Faculty-Administrator Leadership Program (FALP)

Jonathan D. Klein

Savithri and Samuel Raj Endowed Professor and Executive Vice Head, Department of Pediatrics
College of Medicine

Project Title: Improving Transgender Students and Community Access to Transgender Services

Project Description:  My project reviewed access to health care and other support services for transgender students and community members at UIC.  Stakeholders were interviewed about their perceptions of transgender health care and social service needs, and strategies to balance educational needs and health care access and use were explored with campus leaders, gender diversity advocates, and clinicians.  Priority issues which might be addressed include more identifiable campus-based support services, flexible insurance coverage for surgical procedure planning, financial access to surgical care, and facilitation/navigation through the health system.

Lynnette Mawhinney

Associate Professor, Department of Curriculum and Instruction
College of Education

Project Title: Development of Study Abroad Embedded Program for Undergraduates

Project Description: The goal of this project is the development of an undergraduate study abroad embedded program. The course plans to also be a general education course available to all undergraduates to provide them with opportunities to study abroad. The goal is to provide a way for more undergraduates to take advantage of the opportunity and scholarship funds to study abroad.

Brad Merrill

Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics
College of Medicine

Project Title: Building Systems for Tracking Activities and Outcomes of UIC PhD Graduate Students

Project Description: Due to the small sizes of PhD programs and unique training for each individual PhD student, it can be challenging to gather data sufficient to support evidence-based decision making processes for PhD programs. Consequently, PhD programs frequently rely heavily on the opinions of program leaders charged with directing activities within their programs. The goal of this project is to build systems that empower program leaders through acquisition and organization of rich information about their programs by tracking activities of students, faculty, and their interactions with the curriculum of their PhD program.

De-Ann Pillers

Professor and Chief of Neonatal/Perinatal Medicine, Department of Pediatrics
College of Medicine

Project Title: UIC Hospital Neonatal Unit Remodel Using Stakeholder Input Leading to Improvement in Efficiency via an Industrial Design Approach

Project Description: The goal of this project is to partner with the UIHealth Hospital to update the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit to provide augmented support and care for neonates and their families.  We are implementing approaches employed by the UIC Innovation Center in association with standards for NICU design promoted by the American Academy of Pediatrics Section on Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine.

Jun Sun

Professor, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology
College of Medicine

Project Title: UIC Women in STEM: current faculty and next generation

Project Description: The goals of this FALP project are to 1) understand the existing programs for Women in Science and Engineering and other women related programs at UIC and identify our strengths and weaknesses, and 2) to study the available/successful models for WISE in other universities. Further, I have participated in the pilot program to enhance campus climate for STEM student success. Based on the current research, information, and personal experience, I discuss the area we could contribute to improve the program for women at UIC.

Louis Bergonzi

Professor & Head, Department of Music
College of Architecture, Design and the Arts

Project Title: A Promising (Music Education Licensure) Project to Explore and a (Teaching Load) Policy Problem to be Solved

Project Description: Using data from student interviews, discussions with faculty, and external/internal peer institutions, this project identifies a process for reconciling different sets of recommendation for faculty teaching load and outlines an asset-based path to developing a program for P-12 music education teacher licensure that is about UIC, not just at UIC

Eileen Collins

Professor, Department of Biobehavioral Health Science
College of Nursing

Project Title: Analysis of the College of Nursing Research Program

Project Description: The success of the pilot study funding program and the grant review process at the College of Nursing were evaluated. There was a clear return on investment for the pilot study funding program and a need for rethinking the mock review process was identified.

Sandra De Groote

Scholarly Communications Librarian
UIC Library

Project Title: Profile/Research and Activity Tool Implementation

Project Description: The primary goal of the project was to select a Faculty Activity Management and Research Profile tool that once implemented, will capture faculty activities and output including publication, grant, teaching and professional service information. The captured data will be used for metrics reporting, public profiles, biosketches, promotion and tenure review documentation, and other initiatives at UIC.

Danilo Erricolo

Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
College of Engineering

Project Title: Is it Possible to Increase the Number of Funded Research Proposals by Leveraging on UIC’s Interdisciplinary Expertise?

Project Description: UIC has a great wealth of research potential given the broad array of colleges and departments. The challenge is to educate researchers so that they can leverage on expertise at UIC to write competitive interdisciplinary proposals. This project investigates whether UIC principal investigators are currently leveraging UIC’s interdisciplinary expertise.

Michael Fischer

Associate Professor, Department of Medicine/Nephrology
College of Medicine

Project Title: Promotion and Advancement of Non-tenure Track Faculty in the Department of Medicine

Project Description: The goal of my project was to enhance support of promotion and advancement for non-tenure track faculty in the Department of Medicine (DOM) at UIC.  Key deliverables of this project included developing and hosting an annual seminar regarding promotion and advancement for DOM non-tenure track faculty as well as creating a faculty stakeholder committee to meet, assess, evaluate, and counsel DOM non-tenure track faculty for promotion and advancement.

