VA-SRA
Minutes 12/6/2000
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The winter meeting of the Virginia Chapter of the Society of Research Administrators, "Responsible Conduct of Research from the Perspective of the Research Administrator," was held on Wednesday, December 6, 2000 at Virginia State University. Host Shobha Sriharan, welcomed more than 75 attendees, and outlined the purpose and schedule for the meeting. Dr. James Hunter, Vice Provost for Academic Affairs offered the official Virginia State University welcome. He outlined this history of VSU, which was founded in 1883, and the first Historically Black College in America to be fully supported by state funds. By the fall of 2000, VSU has grown to a population of about 4200 students and 174 full time faculty. Dr. Wayne Virag, Dean, Graduate Studies, Research and Continuing Education at VSU, described how VSU hopes to expand its research activities, and looks forward to collaborating with large and small universities. This would be in keeping with the federal government's aim to support partnerships involving HBCU s along with large and small universities. President Anne Womack of William and Mary welcomed attendees on behalf of VA-SRA. Chuck Chermside, VCU, introduced the keynote speaker, Dr. Frank Macrina, director of the VCU research institute in the School of Dentistry. Dr. Macrina's talk was on "Instruction in Responsible Conduct in Research (RCR)," and detailed the process that has led to the federal requirement for RCR instruction in institutions receiving federal funding for all staff involved in research and research training. He emphasized that it will be important for institutions to integrate this training into the current undergraduate curricula, as well as for graduate students, faculty, lab managers, signing authorities or whomever. It will be important for the university leadership to support the institution's need to comply with this requirement, supplying funds and other resources to enable the training. Dr. Macrina offered several websites and other sources for training materials and information. A session on "Training for Compliance" was conducted by Anne Womack (W&M), Janet Hahn (Radford), Rosemary Kelso and Lisa Balance (VCU). Ms. Hahn covered basics of RCR, and Ms. Womack covered Compliance Education Delivery. Ms. Kelso and Ms. Balance discussed compliance initiatives at VCU, including human subjects compliance training and research involving animals, as well as issues related to chemical and biosafety, radiation safety, and occupational health. The group engaged in roundtable discussions over lunch. Topics/facilitators included:
During the Business Meeting which convened at approximately 1:00 pm., the minutes were approved as amended (page 2: 'our members' changed to "section officers"). New Business: It was moved, seconded and unanimously approved that Billie Martin Lowry (VCU) has assumed the role of Treasurer, as Evelyn Mink has moved to a new job at GWU. The new VA-SRA website was announced (www.va-sra.org). Members are encouraged to use as a bulletin board, to sign up for the listserve, and to look for fellowship opportunities on the website. It was announced that the next meeting will be hosted by Virginia Tech. Janet Hahn asked members for suggestions and volunteers for the meeting planning committee and presenters. The Business Meeting adjourned at 1:20 pm. After the Business Meeting, a session on "Responsible Administration of Research" was led by Pat Hobbs (VA Tech) and Mark Roberts (W&M). The following session was "ERA and Other Types of Time Savers: Some Things That Work, Some that Don't, and Some That Are Still in Progress," led by Mike Ludwick (W&M), Chuck Chermside (VCU) and Pat Buennemeyer (JMU). Before departure, participants were reminded by President-elect Janet Hahn to complete and turn in their evaluation forms.She also reminded us that the next meeting would be in the spring at Virginia Tech. The meeting ended at about 3:35 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Diana Thompson
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