Vermont Cynic

Issue date: 4/25/06 Section: Business and Economics

Media Credit: Katie Nally

Vermont Cynic: What duties do you perform as the Vice President of Research?

Vice President Carr: My official title is Vice President of Research and Graduate studies, so there are three primary areas of responsibility. Find opportunities to support faculty and students - opportunities to conduct research, look at new opportunities for bringing collaborations together, to facilitate that process of seeking funds, but also very much enabling the conduct of research, if you will. And as part of the whole academic culture, we have the oversight responsibilities - all of the policies, human subjects - the ethical conduct of research. So, applying for funds, looking for new opportunities, establishing frameworks to allow more research to happen on campus all fall under that element. So, oversight policies, research enabling - another is to think about research connections to the community. Technology transfer, intellectual property, the idea of supporting entrepreneurial opportunities, so if you're a student or a faculty member, and you've got an idea which you'd like applied - that's part of research outreach, research enterprise. And the third is the graduate college - development of graduate programs, oversight of the quality of the programs, graduate faculty are part of that whole enterprise as well. And behind all of that is the strategic planning and financial support for all of that.

Cynic: What would you say that is the most exciting research field on campus right now?

Carr: I think I could say there's a lot. Faculty across the campus are engaged in research and scholarship. I mean, it's just part of who they are - you become a faculty member because you're trying to understand, you're acquiring knowledge to figure out how to solve problems - to understand who we are and how to improve the quality of our lives, and that's who we are as faculty members. That's basically part of every discipline - it doesn't matter whether it's the creative arts, or the sciences - I couldn't pick one, and say that it's more important than any other.

Cynic: Do you think that's a common misconception when people hear the word "research"?

Carr: Yep, I think it's very common for people to associate for people to associate research with someone in a white coat in a laboratory environment. So people think about it as physical science, and it's not - it's research, scholarship, and creative activities.

Continued...

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