December 16, 2009

Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce that the campus administration is beginning a new budgeting procedure that will return a percentage of grant indirect costs (5%) to support library and information technology infrastructure. On a yearly basis, we anticipate that this will translate into about $300,000 for the first year, increasing as the University’s research portfolio expands.

We have asked Libraries Director Ewa Barczyk and CIO Bruce Maas to develop 4-year plans for the use of the indirect cost return. Their proposals center on expanding access to scholarly journals and databases and on developing an identity and access management infrastructure to facilitate research collaborations and use of ‘cloud’ computing services.

As UWM continues its growth as a research institution, our reliance on library resources and information technologies will only increase. Supporting these core needs through a 5 percent return of research expenditure indirect costs will help ensure that the University not only keeps pace with demand for access to scholarly materials and cyberinfrastructure but also that we are positioned for future research growth.

Sincerely,

Rita Cheng
Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs

Colin Scanes
Vice Chancellor for Research and Economic Development and Dean of the Graduate School