UC San Diego - Organized Research Units

Organized Research Units (ORUs) exist at UCSD to promote multidisciplinary Research and are intended to provide a supportive infrastructure for interdisciplinary research complementary to the academic goals of
departments of instruction and research.   Prior to their establishment,
ORUs must go through a structured review process that includes a supporting recommendation from the Academic Senate. Each ORU is headed by a tenured faculty director and receives financial support and space from the campus to enable it to function. Professional researchers and technical staff can hold their appointments with the ORU, which then serves as their home academic unit. Other units on campus, of a less formal character, may designate themselves as a center or a project, but they are not ORUs unless they have been officially approved as such.
 
The unique culture of research and administration among the major academic areas has led to a number of different implementation and management models for ORUs on the General Campus (GC), in the Health Sciences (HS), and at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO). The Vice Chancellors for Research, Health Sciences, and Marine Sciences have primary oversight of the ORUs in their respective areas.  The Vice Chancellor for Research (VCR) consults closely with the Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs (SVC) in managing the ORA¹s portfolio of General Campus ORUs.
 
The ORA currently manages approximately 20 General Campus ORUs and 2 Multi-campus Research Units (MRUs). MRUs are units with facilities and personnel on two or more UC campuses or locations associated with them.
While MRUs are under the authority of the Vice President for Research and Graduate Studies at the Office of the President, campuses work to ensure the success of these units and often commit significant resources to their functioning.  Under the current policy, ORUs and MRUs are reviewed at five-year intervals, with so-called ³sunset² reviews every 15 years. The reviewers determine whether the organization is functioning in a manner that justifies its continuation, and they evaluate the director¹s performance, and make recommendations on the future of the ORU to the Academic Senate and VCR.
 
A Joint Senate-Administration Taskforce has recently examined ORU structures and processes and released a report to campus for consideration.
Discussions of these recommendations are now underway and are expected to lead to some modication of ORU processes and procedures. View Report

View an ORU Director's Comments on the Report and the Task Force Response