Vice President of Research

Vice President of Research
Texas A&M University
College Station, Texas

Executive Summary

Texas A&M University invites inquiries, nominations, and expressions of interest for the position of Vice President for Research (VPR). This prominent leadership role provides exciting opportunities for an ambitious and entrepreneurial individual to advance the discovery and innovation enterprise of one of the nation’s foremost research universities that has achieved remarkable success over recent years. A member of the prestigious Association of American Universities, Texas A&M ranked 14^th among public universities in the National Science Foundation’s Higher Education Research and Development Survey with annual expenditures of $1.393 billion in fiscal year 2024. Texas A&M University is comprised of seventeen colleges and schools with locations around Texas. Rooted in its legacy as the first public institution of higher education in Texas and one of only a small number of institutions in the nation to hold triple designation as a land-grant, sea-grant and space-grant university, Texas A&M is one of the largest research universities in the United States.

Reporting to the Provost & Executive Vice President, the VPR is a member of the President’s cabinet and contributes to the University’s senior leadership. The VPR provides broad, strategic vision and collaborative leadership that supports faculty, staff and student researchers to elevate the quality and scope of Texas A&M’s research mission and portfolio to further strengthen its contributions to the discovery, development, communication, and application of knowledge for the benefit of the state of Texas, the nation and the world.

Texas A&M’s next Vice President for Research will contribute to the creation of a dynamic, exciting, discovery-driven intellectual environment that draws and nurtures superior faculty, staff and student researchers. The VPR will have demonstrated success as a principal investigator of substantial competitive federal research grants (or equivalent) and in attracting support for research from private partnerships and other funding entities. This individual will be highly accomplished and have a track record of successful, transparent leadership of a complex organization. We seek a VPR that possesses the interpersonal, managerial, and communication skills necessary to build and operate an effective enterprise and collaborate with colleagues across many disciplines to develop large multi-investigator initiatives. Strong candidates will have knowledge of and a deep commitment to research compliance and integrity. The desire and ability to work with agricultural and engineering research and extension agencies is essential. Candidates must be qualified to hold an appointment at the rank of full professor with tenure at Texas A&M.

This document is an abbreviated version of the full position description. For additional information and a complete position description, please visit: www.parkersearch.com/opportunities/tamu-vpr.

For information regarding a nomination or expression of personal interest in this position, please see the section entitled Procedure for Candidacy.

Role of the Vice President for Research

The VPR is the chief research officer for Texas A&M, reports to the Provost & Executive Vice President and serves as a member of the President’s cabinet.

Texas A&M has a strong reputation for the success of its research enterprise, which has experienced sustained growth and achieved record levels in recent years. The new VPR has an outstanding opportunity to build upon this momentum and spearhead, with other senior leaders and researchers, an institution-wide effort to further strengthen a comprehensive disciplinary, interdisciplinary, and collaborative research program. This research effort will build upon its excellence as one of the nation’s premier research universities, while producing knowledge and tools to improve the lives of the people of Texas and the world. The VPR will play a lead role in supporting the investigator-driven evolution of new research initiatives, maintaining a competitive research infrastructure, developing research policies, overseeing sponsored research activity, and ensuring regulatory compliance.

In close collaboration with both the President and the Provost & Executive Vice President, the VPR provides overall leadership in developing a plan to integrate the Texas A&M Strategic Plan with the objectives of increasing funding opportunities, developing collaborative partnerships across disciplines, and supporting research. The VPR is responsible for working with faculty, department heads, deans, directors, staff, and other constituencies across all TAMU campuses to enhance the University’s capacity for innovative multidisciplinary research. The VPR will also facilitate the development of large-scale multi-investigator initiatives in a variety of disciplines and promote the visibility of Texas A&M’s research enterprise. In addition, the VPR will partner with faculty, colleges and the Graduate and Professional School in supporting graduate students in research through funded training programs and other opportunities that enhance research engagement.

The Division of Research bears ultimate responsibility for policies and procedures regarding research ethics, and regulatory compliance, including those related to human subjects and clinical research activities.

