Vice President for Research and Innovation

Search for the Vice President for Research and Innovation

University of Oregon

Eugene, Oregon

 

The University of Oregon (UO), Oregon’s flagship institution, seeks a strategic and collaborative administrator and transformative leader to serve as its next Vice President for Research and Innovation (VPRI). 

 

The VPRI will join the UO community at an exciting moment in time. The University has made tremendous investments in teaching and research excellence in the most recent years, including the construction and development of the $1.5 billion Phil and Penny Knight Campus for Accelerating Scientific Impact, focusing upon building translational research and innovation activities across campus. The VPRI, in collaboration with the provost, Knight campus director, and academic leadership across the University, will seize this momentum and continue to catalyze existing research strengths to build the future roadmap for UO’s research and innovation enterprise. The VPRI will harness the University’s unique cultural, intellectual and economic assets further and with great leadership and collaborative skill, catapult the University into an era of unprecedented growth and broad societal impact and engagement.

 

Founded in 1876, the University of Oregon (UO) is a Carnegie R1 research university, a member of the 65-member Association of American Universities (AAU) and the state’s flagship campus. It enrolls more than 19,000 undergraduate and 3,600 graduate students representing all 50 states and 99 countries, and is an integral economic driver for the state, with an estimated $2.2 billion annual economic return to Oregon.  Since 2014, UO has operated under an independent governing structure that supports its ability to chart new directions, improve entrepreneurial activity, and invent creative programming. Since then, the University has raised over $1.7 billion in support of partnerships and opportunities in academic, research, and innovation excellence. Recent efforts include new initiatives focused on the environment, innovation and entrepreneurship, and the humanities, as well as an interdisciplinary data science initiative. 

 

The VPRI will be an accomplished builder, committed to the highest standards of research excellence, and will provide vision and leadership for the strategic development, administration, communication, and implementation of research and innovation at UO. The VPRI oversees most of UO’s multidisciplinary research centers and institutes, strategic research initiatives and partnerships, research infrastructure and administration, compliance and regulatory units, innovation and commercialization efforts, and works with the UO donor community to support research initiatives. The VPRI will strengthen existing programs and tech transfer activities, and develop new partnerships and collaborations that position the UO as an integral contributor to the cultural, scientific, and economic development of the state, nation, and the world.

 

Qualifications and Characteristics

 

  • Outstanding communication and collaboration skills, including evidence of the abilities to facilitate connections within and external to the University, to articulate a strong vision for the University’s research programs, and to interact successfully with multiple and diverse constituencies;
  • A deep understanding of interdisciplinary research and team science, including its challenges and advantages;
  • Impeccable academic judgment, an eye for high-level research, and a deep understanding of the opportunities and challenges world-class researchers face;
  • Experience and interest in securing financial resources from a variety of public and private sources, and a specific understanding of the role of philanthropic giving in supporting a leading research institution;
  • Leadership experience heading a large, complex research program;
  • Substantial administrative experiences including management of budgets and personnel;
  • A record of appreciating excellence and participating in the successful recruitment and retention of a superb faculty;
  • A demonstrated record of growing institutional research and scholarship with a balanced funding portfolio;
  • Enhancing research impact through support of university-led efforts in entrepreneurship, commercialization, technology transfer, science communication, and/or industrial collaborations;
  • Evidence of valuing diversity, equity and inclusion;
  • An understanding of and commitment to the mission of the University of Oregon;
  • A commitment to transparency in policy, strategy, and financial management, with an appreciation of and support for shared governance;
  • Highest ethical standards in all matters.

 

Highly desirable qualifications

 

  • Distinguished record of externally funded research, scholarship and/or creative activity;
  • Distinguished record of facilitating business activity and economic development from university research efforts.

 

University of Oregon has retained Isaacson, Miller, a national executive search firm, to assist in this search. Screening of complete applications will begin immediately and continue until the completion of the search process. For more details, including the full position profile and to submit inquiries, nominations, referrals, and applications, please see the Isaacson, Miller website for the search: www.imsearch.com/8190. Electronic submission of materials is required.

 

 

Regan Gough and Carley Davenport

Isaacson, Miller

1000 Sansome Street, Suite 300

San Francisco, CA  94111

Phone: 415.655.4900

 

The University of Oregon is an equal opportunity, affirmative action institution committed to cultural diversity and compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.