Identifying Needs and Building Research Capacity at an Historically-Black University - Identifying Needs and Building Research Capacity at an Historically-Black University
Summary
Delaware State University (DSU) is an Historically-Black University with an emerging excellence in
biomedical research. HBCUs such as DSU play a vital role in increasing diversity in biomedical research. HBCU
faculty, students, and graduates bring diverse perspectives that foster innovative solutions and ensure that research
addresses health disparities, the needs of the African American community, as well as a broader, more inclusive
population in general. DSU in particular, serves a significant number of students from underrepresented groups,
primarily African American (75% of full-time undergraduate enrollment) and provides our students valuable research
experiences and mentorship to encourage and enable them to pursue careers in science and medicine. Our STRONG
project will support structured needs assessments to examine DSU’s research and organizational capabilities and
develop short- and long-term action plans to leverage existing strengths and develop strategic approaches for
improvement. We have assembled a Steering Committee that brings together over 20 leaders across all institutional
sectors that support the research enterprise, including operations functions such as Facilities and IT, to administrative
offices such as Human Resources, Finance, and Restricted Funds Accounting, and individuals representing the
academic program such as College Deans, members of the Faculty Senate Research Committee, and the leadership
of the School of Graduate Studies, and the Office of Undergraduate Research. The Committee will be organized into
subcommittees with specific focus areas related to different functions that support the research enterprise. The PI
team for this project brings together a research administrator with a long history of success in winning NIH grants
(Harrington), DSU’s Sr. Associate VP for Institutional Effectiveness (Murray-Jackson) and the Associate VP for
Academic Operations (Sudler), who has expertise in process improvement using the Lean Six Sigma framework. We
also have a partnership with the Consultants Program of the National Organization for Research Development
Professionals (NORDP) that will provide access to vetted research development professionals who will conduct a
confidential onsite review of program activities, interview key stakeholders, and engage with the STRONG grant
Steering Committee to help determine institutional strengths, limitations, and opportunities related to research
development. The consultants will then work with the Steering Committee to develop action plans and milestones to
strengthen DSU’s biomedical research capacity and develop institutional research themes that align with our
academic strengths and DSU’s historic mission to serve underrepresented populations. Our STRONG project will
enable DSU to develop benchmarks, and action items to leverage strengths and meet identified needs leading to
increased competitiveness for external funding and transformation of DSU’s biomedical research portfolio.
