GUIDELINES FOR ESTABLISHING
NEW CENTERS, INSTITUTES AND LABORATORIES
AT WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY
DEFINITIONS
Center
A center is an organizational unit that coordinates integrated approaches to a broad constituency within the
university or to geographically dispersed sectors of clientele of the university. A unit may have one, all or a
combination of research, service and teaching functions in order to obtain center status.
Centers can be a unit through which research on a common problem by scholars in several departments is
coordinated. Much of the research done by centers will be investigations of a problem for a particular client or client
group. Some centers which have specialized equipment, however, may be used primarily by clients either within the
university or to clientele of the university conducting basic research. The extent to which a Center has service and
teaching responsibilities will vary depending on the mission and scope of activities of the particular Center.
Centers can be a unit which provides service to individual researchers in various departments, to departments and
colleges, and to individuals and groups outside the university. The extent to which a Center that has service as its
primary focus also has research or teaching activities for constituents within the university and to clientele of the
university will vary depending on the mission and scope of activities of the particular Center.
Institute
An institute is an interdisciplinary administrative unit under which research and scholarly activities are conducted.
“Institute” does not imply the necessity of physical facilities but does not prohibit such. An institute may have a
closely affiliated instructional program, but the institute is not the program. The use of “institute” as the title for an
administrative unit does not preclude other uses of the title, e.g., “institute” as a workshop or short course.
The primary function of an institute is to provide a focus for research and other scholarly activity in an
interdepartmental/college area of study. An institute is intended to serve as an aegis for scholarly activity rather than
to coordinate it.
An institute may incidentally provide a service to the university or other client. However, service is an optional and
distinctly secondary activity.
Any associated teaching is done in individual departments or interdisciplinary programs. However, an institute may,
and should be encouraged to, sponsor and/or conduct workshops, short courses, seminars, symposia, colloquia,
and the like, and may encourage individual departments to offer special editions of courses for academic credit.
Laboratory
A laboratory is a facility or coordinating unit through which research on specialized topics is conducted. It services a
narrower clientele than does a center and provides only a limited training function.
The primary function of a laboratory is to be a research facility or unit. Laboratories are more limited in scope than
are centers in that they serve only a few departments or client groups, and in that they address a limited range of
research topics.
Laboratories provide a service as facilities for research.
In general, the educational component of a laboratory will be limited to the classes its faculty teaches in their home
departments, and the support it offers to students either in their classes or through research in the laboratory.
GENERAL PURPOSES
1. Provide additional visibility to a defined area of study important to the university.
2. Provide a focus for a group of faculty from diverse disciplines who are concerned about the same subject.
3. Provide a critical mass of expertise in a subject area to demonstrate command of all related knowledge for the
purpose of attracting external funding.
4. Provide centralized responsibility for costly equipment required for effective research in a particular subject area.
5. Provide a more intimate management system for faculty from different departments and colleges engaged in
interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary research.
6. Provide greater opportunities for students to become aware of methods of studying large complex problems
having a broad ecology of interacting factors.
ESTABLISHING NEW UNITS
The Faculty Senate and its committees will review and approve centers, institutes and laboratories (CILs),
prior to their establishment, following the procedures described herein.
Request for the establishment of new a CIL is to be submitted as a proposal to the Faculty Senate office addressing
the following required information. Please use the same section titles as listed below.
General Information, Designation and Benefit
1. Name of the unit; list the representative and/or author of the proposal who will serve as the
point-of-contact during the review and approval process; and the preferred method of contact.
2. Rationale for why the unit should be designated as a center, institute or laboratory. Indicate what type
of CIL it will be: research, service, teaching or some combination of the three (see Definitions, page 1).
3. What benefit does the proposed CIL status confer to the unit (directly or indirectly) to the university?
Is there an expected contribution to and impact on the instructional programs? If so please explain.
What is the expected contribution to the university and other clients?
Infrastructure
Mission, Purpose and Goals
1. The mission and purpose of the proposed CIL.
2. The unit’s goals.
3.
The nature and scope of the unit’s research, scholarly and/or creative activities. Explain how these
activities correlate with the unit’s goals.
4. Unit review and assessment plan for measuring and analyzing the unit’s effectiveness in reaching its
goals and fulfilling its functions (See Attachment A, CIL Review Guidelines
Administration and Membership
1.
Selection criteria and method for appointing a director; specify the director’s term of office and the
benefit for the term’s length.
2. The proposed organizational chart. If applicable include unit support positions.
3. The college/regional campus to be administratively responsible for the day-to-day fiscal and
programmatic activities.
