University Archives of Virginia Tech

Virginia Tech
Governance Minutes Archive

February 10, 1988

                                    Minutes

                            COMMISSION ON RESEARCH

                               February 10, 1988

                            President's Board Room

                                   3:30 p.m.

 

 

 

  MEMBERS PRESENT:  L.  J.  Arnold, F. M. Asche, P. P. Feret, V. R. Fu, D. B.

                    Hodge, W. G. Huber, D.G.I. Kingston, D. F. McTaggart,  A.

                    W. Steiss, L. A. Harris (for R. A. Teekell)

 

  MEMBERS ABSENT:   J.  Cairns,  Jr.,  R.  A.  Comparin, P. K. Edwards, M. R.

                    Geasler, M. D. Pierson, M. Potts, F. W. Stephenson, J. F.

                    Wolfe

 

  INVITED GUESTS:   J. D. Cole, M. D. Shelton, K. A. Wilkins

 

 

 

  1.  ANNOUNCEMENTS

 

      a.  The University has an agreement with the Digital Equipment  Company

          for  a  9%  discount on certain DEC equipment purchases.  The 9% is

          not the "umbrella agreement" that the DEC representative has  indi-

          cated is available, however.

 

      b.  Only  one  budgetary  amendment from the Research Division has been

          submitted by the University, requesting funding for the Transporta-

          tion Center, the Powell River Project and the Virginia Productivity

          Center.  An increase to bring the faculty salary adjustment in  all

          three  divisions  to 6% has been requested.  An operating amendment

          for $500,000 was also requested to cover  communication  and  other

          utility costs.

 

      c.  Training sessions have been begun for the new University accounting

          system (FRS).  Every project number will be replaced on July 1 by a

          new number under the FRS system.

 

      d.  The   Supplemental  Grants  Committee  has  approved  approximately

          $30,000 in grant requests, the majority of which were for  interna-

          tional travel.

 

      e.  The call has gone out for proposals under the Creative Match Grants

          Program.

 

  2.  MINUTES OF THE JANUARY 27, 1988 MEETING

 

      The  minutes  of the January 27, 1988 meeting were approved as distrib-

      uted.

 

  3.  COMMITTEE REPORTS

 

      a.  COMMITTEE ON ACADEMIC CONDUCT

 

          Dr. Victoria Fu will serve as Commission's representative  on  this

          committee.

 

      b.  COMPUTING COMMITTEE

 

          The transfer of $150,000 in SMARTDOLLARS from Sponsored Programs to

          the Colleges has been authorized.

 

  4.  DEFINITION OF A GIFT - James D. Cole and M. Dwight Shelton.

 

 

      The original goal was to address several issues in the grant/gift area,

      and  especially  the  role of the Virginia Tech Foundation in receiving

      private funds.  The draft document, DEFINITION FOR PRIVATE FUNDS, dated

      2/8/88, has been reviewed with Minnis Ridenour, Ray Smoot, Ann Spencer,

      Internal  Audit,  Development  Office;  has been discussed with several

      other universities; and has been reviewed as to ramifications with  re-

      gard to the Internal Revenue Code, especially regarding gifts.

 

      The definition reads:

 

         A  gift is defined as any money from private sources, whether so-

         licited directly or not, for which the donor does not retain  any

         reversionary  interest or cannot be expected to receive any mate-

         rial deliverable from the act of donating funds.

 

      Evidence presented must be weighed in  these  cases  to  determine  HOW

      these  funds will be used and what the payor receives as TANGIBLE BENE-

      FITS from this use.

 

      The determination of the proper depository account will be made by  the

      University Controller in consultation with the Office of Sponsored Pro-

      grams.    The  Foundation will report annually (or more frequently with

      the new accounting system) regarding funds deposited in support of  re-

      search activities.

 

      Further  discussion  will  be held at the next Commission meeting after

      the members have had an opportunity to consider these provisions.

 

  5.  REVISIONS TO APPENDIX H: RESEARCH AGREEMENTS WITH INDUSTRY

 

      A copy of the current version of this Appendix was distributed.    Sug-

      gestion made at the last meeting on "Industrial Affiliates" will be in-

      corporated  to  provide further flexibility regarding the nature of the

      memberships.

 

      The revised Appendix H will be brought back at the next meeting for the

      Commission's endorsement.

 

  6.  STRATEGY FOR CORE RESEARCH PROGRAM

 

      This item will be carried over to the next meeting.

 

  The meeting adjourned at 4:45 p.m. The next meeting will  be  February  24,

  1988 at 3:30 p.m. in the President's Board Room

 

 

  OWL:mar

 

 

 

Current Virginia Tech Governance Minutes Archive

Return to Virginia Tech Governance Minutes Archive

VT History | Digital Library and Archives | Special Collections | University Archives

Send questions or comments to:

Tamara Kennelly, University Archivist
University Libraries
Virginia Tech
P.O. Box 90001
Blacksburg, VA, 24062-9001

URL: http://spec.lib.vt.edu/minutes/cor/1988/February+10++1988.html
Last modified on: Tuesday, 25-Sep-2001 13:57:24 EDT