FY2020 Provost's Investment Funds (PIF) Report
Each year, the Office of the Provost solicits project proposals from departments for funding from the Provost’s Investment Fund (PIF). A diverse committee of employees reviews the submissions to identify the proposals that most closely align with the University’s strategic goals and institutional priorities. In Fiscal Year 2019/2020, PIF received an allocation for $17,721,982 from the Responsibility Centered Management (RCM) budget model. A total of $23,797,313 was committed to the colleges and units, in which $19,500,225 was allocated to operational initiatives listed in Table 1 and $4,297,088 was for strategic initiatives awarded through competitive submissions listed in Table 2. From these commitments, over $22 million (shown in the graph below) was transferred from PIF to colleges and units across campus to support various programs and initiatives.
The purpose of this summary is to highlight the progress of funded projects over a multi-year funding period per the receipt of annual progress reports from those recipients. Annual project summaries are required to meet accountability and transparency expectations and are valuable to highlight milestones and accomplishments achieved by the programs/projects funded by PIF. Unfortunately, due to COVID-19 restrictions, some projects were put on hold or made less progress than planned, while others were able to move forward. Carry-over is a consideration in cases where a project was delayed under exceptional circumstances. Funds support many important strategic initiatives, including new and innovative academic programs, lab upgrades, technology improvements, research infrastructure, and strategic programming. Emerging themes from funded projects included initiatives that aim to improve student experiences and support encompassing instruction, diversity and inclusiveness, research opportunities, and academic programs that meet the needs of the 4IR economy both domestically and globally. Many of these exceptional projects demonstrated intersectionality across multiple strategic initiatives and themes.
| CATEGORY | FY2020 | % |
|---|---|---|
| Deans Administrative Stipends | 1,560,870 | 6.56% |
| Cluster Faculty Hires | 125,476 | 0.53% |
| Distinguished Professors | 97,922 | 0.41% |
| Enterprise Systems | 527,566 | 2.22% |
| Faculty Awards | 7,000 | 0.03% |
| Graduate Interdisciplinary Program (GIDP) | 197,100 | 0.83% |
| Hiring Commitment Start-up | 2,997,296 | 12.60% |
| Partner Hires | 1,095,827 | 4.60% |
| Promotion & Tenure Committee | 17,000 | 0.07% |
| Provost's discretionary supports | 9,161,548 | 38.50% |
| Regents Professors | 110,179 | 0.46% |
| Research Support | 1,246,409 | 5.24% |
| Faculty Retention | 625,130 | 2.63% |
| Faculty Retirement Buyout | 373,311 | 1.57% |
| Strategic Priorities Faculty Initiative (SPFI) | 631,924 | 2.66% |
| Student Support | 690,626 | 2.90% |
| Technology Research Initiative Fund (TRIF) | 35,040 | 0.15% |
| TOTAL | 19,500,225 | 81.94% |
Table 1. Operational Initiatives
| CATEGORY | FY2020 | % |
|---|---|---|
| Enterprise Systems | 700,000 | 2.94% |
| Strategic Initiatives | 3,537,488 | 14.87% |
| Student Support | 59,600 | 0.25% |
| TOTAL | 4,297,088 | 18.06% |
Table 2. Strategic Initiatives Awarded Through Competitive Submissions
Highlights
The library was awarded in Spring 2019 for the proposal to confront grand challenges and institutional needs to provide curation for research datasets and related research outputs that are the result of research activities at the University. Using the PIF funds, the Libraries’ Office of Digital Innovation & Stewardship launched ReDATA – a research data repository that stores and shares data of UArizona researchers, making data open, accessible for researchers and scholars.
“The importance of making research data openly accessible has been vividly illustrated by the need for global solutions to the COVID-19 pandemic,” said University Libraries Dean Shan Sutton. “Launching ReDATA is a significant step forward in how the University Libraries partners with researchers here to ensure the data they generate can empower worldwide research communities to make new discoveries and find solutions to our common challenges.”
The Center for Simulation and Innovation Program utilized PIF funds to deploy a single Mentice procedural simulator to increase medical students' exposure to multidisciplinary interventional procedures. In his report, Chris Goettl, M.D., stated that
“The simulator has already been successfully used with multiple students during their Interventional Radiology Clerkship electives, with overall positive feedback from student learners.”
Eller College of Management’s AZSecure Cybersecurity Program was able to achieve its key outcomes and impacts with the support of PIF funding, which was awarded in Spring 2019. Funds were used to cover the cost of technology and various aspects of the infrastructure of the Cybersecurity Operations Center (CSOC) command and virtual classrooms, to support the faculty and staff overseeing the Scholarship for Industry (SFI) program, and to support student success and engagement. Susan Brown, Ph.D., the MIS Department Head highlighted one of the students’ achievements who had participated in the SFI program.
“This student received a competitive scholarship to attend the RSA conference sponsored by Women in Security and Privacy (WISP). She placed in the top 7% of individuals in the National Cyber League spring competition. She was in the 98th percentile for her bracket and her team came in 13th in the competition, ranking in the 99th percentile.”
Through the PIF funding, the Excelencia in Education Award Winner, Arizona Science, Engineering and Math Scholars (ASEMS) developed an integrated, tailor-made program to increase the retention and graduation rates of the undergraduate Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) students in the CALS ASEM Scholars Program. This effort focused on those with the lowest retention rates: students who were first-generation, from low-income households, under-represented minorities, and community college transfer students.
The Women in Science and Engineering Program (WISE) received support from PIF to effectively and efficiently support the recruitment, retention, and graduation of female-identifying students pursuing degrees in STEM fields. Prior to the PIF investment, WISE had limited funds to support its programs. One of the students who participated in one of the WISE programs, which is the mentorship program, stated that:
“I set out goals and actually completed them. I felt like having someone there that was readily available to help me really set me up for success. Though I didn’t receive any of the scholarships and internships that I applied for, having that experience and knowing I did try my best was worth the experience.”
We recognize the incredible accomplishments that happen across this great University due to the passion, expertise, innovation, and dedication of many brilliant colleagues, and thank you for the work and progress on PIF projects and beyond.
Updated at 3:55 p.m. on 12/2/2020