University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) invites nominations and applications for the position of Vice President for Research, for a term beginning July 1, 2013.

About the University of Maryland, Baltimore County

UMBC is a vibrant public doctoral research university and a member of the University System of Maryland with an annual operating budget of $370 million.  It is a rapidly growing Carnegie Research ranked university with  $78 million in sponsored research, training contracts and grants.  With an enrollment of 10,953 undergraduate and 2,684 graduate students, UMBC is highly selective and widely recognized as a national model for strengthening academic diversity and undergraduate research achievement. UMBC offers 43 majors and 41 minors, as well as 20 certificate programs through its College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences; College of Engineering and Information Technology; College of Natural and Mathematical Sciences; Erickson School; and School of Social Work.  UMBC’s Graduate School offers 36 master’s degree programs, 24 doctoral degree programs and 17 graduate certificates.. UMBC contributes to the economic development of the State and the region through entrepreneurial initiatives, workforce training, K-16 partnerships, and technology commercialization in collaboration with public agencies and the corporate community.

The university was founded in 1966 and is situated on 500 acres in suburban Baltimore along the Baltimore-Washington corridor. Only 15 minutes from Baltimore’s Inner Harbor and 45 minutes from Washington, D.C., students and faculty have unlimited resources of local, state and federal government at their fingertips.  UMBC has been recognized by US News & World Report as the nation’s top “Up and Coming” school for four consecutive years and has been chosen two years running as a “Great College to Work For” by The Chronicle. Further  information about the University of Maryland, Baltimore County can be found at at: www.umbc.edu.

About The Office of Research Administration

Maintaining a strong, diversified portfolio of research and sponsored programs is a UMBC priority.  In FY 2012, contract-and-grant awards totaled $78 million. NIH, NSF, and NASA continue to be UMBC’s three heaviest supporters.  The university has recently received several major awards, including $2.6 million in funding to Center for Urban Environmental Research and Education (CUERE), which has played a prominent role in UMBC’s emergence as a leader in environmental sciences.  The Center for Aging Studies received a $1.37 Million NIH Grant for Diabetes Research. The Department of Computer Science & Electrical Engineering received a five-year, $2.5 million grant from NSF to support the production of undergraduate and graduate degrees through cybersecurity courses and mentored research, including research at partner organizations – from Northrop Grumman, Johns Hopkins Applied Physics lab, and Convergent Technologies to the Department of Defense Cyber Crime Institute and PaRaBaL (an industry leader in mobile device security).  Recently UMBC and Northrop Grumman Foundation announced they are partnering to launch the UMBC Cyber Scholars program, which is to be housed in the university’s new Cybersecurity Center, and run in partnership with the UMBC Center for Women in Technology. The Northrop Grumman Foundation will provide a $1 million grant to launch the program. Other substantial awards include a $600,000 grant to the Center for Women in Technology (CWIT), which brings the Center’s portfolio to more than $800,000; a $980,000 award from GE Healthcare to the Center for Advanced Sensor Technology; a $640,000 grant from Europharma to UMBC’s new Department of Marine Biotechnology, and two new grants from the Maryland Department of Health & Mental Hygiene to the Maryland Institute for Policy Analysis & Research (MIPAR) for more than $1.5 million.

Several key organizational units make up the Office of Research Administration, which is supervised by the Vice President for Research with the support of two Assistant Vice Presidents for Research who report to the VPR.

The Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP) is institutionally responsible for all pre award–and non-financial post-award–functions including proposal submissions, the negotiation and acceptance of all sponsored agreements on behalf of UMBC, award modifications, subrecipient monitoring, and non-financial closeout of awards. OSP works with the unit administration to provide assistance to faculty/staff with proposal preparation, applicable sponsor guidelines, and sponsored projects training, education, and communication. OSP works closely with the Office of Contract and Grant Accounting (OCGA) in managing all of our extramural awards as well as campus outreach initiatives for sponsored projects.

