4.0 Faculty Development and Research
Amended April 2023
The Associate Provost is the officer of the administration primarily responsible for supervising and encouraging faculty growth both in teaching and research. Members of the faculty are encouraged to discuss with the Associate Provost their plans for study, participation in professional seminars and conferences, research projects including those funded from sources outside the College, and development of new courses and programs.
Members applying for grants from sources outside the College in support of research to be conducted in association with the College should have the approval of their departmental chair and the Provost. They should also confer with the Controller about budgetary matters, such as percentages of matching costs paid by the College, compensation for indirect costs, and computer time.
4.0.1 Research Using Human Subjects
Institutional Review Board (IRB)
Amended April 2007
The Kenyon College Institutional Review Board is hereby established, in compliance with Federal regulations (45 CFR 46), to review and approve all research involving human subjects performed at its facilities, by its agents, representatives and affiliates, or under its auspices. IRB approval is required before any human subjects research including, but not limited to, research utilizing questionnaires, interviews, and other means of gathering attitudes, opinions, and views, as well as research involving direct biological or behavioral interventions or interactions with living persons, may be undertaken.
This legislation supersedes Sec 3.2.5 of the Faculty Handbook insofar as such rules vest in the Faculty Development Committee the responsibility for overseeing research proposals involving the use of human subjects. It is the policy of the College that no research conducted under its jurisdiction should be contrary to the mission of the institution.
All Kenyon College researchers (faculty, administrators, or students), research advisors, department/program chairs, and heads of administrative divisions, must complete the prescribed online Human Subjects Protection Training prior to submission of proposals to the IRB from or through such departments or divisions of the college.
Members
Members of the IRB are appointed by the Provost in consultation with the Associate Provosts and the chairs of departments and programs. To assure an element of continuity in the work of the IRB, faculty members will normally serve a three-year term. The terms may, at the election of the Provost, be renewed or continued.
The IRB consists of the Associate Provost, who chairs the board, and, as required by federal regulation, at least five members with varying backgrounds including a Kenyon College administrator, at least one member of the community unaffiliated with the College, and three faculty members, representing different academic divisions of the college. No two faculty members on the IRB may be from the same department. The board must include at least one member of each sex, with a goal of achieving gender balance whenever the composition of the faculty and administration makes it possible to do so.
The customary composition of Kenyon’s IRB will be as follows:
- Chair, Associate Provost
- One member from the community
- One member from the Natural Science Division
- One member from the Social Sciences Division
- One member representing the Fine Arts, Humanities & Interdisciplinary Studies
- One ex-officio member, and appointed administrator to oversee the work of the committee. Such ex-officio member shall have a voice but no vote at the Board meetings.