Theme: Research, Creativity, and Engagement

VCEA aims to hire and retain excellent faculty at all levels by fostering engagement, recognition, and support. We plan to retain faculty through various initiatives, including connecting them with established researchers through events and system-wide programs, recognizing their accomplishments by nominating them for awards, providing training opportunities, and facilitating research team-building activities. Evaluation metrics include but not limited tracking inter-campus collaborations, hires, vacancies, and faculty departures, which indicate retention effectiveness.

VCEA aims to support the success of junior faculty by developing comprehensive training programs. These include workshops for regular NSF and NSF CAREER proposals, organized by the ADR office, Reading and Discussion Group sessions led by Assistant Dean Kacey Beddeos, and activities to foster connections outside VCEA, such as day trips to PNNL and Spokane Medical School. Qualified junior faculty will receive additional support from a professional writer for NSF CAREER. To enhance teaching, VCEA will support junior faculty participation in workshops like NETI. Evaluation metrics include the number of submitted and funded proposals, multi-disciplinary submissions, and junior faculty teaching evaluations, where possible. These efforts aim to bolster junior faculty’s research and teaching effectiveness.

VCEA’s strategy to enhance graduate student recruitment through invited faculty visits to top-tier universities. VCEA will prepare promotion materials and train faculty members on effective recruitment. Success is evaluated by tracking applications and admissions from targeted universities and gathering feedback from recruited students.

This activity aims to address the critical need for gap funding to support faculty during periods between research grants. The proposed gap funding program offers solutions by covering research and student expenses during interim periods, maintaining research momentum, enhancing faculty competitiveness, and supporting student success. Benefits include increased faculty productivity, improved graduate student quality, stronger research output, and a better institutional reputation.  

VCEA aims to harness the strengths of its faculty across campuses, promote collaboration and foster a sense of belonging. Proposed strategies include travel funding for faculty to visit other campuses to establish new collaborations and give talks and travel support for faculty, staff, and students receiving VCEA awards to attend the events in Pullman. Additionally, travel funding would be provided for faculty and students participating in the annual research showcase and competitions. Success will be evaluated by tracking the number of inter-campus collaborations, new collaborative proposals, and students presenting work at different campuses, supporting a culture of connection and shared research progress across the VCEA system.

Graduate student fellowships are prestigious and competitive, showcasing the program’s quality. To support this, VCEA will offer training sessions for faculty and students on available fellowships, application processes, evaluation criteria, and timelines, potentially including panel discussions with experienced faculty reviewers. The initiative’s success will be assessed annually by tracking the number of fellowship applications submitted and awarded to VCEA graduate students.