Academic Research Administrators Should Be Seen As Scientists' Friends, Not Adversaries

From my window in the University of Pennsylvania's research administration offices, I can see a small but rapidly changing slice of our campus. Three blocks away, a new biomedical building is being adorned with a brick and limestone facing. Behind the library directly across the street, a huge construction crane towers over the site of the latest addition to our hospital. The block-square parking lot next door is the future location of what many consider a critically needed campus center to house student activities. It is a scene not uncommon at many large research universities--still expanding, still confident that the success of the last decade can sustain them through the 1990s. But as I sit down to begin my day's work, it occurs to me that the resources needed to sustain the vast enterprise of research, education, and health care on our campuses are far from assured. While the '80s were good years, with balanced budgets, rapidly increasing research support, highly successful fund raising, and solid enrollments, the future of some, if not all, of these revenue sources is now threatened. At the same time, we are facing ever greater regulation and oversight from city, state, and local governments, as well as demands for better stewardship from students, alumni, the public, and the media. Given all of this, our ability to generate the income just to support our ongoing research and other activities, let alone expand them, is uncertain. Nevertheless, pressure mounts from the scientists on campus for research administrators to make sure that a steady flow of funding to support their work continues unabated. Not infrequently, the more impatient among the scientists seem to regard us as penny-pinching adversaries. It would be comforting, probably more productive, if they saw us instead as colleagues, working to meet their needs against very difficult odds in an extremely difficult economic environment. Information in the periodicals, agency bulletins, guidelines, and government regulations that flow across my desk constantly reminds me of the challenges we share: Federal appropriations for basic research that are not keeping pace with inflation, or are actually shrinking; proposed limitations on indirect costs recovery; massive cuts in the defense budget that impact the hiring of our graduates, particularly in science and engineering; refocusing of research priorities to goal-oriented, more applied research; increasing oversight and regulation from every direction, such as the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's more stringent inspections of the use of radioisotopes in research; new requirements for laboratory animal care; more restrictive rules on conflict of interest; and seemingly never-ending audits by everybody. Financially strapped cities are questioning the tax-exempt status of many organizations and are seeking payments for services in lieu of taxes. Meanwhile, the states reveal a growing inability or unwillingness to continue the level of support higher education has come to expect and depend upon. While daunting, these challenges present a real opportunity for research administrators to demonstrate their creativity and skills. As facilitators, oriented to providing service to our primary customers--the scientists--we will truly have our abilities tested over the next several years. Above all, perhaps, we need to provide all of our services in the most efficient and effective way possible, whether this is achieved through such techniques as "total quality management" or "business reengineering"--or through the application of common sense. We grant administrators know what our job is, and, clearly, the road ahead is not going to be smooth. We must focus our energies on meeting the needs of our customers, and as we go about the task, scientists should know how committed we are to working with them and for them, not against them or their interests. Anthony Merritt is director of sponsored programs in the University of Pennsylvania's Office of Research Administration.

Academic Research Administrators Should Be Seen As Scientists' Friends, Not Adversaries

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