Updates in Academic Affairs: February 24, 2014

New WMU Discovery Experts database available

By Dr. Daniel M. Litynski, vice president for research

Over the past months, the Office of the Vice President for Research has worked closely with the deans and provost to expand the University’s leadership, scholarship, collaboration and resources with the creation of three- to five-year Discovery Plans.

We also have been working steadily to create an experts database that will provide information about the faculty and staff researchers at Western Michigan University.

We are excited to announce that the WMU Discovery Experts database launched on Feb. 14. Business leaders, industry partners and scholars can now access more than 900 WMU experts for collaboration on our broad range of discovery.

The database offers faculty and staff the ability to showcase their discovery activities to the world. This tool gives faculty the ability to build their discovery by finding internal and external collaborators and grant possibilities, including research and commercialization projects. We also will be linked with the other major research universities in Michigan through a web portal for the State of Michigan.

The Discovery Experts database will be rolled out in three phases:

Phase 1

Administrators of the Elsevier platform will link information about each expert’s citations to the Scopus database. Scopus pulls citations from 60 million articles drawn from more than 20,000 peer-reviewed journals, 390 trade publications, 370 e-book series and 5.5 million conference papers. Eventually Scopus will pull from print books as well.

Phase 2

The University will provide additional information for inclusion in the database, such as external and internal funding awards, patents, licenses awarded and other available data regarding faculty discovery activities. This phase is set to be complete by April 1.

Phase 3

Faculty and staff will be able to further enhance their system profile by providing additional information regarding their teaching, service and other activities. We will announce the invitation to submit information from April 1 through May 1 for inclusion during this phase of the rollout. More information and instructions will be forthcoming on when and how to submit this material. The complete upload of information into the site is expected to be complete by September.

Elsevier will update the database with more information on each expert on a weekly and monthly basis. Both WMU and individual experts will have the opportunity to add additional data to the database on a periodic basis.

We invite you to go to wmich.edu/research to read the FAQs on the Discovery Experts database, and we encourage you to take an active role in the creation of your expert profile.

If our research officers can be of assistance in finding grant support or collaborators, contact our office at (269) 387-8270.

Announcements

• Academic department chairs and directors are invited to attend a one hour webinar, Leading Change: A Framework for Department Chairs, scheduled for 2 p.m. E.S.T. Wednesday, March 12, in the Fetzer Center’s Putney Auditorium. The webinar features Dr. Adrianna Kezar, professor of education and co-director of the Pullias Center for Higher Education at the University of Southern California.

• The Office of the Provost will host a meeting for all non-bargaining unit staff members in academic affairs on Friday, April 25, in the Putney Auditorium. To accommodate normal business hours and operations, two meeting times will be available, from 8:15 to 9:15 a.m. and from 9:45-10:45 a.m. Supervisors are encouraged to accommodate staff participation in these meetings.

  The purpose of the meetings is to provide updates in academic affairs and answer any questions staff may have. As a way to thank our administrative staff members for their many contributions to keeping our departments and units running smoothly, beverages and bakery items will be available before each session.

• As a reminder, the University Libraries and the WMU Writing Center are partnering to offer monthly Research and Writing Clinics during the spring 2014 semester. The clinics are scheduled on one Tuesday each month from 3 to 7 p.m. on the first floor of Waldo Library. Three librarians and writing consultants will be available to assist students during the clinics scheduled for March 11 and April 1.

For additional information, contact Dr. Susan Steuer at @email or Kim Ballard at kim.ballard@wmich.edu.