Research & Graduate Studies

Stepping up as the leader of a research team, or taking on the challenge of a major research project, can be a career milestone.  How do you prepare for such a role, and why should you want to do it?  Those are some of the questions a panel of senior faculty members addressed when the Office of Research and Graduate Studies held its annual convocation Monday, Feb. 9 in Alderson Auditorium at the Kansas Union. 

Panelists were Joane Nagel, University Distinguished Professor of sociology; Victor Bailey, Charles W. Battey Distinguished Professor of Modern British History; and Robert Hanzlik, professor of medicinal chemistry.  Each of them has taken on a significant research leadership role at KU.  Nagel is director of the NSF-funded C-CHANGE Integrated Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT) program.  Bailey is director of the Hall Center for the Humanities.  Hanzlik is director of the NIH-funded Center of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) in Protein Structure and Function.

“Each panel member is an individual who, for whatever reasons, has successfully taken on a major leadership position after many years on the faculty,” says Steve Warren, vice provost for research and graduate studies.  “They didn’t have to do this.  They could just as easily have stayed focused on their personal research interests.  We’ve invited them to share their insights and suggestions, because it’s important for KU that other, more junior faculty, follow in their footsteps.”

The convocation also featured a year-in-review presentation and a question and answer session.  The convocation was followed at 4:30 by a reception in the Traditions area of the Union. 

Additional information:

1. Video of welcome and Dr. Warren's presentation (RealPlayer)
2. PowerPoint slides from presentation (PDF)
3. Video of panel discussion (RealPlayer)
4. Video of research award to Dr. Debra Kamps
5. Oread newsletter article about research award

The videos above can be viewed using RealPlayer. The free RealPlayer software
available for Windows PC and Macintosh can be found at: http://www.real.com/player