Model

Two main premises underlie this model: (1) academic control must be retained at the school and department level; and (2) institutional operations related to business, clinical and research functions should be managed center-wide.

Key features of the Statewide Centers of Excellence model include:

• All Centers represent wholly owned units of the University, subject to University policies and regulations, including but not limited to those which govern compliance, fund raising, government and public relations, human relations, intellectual property, and purchasing.
• A Statewide Centers of Excellence Board of Directors, chaired by the Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and made up of the Deans of those schools with a local Director (defined below), will provide advice and counsel to the Senior Vice President on issues affecting the Centers.
• Each Center may establish its own Advisory Board, with membership subject to approval by the Senior Vice President. Such boards will serve in an advisory capacity on programs and fundraising.
• Each Center will be led by an Executive Director who has statewide responsibility, and who is appointed by the Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs, acting in consultation with the Deans. The Executive Director reports to the Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs.
• Annually, each Center will present, for approval by the Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs, reports on prior year activities, and plans and budgets for the coming year(s).
• Multiple locations will be established for each Center, each with its own Director.
• The Directors will be appointed jointly by, and will report jointly to, the Executive Director and the respective Dean.

Faculty Appointment to Centers

• Members of Centers are normally Faculty at UMDNJ, with rights and privileges as Members of the Center defined by their rights and privileges as UMDNJ Faculty. The Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs may grant exceptions to this policy, upon recommendation from the Dean of each school or the Deans of multiple schools.
• The Executive Director and the Directors will work closely with the Deans in naming existing faculty to the Center and in recruiting new faculty who may be members of the Center.
• Faculty recruitment, appointments, promotions and evaluation are the domain of the schools. Consistent with existing University policy, faculty evaluations will be performed by the individuals normally responsible for specific faculty activities, through the departmental chair. The Chair will seek appropriate input from the Executive Director and the local Director in the evaluation of faculty who are also Center Members.

Gifts, Grants, and Contracts Management

• All fundraising activities of the Centers that are directed toward obtaining gifts or grants from corporations, individuals or other external foundations and similar organizations will be managed by the Foundation of UMDNJ.
• Centers should establish a Scientific Review Board, one of whose functions is to ensure the highest standards in research programs and clinical trials that are brought forward for approval to appropriate University offices, for example, to IRB’s, research offices, and legal management.
• Grants and contracts intended for use at a Center will be applied for and received by UMDNJ or one of the Schools of UMDNJ. Internally, credit for the revenue will be divided among the schools equitably based on the locations and support of the researchers and their laboratories. The Executive Director, subject to approval by the Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and the Statewide Center of Excellence Board of Directors, will make decisions on the divisions of such funds and the division of credit for such funds.
• The University will develop a formula for the division of indirect cost recovery funds between the Central Administration, the Schools, and the Centers. This formula will serve as a model in the construction of operating procedures for new centers. The Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs may grant exceptions to this model.

Business Management in the Center

• To assist in the appropriate management of Statewide Centers, the University will develop a common system for patient billing and medical records, and a common database of faculty skills and areas of clinical expertise, across the University.
• Business functions such as budgeting, planning and assessment, statewide contracting, and the management of clinical trials will be coordinated by the Executive Director with appropriate input from the Directors.
• Statewide contracts will be negotiated with payors by the Center on behalf of the campus centers. The Executive Director will retain a portion of these funds for future development and administrative expense with the remainder distributed to each center as agreed upon by the Executive Director, Directors, and Deans. The allocation of the funds on each campus will be determined by the funds flow model on that campus.
• For all other clinical revenues, billing will be through the administrative practice plan entity that currently exists on each campus. The distribution of the revenues will reflect existing funds-flow models on each campus approved by the practice plan governing body.
• Additional support for each Center will be negotiated between the Executive Director, the Directors and the Deans.