Memo dated November 4, 2011

DRDA Review and Name Change

Over the past year, a senior-level U-M Review Committee conducted a review of the Division of Research Development and Administration (DRDA), examining its performance, practices and organizational structure in the light of the emerging needs of our research community. Based on this review OVPR is now in the process of reorganizing DRDA to provide more efficient and targeted services by developing stronger partnerships with research administrative staff in the Schools, Colleges, and departments. Below are the key considerations and steps moving forward:

The name of DRDA will be changed to the Office of Research and Sponsored Projects (ORSP) effective January 1, 2012, to better reflect the function of the unit.
ORSP will group Project Representatives (PRs) into five teams, each aligned with specific Schools or Colleges as follows:
- Medical School/Health System
- Dentistry, Pharmacy and Nursing
- Engineering and LSA
- Institute for Social Research and School of Public Health
- All other Schools and Colleges
The PR teams are being formed this winter and new processes will be rolled out to campus no later than summer.
Each ORSP team will work closely with the research administrators of its assigned School(s) and College(s) to focus on the PIs proposal and award needs. Central and unit administrators will collaborate to develop improved workflows for processing of proposals and the provision of other administrative services.
A search has started for a full-time Executive Director to manage the reorganized ORSP.
Looking further ahead, PIs and research administrative staff will be asked at regular intervals to evaluate the performance of the central research administration operation. This feedback and other measures of operational success will be shared annually with the University community.

As always, I welcome your thoughts and feedback as we move forward.

Sincerely,
Stephen R. Forrest
Vice President for Research

November 4, 2011

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