4. List the participating key faculty members associated with the proposed CIL and include their vita.
Describe the membership selection process noting any special criteria that determines membership.
Financial Support and University Resources
1. Amount of budgetary support requested. Address the specific levels of support.
2. Expected funding needed from university, state, external awards or gift sources.
3. Needs for space, equipment, supplies and other university resources (currently available and needed
in the future).
University Endorsement
1. Supporting letter(s) from individual(s) to whom the unit will report to or interact with (chairs, deans, vice
provosts, and/or others). Provide evidence of approval of the unit’s goals and financial support. Explain
if departmental or college resources will be provided to support the activities of the unit (i.e., reduced
class load, summer appointments, assistantships, start-up costs, administrative support, travel funds,
equipment funds, space requirements, etc.).
2. Optional: Any additional documents that will support the proposed CIL.
• Send the completed CIL proposal to the Faculty Senate Office (hardcopy French Administration 344 or
e-copy attached to anderson53@wsu.edu.
• The proposal will be assigned to one up to all of the following Faculty Senate Committees as determined to be
appropriate by the senate staff. The CIL representative may be contacted by the assigned committees to
provide additional information for their review.
Research and Arts Committee (lead committee)
Academic Affairs Committee
Budget Committee
Graduate Studies Committee
Library Committee
• The director and members of the board of advisors, faculty or staff of the proposed CILs may be asked
to present their proposal to the Faculty Senate committees, answer their questions and respond to requests
for additional information.
• The committees must be consulted and must respond in writing before the recommendations are determined.
• Committees then forward their recommendations to the lead committee and the Faculty Senate office.
• Upon completion of reviewing the proposal, determining that all documentation is in order, and the other
committee recommendations have been addressed, the Research and Arts Committee, may refer the proposal
to other Faculty Senate committees for review if deemed advisable, or forward it directly to the Faculty Senate
with recommendation on how to proceed for discussion and action for approval or disapproval of the proposal.
The Research and Arts Committee members are committed to working with the CIL representative until
a positive recommendation is approved to forward the proposal to the Faculty Senate for consideration.
• The CIL proposal with the lead committee recommendation is placed on the next Faculty Senate agenda as a
discussion item. The chair of the lead committee and/or a representative/author of the proposal will be asked
to present and defend the CIL proposal to the Faculty Senate members.
• At the next meeting of the Faculty Senate the proposal with recommendation is placed as an action item with
lead committee chair/proposal representative being present a second time to answers questions of the
members before the final vote is placed for approval or disapproval.
• The Research and Arts Committee will contact the CIL representative with the Faculty Senate’s “official” decision.
STRUCTURE
Governance/Administration
Each CIL will be administered by a director. The director will report to the dean of the college of designee
responsible for the support of the unit. In the event that more than one college is involved, the concerned deans will
serve as an advisory committee for the unit and will select a dean to serve as the lead to whom the director reports.
For those CILs budgeted through central administrative offices, an appropriate central administrative officer will
serve as administrator and the deans of the interested colleges and other appropriate persons may constitute an
advisory committee to that officer.
lnter-institutional CILs for which WSU serves as the coordinating institution will normally be the responsibility of the
appropriate central administrative officer. Advisory committees of concerned deans within the university will be
constituted to provide advice as necessary.
Each CIL may have a program advisory committee of at least three and no more than ten members of the faculty
appointed by the administrative officer to provide suggestions for operation of the unit to the director, the
administrative advisory committee and the administrative officer.
Students
• Students may be affiliated with CILs for employment, but must be attached to relevant academic departments
or programs for advisement, course enrollments and degree-seeking purposes.
• Courses for academic credit will be offered only through the relevant department or program.
Faculty
All faculty affiliated with CILs will normally be members of academic departments or programs. In the event of joint
appointments between academic departments and CILs, the units shall share the responsibilities for appointment,
promotion and tenure.
Funding
The university shall support CILs to the following extent:
a.
b.
appropriate portion of the salary and benefits for the director, associate and/or assistant director or
other professional support as approved.
a portion of the salary and benefits for clerical personnel and other support personnel as approved.
c. office support, equipment and space at a level commensurate with the goals and mission of the
undertaking.
The CIL may be supported in whole or in partnership with:
a. state funds,
b. financial and administrative funds (F&A),
c. external awards and/or
d. gifts.
EVALUATIONS
Each Faculty Senate approved CIL will be reviewed by the Research and Arts Committee up to every five years.
