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University of Wisconsin–Madison

OVCR Strategic Plan and Reorganization

After months of listening, learning and analysis, the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research (OVCR) has completed an ambitious effort to take stock of UW–Madison’s research enterprise—and set its course for the future.

The OVCR, with Urban Impact Advisors, a consulting firm with deep expertise in higher education research, conducted nearly 100 in-depth interviews with campus leaders and external partners, benchmarked UW–Madison against peer institutions, and examined the forces currently reshaping the research landscape. That work now sets the stage for the next chapter: building a research enterprise resilient enough to thrive amid unprecedented opportunity and mounting fiscal pressures.

The next phase is to implement restructuring the OVCR to increase operational excellence and the quality of service, transparency, and efficiency.

The reorganization offers new opportunities for talent development, professional staff support for science, team evolution, strategic leadership across the University research enterprise, support for  large external grant and funding opportunities that will increase UW’s national prominence, cross-campus research support, interdisciplinary opportunities, and strengthening of both internal and external partnerships to advance the Wisconsin Idea.

The goals:

  • Demonstrate operational excellence, transparency and accountability
  • Develop a strategic plan for the research enterprise aligned with the campus strategic framework
  • Create a modernized organizational structure so that we are:
    • Diversifying and improving our competitiveness for funding, while also reducing barriers to interdisciplinary research, and improving our ability to be nimble
    • Improving overall support for the research community
    • Able to adapt to the overall complexities of the research landscape
    • Less risk averse and more agile to achieve more industry-based research support

To navigate the increasing complexity of managing and growing UW research enterprise, the OVCR is proposing:

  • Creating a slimmer, focused team of full-time AVCs, responsible for strategically focused portions of the OVCR portfolio for entire campus
  • Changing reporting lines to support functional needs and operational requirements.
  • Creating four part-time faculty fellow positions to provide strategic divisional representation assuring success across all areas of research and creative expression, including Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, for interdisciplinary teams and individual researchers.
  • Strengthening compliance and research security staffing.
  • Launching a new Research Development Office to provide greater resources and support for strategic research portfolio management, training and extramural grant development.