Research Forums Provide Invaluable Insights

Campus leaders are gaining better insight into the needs and issues of researchers here at the University of Arkansas. Recently, university researchers attended two open forums led by Dean of Libraries Carolyn Allen, Vice Provost for Research and Innovation Jim Rankin, and Chief Information Officer Chris McCoy that served as valuable conversation starters. 

These campus leaders have taken feedback from the discussions and engaged in developing a workable plan geared toward increasing support and services for university research.

"It is always important and of significant value to hear from our campus researchers.  Moving forward the plan is to continue to have open discussions like this to ensure we are all moving on the same trajectory with support folded in," Rankin said. 

"The forums provided an opportunity to understand more fully the complexity of the issues facing campus researchers, such as access to data storage and research computing needs. This collaboration gives the University Libraries, Research, UITS and High Performance Computing the ability to provide a base line of services that can be developed over time to allay many of the problems identified," Allen said.

Prior to the research open forums, a pre-survey was conducted that mirrored much of the forum feedback. Items identified for focus include:

• High-performance computing
• Access to software and research support services
• Collaboration across disciplines
• Data security and archival services
• Campus networks for research
• Availability of faculty resources
• 'First Year Experience' support for research faculty

Researchers are encouraged to provide requests, ideas and questions directly to IT Services through our new Research Technology Feedback form. Submissions will be directed to Paige Francis, associate CIO, to ensure they are routed quickly to appropriate areas.