University Research Committee Co-chairs' Update on Activities and Charges

Update on Charges and Activities of The University Research Committee Co-chairs: Bodour Salhia and Darnell Cole Academic Senate Meeting March 21, 2023

URC 2022-2023 Charges Staffing and Research Infrastructure Culture and Graduate Students

Committee and Subcommittee Roster Infrastructure and Staffing X X Graduate Students X X First name Last name Bodour Darnell Role Co-chair Keck Co-chair Rossier School Title/Appt T Tenure Salhia Cole Suzanne Dworak- Peck School fo Social Work returning Dornsife new Viterbi returning SCA new Pharmacy Povost Academic Programs- Graduate Programs returning Pharmacy John Blosnich returning TT - Assistant X X X X X X Vsevolod Mayank Andreas Yong Katritch Kejriwal Kratky Zhang T - Assoc RTPC - R T - Assoc Tenure Meredith Drake Reitan Assoc. Dean Ex-Officio X X Eunjoo Pacifici Smith- Greenaway RTPC - T Emily new Dornsife Tenure X K.R. Subramanyam Marshall-Leventhal T - Full new new X X Madison Moore Roski TT-Assistant

Staffing and research infrastructure The Committee will capture faculty experiences and concerns about current structures and policies around staffing as these relate to research productivity. While recognizing that what constitutes research staff and research productivity may vary widely across units at USC, the Committee will aim to identify recurring or particularly salient issues around staffing in the research context. For example, the Committee may explore faculty experiences and concerns about navigating school policies, University policies, and laws which affect research staffing; whether current policies allow research staff to grow in their positions; and overall, what staffing policies and structures would make better research environments for conducting research and the people involved.

General Topics and Pain Points Internal transfers ( poaching )/notification processes to units about transfers Retention of staff Back-up planning for personnel (out-on-leave, resignations) Identifying/anticipating bottlenecks in research staffing Expediting hiring Handling dismissal processes Simplifying subcontracting processes and vendorization Mentoring and realistic expectations for post-docs, junior faculty by senior faculty Process inefficiencies and lack of infrastructure that differ between schools. Need more university centralized best practices (no school left behind).

1. Planning Staffing Management in a changing workforce Planning Staffing management back-up planning for personnel (out-on-leave, resignations); identifying/anticipating bottlenecks in research staffing; retention of staff - Sharing effort of current research staff - Maximizes covered time (i.e., longevity of position) - Negotiating time allocations for projects to assure respective needs are met -Staff Retention - Promotion for research staff -Explore standardized IDC returns to department or PI - More transparency for IDC use

2. Hiring/Dismissal Practices Impacting the Research Workforce Clarifying and standardizing hiring/dismissal practices are necessary for successful implementation of research projects (e.g., clarification for laws germane to hiring/dismissal; how policies differ by schools, schools differ from university, university differs from state, process efficiency) -Training around how APR, and other documentation can impact dismissal process -In dismissal processes, HR may default to documentation in APR -Understanding systems and processes; who can the PI contact? -Managing research staff vary between schools and not always efficient -Contracting work is particularly problematic -Reflects very poorly on university and PI when these processes break -Sours relationships and partnerships

3. Post-Doc Recruitment and Development -The status of postdoctoral associates at USC (like at many universities) needs to be better defined -Benefits for postdocs are lacking and do not account for families -Postdoc teaching experience -Postdoc learning -International postdocs issues -Postdoc prestige

Culture and Graduate Students The Committee will explore how faculty-driven culture issues in the research context affect graduate students. Given the Culture survey results showing graduate students are one of the most distressed groups at USC, the Committee will consider how faculty can create a productive working and learning environment for and with graduate students. More specifically, the Committee will identify key culture issues impeding graduate student well-being and research progress, such as lack of mentoring and toxic environments, and develop guidelines which can be discussed and utilized by individual faculty, departments, and/or schools. The Committee s work may encompass informal interviews or focus groups with USC faculty, graduate students, or other stakeholders and review of relevant literature.

Culture and Graduate students Formalizing the Informal We began the process of identifying detailed recommendations for the May report. We continue to share a commitment to finding ways to formalizing the informal and will likely craft recommendations at 3 levels: 1. For schools/programs 2. For students 3. For the university

1. For Schools/Programs Encourage programs to identify a network of support for students at the point of admission to the PhD program. Mentoring Committee might include a primary faculty advisor, a secondary faculty mentor , the Director of Graduate Studies, and at least one student mentor. We might recommend that each program develop a training or mentoring protocol for students in the program Linked to something like the PhD Outcomes Program - be transparent and accountable. Programs should be encouraged to proactively think about options for students whose initial advisor does not work out. This might mean a semester of support while new advisors are identified. Programs should be encouraged to establish a Pro Seminar that brings students and faculty together. Should the quals committee be established and recorded earlier?

2. For students The mentoring network should include student mentors. Students should be involved in faculty meetings and decision making about the program, as appropriate. Students are also responsible for the culture. USC could think about providing support to student mentors for example through formal training programs, community building opportunities, and top offs.

3. For the university Encourage cross school networking and support for faculty Director of Graduate Study or faculty PhD coordinator positions. Institutional memory in these positions, i.e. maybe through overlapping of the position (DGS and incoming DGS work together for at least a year) We may think about a structure of incentives for programs that have strong mentoring networks in place. How could we support small programs that might not have the people power needed to provide a network of mentors? As part of some internal grants, could we ask for student mentoring plans and fund based on the strength of that plan (as appropriate). USC might do more to support training grants - both from internal and external sources. Can the university provide more support to faculty seeking external training grants? Do we want to think about defining roles? At the moment, there are faculty committee chairs, PIs, advisors, mentors these are not the same things.

Thank You Co-chairs: Bodour Salhia and Darnell Cole Academic Senate Meeting March 21, 2023