University officials expect to find source of money to return NSF grant within two weeks
University officials have yet to determine where money will come from to pay back a $619,489 grant to the National Science Foundation.
“We have not made a final determination but, tentatively, it will come from reserved funds from the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs,” said interim Provost Gary Shapiro. “We intend to send the money relatively soon.”
The Board of Trustees approved to reimburse $619,489 in grant money Oct. 27 to the NSF because two members of a math department research project violated Central Michigan University’s integrity policy. The grant, which Director of Public Relations Steve Smith said was set at $770,119 to improve the math department’s secondary education program, was approved in 2005.
Interim University President Kathy Wilbur and Shapiro handled questions at the Academic Senate meeting Tuesday about what happened with the grant and what will be done.
“I think there is a great deal of pressure on faculty members to receive grants,” Wilbur said. “I’m sensitive to that, but it’s certainly not acceptable behavior.”
Faculty concern
Two outside investigators hired by CMU reported two math faculty allegedly copied and pasted uncited information as part of the research for “CONCEPT: CONnecting Content and Pedagogical Education of Pre-service Teachers,” which the NSF grant was approved for.
One faculty member in particular, Orlando Perez, chairman of the political science department, showed his concern at the meeting.
Perez said he believes the situation has already been resolved since the money is returning to NSF and the grant was terminated, but he is concerned about where the money will come from and how it will affect the university.
“We are under budget constraints, and this is a lot of money,” Perez said. “I’m concerned that colleagues of mine committed what is a major breach of academic integrity. We tell our students all the time that they shouldn’t plagiarize in their papers, and here we have colleagues who should know better.”
Shapiro said he could not comment on the disciplinary actions being taken on the faculty involved in the research project.
Wilbur said she is only familiar with one of the members involved in the plagiarism, who left Central Michigan University, and is unable to speak for the other member.
Of the seven CMU math faculty listed on the original grant, two have since left the university — Azita Manouchehri, now a professor at Ohio State University, and Ken Smith, now a professor at Sam Houston State University.
Preventative measures
There have been some discussions between Wilbur and Shapiro about other ways of preventing similar situations. Wilbur said they are exploring their options.
Some options presented to the A-Senate included using software similar to turnitin.com and increasing training on ethics for those applying for grants.
“We’re considering a number of options, and we are not ready yet to make the final decision and announce it to the university community,” Shapiro said. “We want to take actions to reduce the likelihood that this would ever occur again.”
Other actions are being considered, but are under study, he said.
“We have to, in some sense, weigh activities which would reduce or eliminate the possibility of research misconduct,” Shapiro said.
