Reflecting on IU’s federal relations efforts

By Christopher Simpson, IU Vice President for Public Affairs and Government Relations

The university federal relations staff has worked hard and been successful at influencing federal legislation and ensuring that IU has unlimited access to federal grants, contracts and appropriations.

For example, Indiana University acquired significantly increased funding for university projects this past year. In fiscal year 1999, federal awards rose to $136 million, an increase of 10 percent over the prior year. For this past fiscal year, federal aw ards increased to nearly $156 million, an increase of just under 15 percent.

Overall during the past year, IU received a total of 777 awards from the federal government. Just over 60 percent of these awards came from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Specific examples of success this year follow below and also are contained in these pages.

• Funding was secured through the Center for Disease Control and Prevention for a federal grant of $250,000 awarded to the Rural Center for AIDS/STD Prevention (RCAP) at Indiana University for the first year of a five-year project. Headed by William Yarbe r, the center has received one-year funding for the project over the past several years, but has now received the five-year award to total $1.25 million to further the program. (See story at left)

• The IU School of Nursing’s new Center for Enhancing the Quality of Life in Chronic Illness is funded by a five-year, $1.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Heath. The school, headquartered at IUPUI, is one of just nine nursing schools in the country to receive the distinction as a center. (See story, above right)

• IU received a $3 million grant from Digital Libraries Initiative—Phase 2, a multi-agency federal program with funding from the National Science Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities, to create a digital music library. The four-year gr ant will allow IU information technology specialists, researchers, librarians and music experts to establish a digital music library testbed, develop computer applications for education and research in the field of music, and seek answers to the thorny is sues surrounding music-related intellectual property rights.

• The Indiana University Cyclotron Facility received a $6.5 million grant from the National Science Foundation to conduct studies of nuclear structure and nuclear process at intermediate energies.

• The Department of Radiology at the IU School of Medicine received $2.1 million in the U.S. Veterans Affairs Scarce Medical Contract to provide radiology professional services.

• The National Institutes of Health awarded $2.2 million to the IU School of Medicine for the General Clinical Research Center on the IUPUI campus.

In addition to helping to secure funding for university research, IU officials continue to play significant roles in major associations—such as the Association of American Universities; the National Association of Universities and Land Grant Colleges; and Big Ten Federal Relations—to influence legislation affecting higher education. For example, they were active in:

• H-1B visa legislation—This bill has exempted H-1B workers hired by academic institutions from an annual numerical cap, which had severely restricted use of this visa. This legislation eases problems experienced by U.S. universities in hiring foreign nat ional researchers and educators.

• Appropriation bills—An increase in funding for several appropriation bills also were sought for federal grant-issuing agencies. For instance, the National Endowment for the Humanities received $120.3 million, a 4.3 percent increase over fiscal year 2000 budget appropriations. In addition, the National Endowment for the Arts received $105 million a 4.1 percent increase that includes a separate $7 million for the Challenge America program. The Department of Energy is expected to receive $660.6 million, or a 2.8 percent increase this year, and the National Science Foundation will receive approximately $4,426 million for fiscal year 2001, a 13.6 percent increase.

The federal relations team is always looking to assist with securing funding for other possible projects. Please let us hear from you if we can be of help.