Marian Fitzgibbon

Professor, Department of Pediatric Medicine
College of Medicine

Project Title: Preparation for a P30 Cancer Center Support Grant Submission from a Community-focused Cancer Center

Project Description: The University of Illinois Cancer Center (UICC) is planning to submit a NCI Cancer Center Support Grant (P30) that includes the new NCI mandate on how the community is actively engaged. This new requirement highlights a central strength of UICC, with its mission to engage and reduce cancer in our underserved community populations.

Ron Gaba

Associate Professor, Department of Radiology
College of Medicine

Project Title: Implementation of an M.D. M.S. Medical Student Dual-degree Program

Project Description: In this project, a University of Illinois College of Medicine/School of Public Health Clinical and Translational Science M.D.-M.S. training program was developed in order to address the lack of formal research training among medical professionals. In this new joint degree program, participating students pursue graduate training in both medical education and translational science to prepare for careers as physician scientists in academic medicine

Rachel Gordon

Professor, Department of Sociology/IGPA
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Project Title: Supporting Social Science Research: Faculty Needs and Campus Funding Models

Project Description: Supporting social science research is challenging for administrators because of the wide variety of paradigms and methods in these fields. Greater centralized support can boost productivity and pay dividends, as can regular communication with social science faculty to understand their needs and experiences and to nurture their talents.

Barbara Jung

Professor, Department of Medicine/Gastroenterology and Hepatology
College of Medicine

Project Title: Improving Access to Care for UIC Student Athletes

Project Description: Improved access to specialty care for student athletes at UIC is key to this populations success. This project set forth a mechanism which if proven effective can support other populations within UIC and beyond.

Mary Jo LaDu

Professor, Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology
College of Medicine

Project Title: Fundamentals for a Successful Undergraduate Research Experience

Project Description: To encourage freshmen to engage in research, I have designed a 1 credit course for entering Freshmen entitled “Fundamentals for Successful Undergraduate Research Experiences” (FunSURE). The ultimate goal of this class is to make incoming students excellent candidates for the research lab assistant positions that excite their imagination and incite their drive to explore new frontiers.

Richard Minshall

Professor, Department of Pharmacology and Anesthesiology
College of Medicine

Project Title: Institutional and Intellectual Credit for Team Science at UIC

Project Description: Intellectual credit for team science is not being captured or saved for later use, only 1 PI/department can be recognized as the awardee on NIH grants since NIH requires accountability, and not all grants are being counted by the primary ranking system because some are awarded to centers and institutes rather than a department. To fix these issues and strengthen team science at UIC we have to: use the new Kuali Coeus electronic research administration system to keep track of intellectual credit annually for each PI/Co-I/contributor and teach units to use this tool, submit NIH grants only from departments that are ranked but enable management where most appropriate, and disregard Blue Ridge ranking of awarded dollars and instead use NSF HERD survey and expenditures by unit plus metrics of faculty productivity for external and internal comparisons.

Damiano Rondelli

Professor, Department of Medicine
College of Medicine

Project Title: International Reach-out Program for Blood and Marrow Transplantation (BMT) to Cure Blood Disorders

Project Description: The project is aimed at developing an organizational and clinical international infrastructure in collaboration with UIC COM and UI Hospital. The purpose is to offer a stem cell transplant to international self-pay patients with sickle cell anemia or other hematologic disorders, assist them and their families in their time at UI Health, and develop a sustainable plan to support clinical research in BMT.

Susanne Rott

Professor, Department of Linguistics
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Project Title: The Impact of Changing Student Demographics on Existing Programs

Project Description: This project explored the question whether the closing of under-enrolled programs and departments is inevitable, and, if it is, how best to prepare for this eventuality. Through conversations with multiple administrators at different administrative levels at UIC and German departments around the country, I was able to identify avenues for potential growth, while at the same time preparing new general education courses for tenure line faculty to teach in case other initiatives fail.

Kamal Sharma

Professor, Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology
College of Medicine

Project Title: Developing a Scientific Identity that Transcends Racial, Gender and Socio-economic Boundaries

Project Description: This project addresses the need for making incoming GEMS students realize their potential as scientists. The hope is that focusing on science and the process of scientific thought  would facilitate their ability to overcome conscious and subconscious racial, gender and socio-economic biases.

Miljan Simonovic

Associate Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics
College of Medicine

Project Title: Structure and Role of the UIC Research Administration in Fostering Research Endeavors

Project Description: Herein, insights about the structure of the UIC research administration have been obtained through conversations with 14 UIC leaders. The project summarizes a series of recommendations how to improve research re-investment mechanisms, establish and implement strategic planning, engage faculty, and facilitate innovation, and culminates with broad statements about the future of the university.

Theresa Thorkildsen

Professor, Department of Educational Psychology
College of Education

Project Title: Directing a Career Series (DACS: A Professional Development Program)

Project Description: An 8-week professional development seminar, in combination with maintenance sessions, is proposed to assist faculty seeking to improve the alignment of their scholarly goals with new trends emerging in their discipline; find like-minded collaborators; and implement center grants, laboratory research, and/or community engagement activities.  Seminar participants would strategize to articulate and share their research priorities, plan and promote their scholarship, and otherwise find support for innovative projects as they maintain complex professional priorities.