Evaluation of Existing Centers

Guidelines for the Evaluation of  Existing Centers  

Annual Review

The associate dean for research is responsible for the annual evaluation of college research centers. Evaluation will be based on multiple factors.

One key indicator of interest is the extent to which the center’s impact drives its allocation from the college. The ratio of the research support to administrative allocation captures this. However, because the research support allocation is based on a three-year average (to provide some stability to this funding component), to create an indicator sensitive to yearly performance, we will recalculate this ratio substituting only the latest year’s annual expenditure for the three-year average. We will refer to this ratio as the annual impact-to-administration ratio.

The center annual report will also qualitatively capture information on current year’s research impact beyond that captured by research expenditures. This will be taken into consideration independently (note that the previous year’s qualitative information will have informed the research support allocation adjustment factor for the current year that has a direct impact on the annual impact-to-administration ratio as described above). The associate dean for research will also consider other aspects of performance and major exigencies when assessing center performance.

Annual reports will be submitted following a standard template. More information about annual reporting is available in a separate document shared with center directors. The associate dean for research will meet with each center director annually to review their report. This meeting will be predominantly formative, with the associate dean providing advice for the director and center as a whole as needed. However, after this meeting and any follow-up discussion, the associate dean will then also submit a summary to the department head and dean for use in the faculty evaluation process.

Comprehensive review

In accordance with guidelines established by the Senior Vice President for Research, a comprehensive review will take place after three years for a new center and every five years thereafter. Responsibility for initiating and implementing the periodic review of research centers and center directors rests with the associate dean for research. Review components will be comprised of the previous five years of the center’s Annual Reports, a 5-year strategic plan, and a budget report. It will also include an assessment by internal and external reviewers.