Minnesota Population Center Administrative Core

ADMINISTRATIVE CORE: SUMMARY MPC’s Administrative Core maximizes the efficiency of funding for population dynamics research by minimizing the time and energy researchers spend dealing with financial, human resource, and other administrative requirements. The Administrative Core provides leadership by coordinating activities and resources across cores. It increases the productivity of MPC members by maintaining excellent facilities and offering cost-effective services and by reducing the administrative burdens of research, particularly those related to grants administration, fiscal management, and human resources. Administrative Core leadership and staff are responsible for the day-to-day operations of the Center and for planning for the continued development of MPC. Services fall into five categories: (1) accounting and finance; (2) grants management; (3) human resources; (4) facilities; and (5) communications. Accounting and finance: The most critical function of the Administrative Core is coordinating and monitoring all aspects of MPC finances. Grants management: The Administrative Core provides budget support for proposal development, maintains records of current and pending support, manages IRB and human subjects training, manages subcontracts and consulting agreements, coordinates annual reports, and handles public access requirements (e.g., PubMed Central). Human resources: In addition to efficiently handling routine human resources tasks for MPC’s large staff, the Administrative Core exerts considerable effort on recruitment and retention of employees. Facilities: The Administrative Core ensures that all research projects have outstanding facilities in which to work. Communications: The Administrative Core communicates members’ research news via traditional and social media. It also keeps members and staff up to date on policies and procedures, informs them of new initiatives and opportunities, and responds to member requests for services. The Administrative Core Lead is MPC Director John Robert Warren. The Administrative Core arranges monthly meetings of the Advisory Board and fortnightly meetings of the Executive Committee. All MPC members are eligible to use MPC Administrative Core services, although priority is given to new and early stage investigators. The Core also provides services to population dynamics researchers at non-P2C funded institutions. Without the Administrative Core, the most productive MPC researchers would be forced to devote a large percentage of their time to tasks such as human resources and grant administration. This would be an inefficient investment of resources, from both a scientific and an economic perspective.