1

China Advisory Council Fall Meeting Minutes

October 22, 2014

I. Call to order Yong Tao called to order the Fall meeting at 1:30 pm on October 22, 2014 at Crumley Hall Conference Room.

II. Attendees The following persons were present (according to the order on the signing sheet): Mike Spector, Cathy Hu, Jingcheng Du, Mike Sexton, Tao Zhang, Allen Jackson, Rick Nader, Harold Tanner, Carol Anne Costaible-Heming, Amanda White, Pieter Vermeulen, Barrett Bryant, Vivian Wang, Yunfei Du, Yong Tao, and Provost Warrant Burggren.

III. Agenda/Discussion

1. Remarks by Vice Provost Dr. Rick Nader

2. Update from current taskforces • Faculty Research Collaborations:

Barrett concluded that over 80% of the Chine Venture Fund (CVF) awardees are research related. Amanda and Rick will follow-up with each of last year’s grantees to assess next steps and potential development of proposals and funders if appropriate.

• Recruitment:

Pieter Vermeulen reported on behalf of Su Gao. Basically is following a 4-part strategy: Diaspora, Agents (for undergrads primarily), Transfer Pathways (such as 3+2 or 2+) and Faculty research promotion to select grad markets. It was suggested that these tried and true methods be widely disseminated so that other faculty so inclined, could emulate.

• Community Relations: Jincheng Du reported noted activities with Chinese Chamber of Commerce, Chinese Association of Engineers, hosting fund raising for USCCC (Hope School). Suggest in the future include UNT involvement (visibility) in Chinese New Year, Marco Polo Foundation Dragon Boat race, and additional suggestions were encouraged. Harold mentioned screening of Chinese documentary film “Journey with a Giant” November 19th (more information to follow). Task group encouraged inviting community members to visit classrooms and for business to

2

business connections that might benefit students • Student Services/Study Abroad Programs:

Carol Anne Costabile-Heming reported 2 action items, 1. Gathering information/assessing feasibility of the more than 66 SA options theoretically available for study in China, 2. Finding economies of scale for China programs to save on logistics costs, possibly team teaching a broadly based China experience.

3. Summary on overall progress of 2014 China Venture Fund See attached. It is also covered by the discussion of Research Collaboration task forces and the discussion of future CVF awarded strategies. (Vivian Wang forwarded Rick and Amanda the up-to-date status).

4. Discussion on roles of CAC aligning with UNT’s top priority plan, especially in academic and research affairs (see the attached summary dated April 28, 2014)

Much discussion centered on criteria for this year’s CAC activities, including China Venture Fund awards. Focus on fewer number, but higher impact initiatives building on China-related synergies. Provost commented on using the high quality and broader impact as criteria to select projects. Effectively, the group agreed to focus on BIG IDEAS that add significant (intrinsic/extrinsic) value and have impact on campus as defined by the projects. Strongly support that all projects deserving of support should have ROI, which needs to be defined based on both financial and impact values, institutional impact, high-quality and be sustainable over multiple years. The challenge would be to develop these without significant consultation and hands on development.

5. Actions:

a) Form a proposal review committee for China venture fund. The total funding available is $50,000 for 1-5 projects:

- Five-member committee: (Initial list based on the feedback in the meeting - Jingcheng Du, Mike Sexton, Allen Jackson, Harold Tanner, and Barrett Bryant. May add more members depending on the volume of the proposals) - Develop criteria and RFP based on the discussion. Suggested criteria: • Demonstrating large impact at an institutional level with clearly

analyzed ROI • Seeking college and department matches at the time of the submission

of the proposals • Seeking matches from the China partners at the time of the submission

of the proposals. • Adopting standardized amounts for travel support and announce the

amounts in the RFP.

3

- Review and rank the proposals and submit it to EC chair and Dr. Nader for recommendation to CAC chair and co-chair.

b) New charges for taskforces and deliverables based on the discussion above.

- CAC will issue a call for BIG IDEA applications in order to catalyze action. - Collaborations and joint meetings among four taskforces were suggested to

leverage the efforts and lead to more effective achievements of projected results.

