas A&M, with over $1.1 billion in research expenditures.
Sponsored awards have similarly grown between fiscal years 2018 and 2022, from $99.14 million to $211.4 million. As defined by ORED, sponsored awards or projects are externally funded and require a contract between the University and a sponsor, defining a specific use for the money and financial accountability for its use.
While it isn’t clear how long the search will last, a recent search for a different position, the vice president for student life, lasted over a year, while the search for a new executive vice president and provost lasted around six months, from November 2019 to May 2020.
