Grow Research at Your University
The ARC Playbook will be designed as a practical guide to help leaders better understand the components of research capacity and learn best practices and strategies for building that capacity. The ARC Playbook will also provide faculty with resources on the knowledge domains of a successful research career.
Welcome to the Advance Research Capacity Playbook Project
The ARC Playbook Project, funded by NSF Award 243027, is a groundbreaking initiative. Our core focus is on enhancing the research capacity of HBCUs and emerging research institutions through comprehensive institutional assessments and strategic planning. We believe that by strengthening research infrastructure and supporting faculty development, we can help institutions engage more fully in the research ecosystem.
Our mission is to develop, pilot, and disseminate a comprehensive Playbook for Panoramic Institutional Assessments that empowers institutional leaders to strategically enhance research capacity, foster faculty research careers, and significantly contribute to the national research ecosystem.
The ARC Playbook will be the catalyst for a future where more higher education institutions thrive as hubs of innovative research and academic excellence, with robust institutional frameworks and empowered faculty driving groundbreaking advancements that benefit society.
The ARC Playbook Project involves a multi-faceted approach to achieving its goals.
- Foundational Research: Our team of PIs at a consortium of HBCUs conducts in-depth research to identify key components of research capacity and best practices for building a thriving research enterprise
- Playbook Development: We are developing a structured “Playbook” that articulates domains, foundational components, and benchmarks for research capacity, along with rubrics for self-assessments for both institutional administrators and faculty.
- Pilot and Deployment: We are engaging consortium institutions and their research administration, their academic, student success, and financial leaders, as well as their faculty researchers, in an assessment and strategic planning process using the Playbook we developed.
- Evaluation and Refinement: We are evaluating the impact of the Playbook on institutional planning for research capacity and tracking progress through scorecards, ensuring its effectiveness and making necessary refinements.
- Dissemination and Partnerships: We will partner with key HBCU support and advocacy organizations to promote and disseminate the completed Playbook to a wider network of institutions, sharing project results at conferences and publishing the Playbook as a vital resource.
Our work aims to be a “game changer” for HBCUs and emerging research institutions by providing leaders with the tools and strategies needed to increase their research capacity. By fostering environments that can sustain a culture of research excellence and empowering faculty, the ARC Playbook Project seeks to unlock the full potential of these institutions as vital contributors to national research and innovation.
ARC Playbook Partners
