The deck for my lecture on the future of the AVPR position at the University of Lethbridge

1. From “Up-and-Coming” to
“Arrived”
Research Challenges and Opportunities
for the University of Lethbridge
in Fulfilling its Vision as a Comprehensive
University
Daniel Paul O'Donnell
University of Lethbridge
November 10, 2015
daniel.odonnell@uleth.ca

2. The challenge and the opportunity
VPR Report to Deans' Council, Nov. 2014

3. Volatility
Re$earch Infosource
2015

4. Volatility
Re$earch Infosource
2014

5. Volatility
Re$earch Infosource
2013

6. Volatility
Re$earch Infosource
2012

7. Volatility
Re$earch Infosource
2011

8. Why do we care?

9. Why Tricouncil $ and Rank Matters
VPR Report to Deans' Council, Nov. 2014

10. Overall Tri-Council Rank and $
Modified from VPR Report to Deans' Council, Nov. 2014

11. Slow and Steady (almost) Wins the
Day
Modified from VPR Report to Deans' Council, Nov. 2014

12. Slow and Steady (almost) Wins the
Day
Modified from VPR Report to Deans' Council, Nov. 2014

13. Picture of Dorian St. Mary's
Modified from VPR Report to Deans' Council, Nov. 2014

14. Regina: A Model?
Modified from VPR Report to Deans' Council, Nov. 2014

15. Lakehead: Places to Go
Modified from VPR Report to Deans' Council, Nov. 2014

16. A Ceiling?
Modified from VPR Report to Deans' Council, Nov. 2014

17. Volatility at work
VPR Report to Deans' Council, Nov. 2014

18. From “Up and Coming” to “Arrived”
● “Targeted intensity”
● “Historical
commitment to
concentration and
selectivity”
● “Up-and-coming”
● “Most promising”
● “Most underrated”
● “Punches above
weight”

19. From “Up and Coming” to “Arrived”
● “Targeted intensity”
● “Historical
commitment to
concentration and
selectivity”
● “Up-and-coming”
● “Most promising”
● “Most underrated”
● “Punches above
weight”
“Our research goal is to fulfill our
comprehensive mandate such that our
recognition and research performance
clearly place us amongst Canada's
most influential universities”

20. From “Up and Coming” to “Arrived”
● “Targeted intensity”
● “Historical
commitment to
concentration and
selectivity”
● “Remarkable”
● “Punches at weight”
● “Destination
University”
“Our research goal is to fulfill our
comprehensive mandate such that our
recognition and research performance
clearly place us amongst Canada's
most influential universities”

21. From “Up and Coming” to “Arrived”
● Consistent
● Broad
● Intentional
● “Remarkable”
● “Punches at weight”
● “Destination
University”
“Our research goal is to fulfill our
comprehensive mandate such that our
recognition and research performance
clearly place us amongst Canada's
most influential universities”

22. Things to do
● Research Advisory Committee (Regina, Brock)
– Associate VPs, Deans, Directors, Chairs
– Look for inefficiencies, synergies, cultivate networks
– Improve hiring? Advocate for opportunities?
– Maximize existing resources, expertise, time

23. Things to do
● Solve the HSS funding problem (!)
– Hire more people? (Brock, Trent, St. Mary's
Lakehead)
– Change the way we support the Humanities—e.g.
Humanities Research Institute (Regina, Brock... U
of C, U of A,... UCSD, Brown, etc.)

24. Why me?
● Been interested in these issues for a long time
– Transformations
– CREDO
– Resource for Humanities Research Stats
● Good and broad funding experience
– SSHRC, CFI, Mellon, Helmsley, Moore, Sloan, Contract, spinoffs, etc.
– Work a lot across boundaries: MSc/MA, Library/A&S, PLoS and OLH
– “Fluent “Humanist,” L2 “scientist” and “librarian”
● Research focusses on issues
– Incubator, Centre for Scholarly Comm., Digital Humanities

25. Why me?
● Lots of experience in developing community-based solutions
to research infrastructure problems
– Funded several times to build research-focussed communities of
practice:
● PI with SSHRC and Mellon
● Co-applicant with Helmsley, Sloan, and Moore
– Built several very prominent and active communities:
● Digital medievalist (digitalmedievalist.org)
● Global Outlook::Digital Humanities (globaloutlookdh.org)
● Force11 (Force11.org)
● Centre for the Study of Scholarly Communication
● Text Encoding Initiative (TEI-C.org)

26. Thank you!
daniel.odonnell@uleth.ca