Making progress on the 'grand challenge' issues facing society demands productive collaboration among academics and stakeholders both within and across disciplines and sectors. To facilitate such collaborations, higher education institutions convene a range of organizational structures intended to promote productive interactions. These structures…

Institutional research management (RM) is increasingly seen as a strategic force, not only to raise the research output per academic, but also the quality thereof. RM, therefore, has to attend to researcher development (RD). How RD is achieved, as part of RM, is still viewed as an embryonic field with attendant calls for additional research.…

In 2001, the Texas state legislature created the Texas Excellence Fund (TEF) and the University Research Fund (URF) with the purpose of supporting institutional excellence and research capacity at general academic institutions. During the 2002-2003 biennium, participating Texas public universities received revenues from these funds (Legislative…

This paper examines the characteristics and organizational issues associated with university-based research centers. The first section sketches general characteristics and functions of centers. The second section examines major issues concerning the organization of centers, including funding and sustainability, center autonomy, and relations with…

The process of creating and transitioning the storehouse of university research and development to commercial products is by its nature a true partnership of great university innovators, experienced entrepreneurs and adequate funding sources. In the United States, the process of university innovation to commercialization begins deep in university…