Purdue announces investments and policies for scholarly impact and research excellence

January 9, 2023

Purdue faculty colleagues,

Welcome back! We are delighted to announce today six new investments or policies to support, incentivize and reward scholarly impact and research excellence at Purdue. The following updates to enhance faculty productivity and success will become effective immediately:

• We will increase staffing in Sponsored Program Services (SPS) by 25%, along with support for necessary tools, to improve faculty services and response times and to address emerging needs and priorities. These changes augment recent increases in pre-award staffing and market adjustments in SPS. Additionally, we will realign SPS to report to the Executive Vice President for Research while retaining a strong connection to the Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer.
• We will institute a dedicated Faculty Recognition Office, reporting to the Provost, to help faculty at all career stages receive major external recognition and national and international awards reflective of their scholarly excellence and impact.
• We will provide a salary supplement and other support, such as significant teaching relief, to faculty who volunteer to lead large, competitive, national center proposals, even if the proposals do not yield an immediate win.
• We will provide $50,000 in discretionary accounts for principal investigators of all new awards in 2023 exceeding $5 million in total direct funding to Purdue. Upon evaluation of this pilot at the end of 2023, we may be able to continue or to expand the program in the future.
• We will enable faculty members, through the Purdue Applied Research Institute (PARI) and other mechanisms being vetted, to apply for increased total compensation from external awards when permitted by the sponsor.
• We will pilot a trial program that allows our faculty to use credit cards for purchasing in externally-funded research projects.

We are excited about these new and enhanced opportunities, and will seek further input from you on refinement and next steps. Your university values your hard work, creativity and excellence. Boiler Up, and welcome to 2023! 

With warm wishes on behalf of the university leadership team,

Patrick Wolfe, Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs and Diversity

Karen Plaut, Executive Vice President for Research

Chris Ruhl, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer