TOWARD THE MISSION

Each month, this section of The Current will highlight, people, programs and initiatives illustrating the University’s efforts to fulfill its mission and exemplify its core values.

The mission (as stated in the Strategic Plan):

• Make excellence accessible to traditional and nontraditional students motivated by professional advancement and civic awareness.
• Establish a foundation for lifelong learning, personal development and social responsibility.
• Combine theory and practice to create meaningful, real-world solutions to 21st-century urban challenges.
• Serve as an integral partner in the culture, commerce and future of Baltimore and the region.

Office of Sponsored Research’s Annual Report

University faculty and staff continue to secure grants and contracts for their innovative work and research in support of local, state, and federal governments, as well as private and nonprofit firms and organizations. For the 2004 fiscal year, the university was awarded $7.6 million, maintaining level funding from the previous fiscal year.

The following provides a breakdown of funding:

Grants by School—Fiscal Year 2004*

Administration: $309,586

College of Liberal Arts: $4,124,102

School of Business: $2,841,724

School of Law: $315,256

*data provided by the Office of Sponsored Research

The Jacob France Institute Leads Multi-institutional Research Program

For the fifth consecutive year, the U.S. Department of Labor awarded funds to The Jacob France Institute to manage the Administrative Data Research and Evaluation (ADARE) program. The institute was selected as the overall project manager and continues in this management role, based on decades of state and national involvement in the successful acquisition and use of multiple sources of administrative records for research and evaluation studies. 

Beginning in 1998 with five states including Maryland, the ADARE alliance provides a basis for evaluating the impact of various welfare-to-work transition initiatives across the country. Using data collected from 1998 to 2002, ADARE has published reports on issues ranging from job stability for welfare recipients to the role of child support in welfare reform. Next spring, the Upjohn Institute will publish many of the findings from this four-year project.

Today, the alliance has nine partner states covering 43 percent of the U.S. civilian work force. In addition, the focus of the research has shifted from welfare-to-work to the Workforce Investment Act.

“This is the federal government’s primary employment training program,” said David Stevens, director of the France Institute. “The act is up for reauthorization during the upcoming legislative session. Our evaluation of the Workforce Investment Act will be a part of that decision-making process.”

Stevens believes that the institute’s work with ADARE has provided UB with the national exposure needed to continue receiving research awards for their work.

“We’ve already received two additional U.S. Department of Labor awards,” Stevens said. “And in the future, we plan to incorporate more student involvement into our projects.”

For more information, visit www.ubalt.edu/jfi/adare .

Maryland State Government Looks to Schaefer Center for Training, Research and Strategic Planning

With more than $1 million, or about one-third of its grants and contracts coming from state agencies this year, the Schaefer Center for Public Policy has clearly positioned itself as a valuable resource for Maryland policy makers. Last May, Governor Robert Ehrlich signed into law an act requiring the state Department of Budget and Management to develop a comprehensive Managing for Results (MFR) Program plan by January 2005. The department chose UB’s Schaefer Center as the authorized provider of MFR training and consulting through the end of 2006. Since the inception of its program, the Schaefer Center has trained more than 4,000 state managers in MFR.

“We take the expertise of the University to the state’s decision makers,” said Ann Cotten, director of the Schaefer Center. “Some of the participants in the MFR training programs have gone on to become students in our graduate programs, or have recommended UB to friends and family.”

The Maryland Department of Natural Resources has also tapped the Schaefer Center for help with training and planning. Currently, the center is conducting a needs assessment for the Chesapeake Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve. Center researchers will identify how coastal-area decision makers can utilize current scientific data and theory in their work.

“Our researchers are helping these leaders effectively incorporate all of the data they receive into public policy decision making,” Cotton said. “The findings from the assessment will be used to create training programs.”

For more information on the Schafer Center, visit http://scpp.ubalt.edu.