The Office of Research Protections and Compliance (ORPC) provides a centralized resource to ensure UMBC conducts its research activities in a manner consistent with federal, state and institutional regulatory requirements. ORPC works with the UMBC community to follow the highest ethical standards governing research activities and achieve compliance in areas such as human subjects protection, animal care and use, responsible conduct of research, conflicts of interest, export control, etc.

The Office of Technology Development assists the UMBC community in all phases of intellectual property protection and commercialization including: evaluating disclosed inventions for patentability and market potential; filing patent applications, copyright and trademark registrations; reviewing and negotiating material transfer agreements and non-disclosure agreements; negotiating technology licenses; license monitoring and revenue distribution and assisting entrepreneurial faculty in new company formation.

In addition, the Directors of several Centers and Institutes report to the VPR. The VPR’s office also manages several internal university grants programs.

More detailed information about the Office of the VPR is available at the web site http://research.umbc.edu/.

Role and Responsibilities of the Vice President for Research

The University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) seeks an innovative leader to serve as Vice President for Research (VPR). The VPR reports to the Provost of the University and plays a leading role in establishing the University’s research agenda and advancing its research mission.  S/he is responsible for providing intellectual leadership to advance UMBC’s research mission is at the core of the position. A close working relationship with the President, Provost, the Vice President for Institutional Advancement, the Vice President for Finance, and Dean of the Graduate School is essential for the support of the research education missions of the campus.

Responsibilities include the following:

• Serving as a catalyst for research innovation and for the integration of research and undergraduate/graduate/post-doctoral education across the institution.
• Identifying, developing, expanding, and sustaining public and private sources of research funding.
• Managing the Offices of Sponsored Programs, Research Compliance, and Technology Development so that they can provide efficient services to departments, and coordinating with the financial services, especially contract and grant accounting.
• Developing new (and sustaining existing) research infrastructure, especially core facilities that are important to cross-disciplinary scholarship and difficult to maintain within a department or college. Leveraging the presence of federal research centers and local universities to develop some infrastructure through collaborative endeavors.
• Collaborating with on-campus and off-campus partners to identify and engage in innovative strategies to strengthen technology transfer, venture creation, and other economic development initiatives.
• Fostering and facilitating opportunities for interdisciplinary collaborations within and outside the university.
• Bringing visibility to the research accomplishments of the university both within and outside the campus.

Qualifications and Desirable Characteristics

The successful candidate the Vice President for Research will have record that demonstrates:

• An outstanding record of research accomplishments commensurate with the rank of Full Professor, including but not limited to a record of sustained research funding;
• A demonstrated record of organizational and research leadership;
• The breadth of knowledge and foresight needed to identify existing, emerging, and interdisciplinary fields for investment both in and across all colleges and disciplines at UMBC with the objective of positioning the University as a world leader in research;
• Knowledge of and successful experience with private and public funding agencies, private corporations, and foundations;
• The skills and initiative to work with the faculty and administration stakeholders across campus to champion research, build initiatives on campus and beyond to increase significantly external research funding, and successfully compete for program opportunities nationally and globally.

UMBC is looking for a person who not only sees the “big picture” but can execute in a way that the big picture becomes a reality. Knowledge of grant and contract administration and other areas of responsibility of the VPR office described below are also important. Candidates must be committed to UMBC’s core values of excellence and inclusiveness in relation to the research enterprise, especially as it relates to UMBC’s position as an “Honors University in Maryland.”

Inquiries, nominations, and applications for the VPR position should be directed to:

Dr. Ilene H. Nagel and Mirah Horowitz
Search Committee Consultants
Russell Reynolds Associates
UMBCvpr@russellreynolds.com

UMBC, in compliance with Titles VI and VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, does not discriminate on the basis of race, creed, color, national origin, mental or physical handicap, age, gender, or sexual orientation in any of its policies, practices or procedures. This policy covers, but is not limited to, admissions, employment, financial aid, educational services, programs, and activities.