The specific year assigned for the unit’s review will be determined by the Research and Arts Committee. Under
certain circumstances, and at the discretion of the Research and Arts Committee, more frequent reviews may be
required.
See Attachment A (“Review of Previously Faculty Senate Approved Centers, Institutes, and Laboratories”) for full
details on the review and evaluation guidelines and procedure.
Approved by Faculty Senate - 02/28/80
Revised - 04/10/90
Revised - 04/02/92
Revised - 03/03/94
Revised - 10/09/02
Revised - 12/03/10
Revised – 02/21/14
Revised – 11/06/14
ATTACHMENT A
Five Year Review of Previously Faculty Senate Approved
Centers, Institutes, and Laboratories
Mission and General Purpose
Centers, institutes, or laboratories (CILs) are organized units devoted to research, scholarly and creative
activities. CILs are developed and require approval by cognizance college administrators and the Faculty
Senate according to the following criteria below:
• A diverse group of faculty who’s shared concern is the visibility and focus on a particular subject area.
• A critical mass of expertise in a subject area to demonstrate command of related knowledge and for
the purpose of attracting external funding.
• Centralized responsibility for costly equipment required for effective research, scholarly and creative
activities in a particular subject area.
• A coherent management system for faculty from different departments and colleges engaged in
interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary research, scholarly and creative activities.
• Greater opportunities for students to become aware of methods of studying complex problems.
Guidelines and Procedure
To sustain the mission and purpose of previously approved CILs, a review is conduct by the Research
and Arts Committee at a minimum of every five years with the specific review year determined by the
committee. Under certain circumstances, and at the discretion of the committee, more frequent reviews
may be required. Approximately seven to nine CILs are reviewed each academic year.
The review is a self-study report, submitted by the CIL to, and at the request of, the Research and Arts
Committee. In most cases, the only requirement of the unit is the report’s preparation and submission.
The document consists of the following sections based on the above mentioned criteria that are directly
related to the activities of the CIL during the preceding five-year period in the order as listed below.
Section 1. A two-page executive summary that includes:
a. the mission statement, goals and functions of the unit. Provide an explanation if the goals
and/or functions have changed since the original approval or the last self-study report;
b. a summary of the unit’s effectiveness in reaching its goals and fulfilling its functions; and
c. what the leadership envisions the unit being in five years.
Section 2.
a.
b.
c.
Please provide a list of only those directly related with the CIL:
awards, publications, and/or
scholarly or creative productivity; and
proposals externally submitted under the unit’s name and their current status.
Section 3. A two-page evaluation and support statement from the responsible dean or lead dean:
a. providing evidence of his/her approval of the unit’s goal and/or budgetary changes; and
b. an explanation if departmental or college resources were provided to further the activities of
the unit (i.e., reduced class load, summer appointments, assistantships, start-up costs,
administrative support, travel funding, equipment funding, space, etc.).
Section 4. Additional Information
a. list of those associated with the unit:
(1) graduate students,
(2) postdoctoral appointments,
(3) visiting scientists, and/or scholars, and/or artists.
b. list of those not associated with the unit using its services and resources:
(1) WSU employees and their departments; and
(2) non-WSU people and their company or association.
c. An organizational flow chart (when applicable include the following unit support positions)
(1) leadership positions directly supported by the unit,
(2) indirect administrative positions,
(3) technical services positions, and/or
(4) other positions.
(over)
The Research and Arts Committee evaluates the self-study report and will approve the continued
operation of the CIL if it satisfactorily supports the current mission statement. If approval is granted, that
action will be communicated to the Faculty Senate with the original document and approval notice to be
filed in the senate office. The CIL’s director and responsible dean or lead dean will also be notified.
In certain cases, when there are serious questions about the function and/or activities of a CIL, one or
more representatives of the unit may be asked to appear before the Research and Arts Committee to
address the members’ concerns. In addition, the Research and Arts Committee may require additional
documentation, testimony, and/or other evidence it deems necessary for an adequate review of that unit.
If it is the conclusion of the Research and Arts Committee that a CIL under review has been seriously
deficient in fulfilling its functions and/or reaching its goals, the committee can make specific
recommendations for improvements with the understanding that the unit will be reviewed again in one
year. If the committee recommends discontinuation of the CIL the Faculty Senate leadership’s counsel
will be sought. It will be at the discretion of the senate’s Steering Committee’s to determine if the
recommendation is accepted out right or brought before the senate members for discussion and vote .
Approved by the Faculty Senate - 10/15/96
Revised - 03/01/01
Revised - 01/23/02
Revised - 02/12/10
Revised - 02/17/11
Revised - 01/23/15