- EC will implement the above-agreed actions for this academic year. The meeting was concluded with a call to continue the CAC model that serves as a unique, long-term platform to continue developing a robust set of China engagements for the benefit of diverse students, faculty and the institution’s constituents.

IV. Adjournment Yong Tao adjourned the meeting at 3:40 pm. Next CAC meeting will be in April 14, 2015 from 1:30-3:30pm. Crumley Hall Conference Room (#181a)

Summary of Projects supported by 2014 China Venture Fund

Department and PI Title Involved Funding Current status

Geography, Dong

Expanding UNT-Yunnan University Collaboration for Research and Study Abroad

Yunnan University $2,980

Advising & Exploring option SA

WLLC, Costabile-Heming

Incentives for Chinese language and study

Dept & ECNU $3,000

Teacher is teaching

Chemistry, Cundari Computational chemistry exchange program

$4,154

Fund disseminated

KHPP, Gu

Research collaboration and international student teacher exchange - UNT and ECNU

ECNU, Tongji &SUS $5,000

Researches &exchanges taking place

Chemistry, Kelber Manufacturable Graphene-Based Nanodevices; UNT-Fudan Collaboration

$3,000

To receive fund match

Materials Sci & Eng, Dahotre

International Collaborative Research in Surface Engineering DJU, SDU $3,000

Scholar &visits

Materials Sci & Eng, Du

Building connections with top Materials Science and Engineering programs in China: Student recruitment and research

Univ E. S.T. China & Wuhan Univ Tech. $3,300

Visits, exchanges, &scholar in Group.

Library and Info Sci, Wang, X.

Enhancing US-China library exchange: A UNT library science student Study Abroad initiative

Wang &Du Tshinghua &TKN $3,350

Inter. Conf. &SA in summer 2015

Psychology, Wang, C.

Enhancing psychological research and academic collaboration UNT and BNU

BNU& PKU $3,700

Various ongoing exchanges & collaborations

WLLC, Chen 2014 Annual Conference of Chinese Language Teachers Association of Texas CLTA-Texas $1,000

Conference Completed

Computer Sci & Eng, Yuan

Expanding collaboration with universities in east China in computer science and math

4 faculty from UNT $3,000

Travels completed, discussions conducted

Learning Tech, Spector

Exchanging and expanding educational technology expertise between UNT and ECNU ECNU $3,000

Travel Completed, activities in progress

Mechanical Energy Eng, Shi

Collaborative doctoral program with ICBR ICBR, etc $2,000

Travel Completed, activities in progress

TOTAL 13 awards $40,484

China Advisory Council Fall Meeting Agenda

October 22, 2014

Chaired by CAC Co-Chair Yong Tao 1. Remarks by Vice Provost Dr. Rick Nader. 2. Update from current taskforces. The current taskforce co-chairs are:

• Faculty Research Collaborations: Barrett Bryant, Rick Nader/ Amanda White Bennett

• Recruitment: Su Gao and Pieter Vermeulen • Community Relations: Jincheng Du, Rick Nader and Gabriel Carranza • Student Services/Study Abroad Programs: Carol Anne Costabile-Heming and Orie

Varner

3. Summary on overall progress of 2014 China Venture Fund (Yong Tao).

4. Discussion on roles of CAC aligning with UNT’s top priority plan, especially in academic and research affairs (see the attached summary dated April 28, 2014).

a. Focus on fewer number, but large-scale initiatives building on China-related

synergies b. Fund China opportunities at an institutional level based on the best ROI c. Improving educational and feedback loops to UNT’s functional units

(academic programs and research) d. Being effective and efficient working with UNT-I.

5. Suggested actions:

a. Proposal review committee:

- Five-member committee. - Develop criteria and RFP based on the discussion. Suggested criteria: • Demonstrating large impact at an institutional level with clearly

analyzed ROI • Seeking college and department matches at the time of the submission

of the proposals; • Seeking matches from the China partners at the time of the submission

of the proposals. • Adopting standardized amounts for travel support and announce the

amounts in the RFP. - Review and rank the proposal and submit it to Dr. Nader as the administrative support to CAC.

b. New charges for taskforces and deliverables based on the discussion above.

c. Any new business.