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Internal Funding from Departments, Schools, and Colleges
Department chairs and deans usually reserve from their general fund budgets some unallocated discretionary funds to use for the support of research and scholarly activities. Some also have endowment or other gift monies intended for research. The deans and directors of units which conduct sponsored research receive formula allocations from the Vice President for Research for research related needs. These include allocations for research equipment and rehabilitation, allocations to cover overruns and disallowances, and allocations for telephones and office equipment.
Discretionary funds vary enormously from unit to unit and from year to year, and the demands on them invariably are greater than can be met. Nevertheless, researchers with needs for internal research support should almost always start with a discussion with their unit chair. Not only can many requests for small amounts be met within the unit, especially if the request is directly relevant to the unit's main research and teaching goals, but also requests to other parts of the institution must invariably have the unit director's endorsement and often some local sharing of the cost. Thus, investigators are well-advised to begin their search for UM funds by discussing their need with their unit head.
Because the circumstances of units vary so greatly, only some general comments can be offered here. Typically, the University's major units can support travel related to their activities, the purchase of inexpensive research equipment (especially if it will be useful to several of its members), and other minor research expenses. Departments and schools will sometimes offer "in kind" research support by reducing a faculty member's teaching or other responsibilities to permit concentration on a research task. Other typical examples of unit support are research conference or workshop costs, research space renovation, lectureships, the recruitment and employment of visiting scholars or fellows, and cost of publications promoting a unit's research or recruiting research staff and graduate students.
Some of the larger units have a formally established research structure, with a designated research official (an associate dean for research, for example) and, in some cases, a research committee. Other units make no structural distinction between research and the rest of its activities. Thus, an applicant or seeker of advice will have to investigate the circumstances of his or her unit before deciding how to proceed.
2001-2002