The VPR manages a team of over five hundred individuals and an operational budget of $115 million. The following positions report to the Vice President for Research:

• Director, Operations
• Associate Vice President for Research, Research Integrity Officer
• Associate Vice President for Research, Research Compliance Officer
• Associate Vice President for Research, Strategic Initiatives
• Associate Vice President for Research, Centers & Institutes Management
• Associate Vice President for Research Infrastructure and Planning
• Associate Vice President & Executive Director of Sponsored Research Services
• Director, Research Communications
• Executive Director, Research Security and Export Controls
• Director, Scientific Ocean Drilling
• Director, Sea Grant Program

Responsibilities of the Vice President for Research

Leadership: Facilitates and supports research, scholarship, and creative work consistent with expectations of a comprehensive tier-one research university. Provides leadership for the strategic development, implementation and communication of research, scholarship, and creative work at Texas A&M University. Advocates, develops, and coordinates interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary initiatives in research. Builds research capacity through collaborations and strategic investments. Oversees research infrastructure of the University, including university-wide research centers, institutes, and laboratories, and coordinates finances and operations services through appropriate channels. Supervises and mentors staff under the Division of Research and manages the Division of Research budget.

Coordination and Collaboration: Aids the President, Vice President of Faculty Affairs, Provost, and the Colleges and Schools in attracting and retaining the highest quality research faculty. Initiates and maintains programs to enhance faculty development in the areas of research, scholarship, creative activity, and extramural funding. Coordinates major, large-scale research initiatives with The Texas A&M University System Office of Research, other Texas A&M University System institutions and agencies such as the Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station and Texas A&M AgriLife Research. Also coordinates with the Galveston branch campus and Texas A&M Health campuses, and with other universities, national laboratories, research institutions, and private profit and non-profit sponsors. Demonstrates a deep knowledge of the federal and state research funding agencies and engages these agencies in coordination with the University and System Offices of Government Relations. 

Research Compliance: Promotes commitment to integrity and compliance with regulatory requirements for scientific research. Ensures delivery of practical and relevant training to faculty, staff and students, promotes the utilization of programs that provide administrative and operational support for Texas A&M’s research enterprise. Establishes assurance of compliance with federal, state, system, and university standards, including research security, foreign influence, export controls, responsible conduct of research, research misconduct, conflict of interest, biosafety, human subjects research, and animal welfare, including the Comparative Medicine Program. Serves as necessary on various research compliance committees to promote oversight, evaluation, and assurance of compliance in certain fields of research. 

Research Administration: Leads initiatives which serve to provide the highest quality financial and administrative compliance services to Texas A&M faculty, staff, and students by assisting in the acquisition and administration of externally funded awards. Oversees Sponsored Research Services (SRS), which manages proposal and post-award functions of sponsored research contracts and grants for A&M System members to advance the discovery, development, communication, and application of knowledge in a wide range of academic and professional fields. Coordinates research administration with the System, University, and Colleges and Schools administration.

Research Development Services: Advocates and promotes services to assist the research community with proposal development activities including: assists multi-partner proposal teams with managing the proposal process; coordinates professional development in grant proposal writing; assists with proposal resubmission based on reviewers’ comments; coordinates, plans and develops strategies for proposal development efforts; administers internal grant programs, including international programs; manages limited submission process; and supporting the University Research Council.

Core Research Facilities: Strives continually to prioritize efforts to provide researchers and students access to state-of-the-art instrumentation, technologies, and specialized scientific services. Develops strategies for long-term investment and sustainability of core research facilities.

Research Communication: Collaborates with Texas A&M marketing and communication teams to promote the value of research, the research enterprise, and serving the public good, as well as visibility of research accomplishments and impacts across the diverse scholarship and creative activities of the institution.

Professional Qualifications and Personal Qualities

Ideal candidates for the VPR at Texas A&M University will have the following qualifications and personal qualities:

• Must be a scholar of the highest quality and reputation, qualified to hold an appointment at the rank of full professor with tenure in an academic department at Texas A&M.
• Documented record as a principal investigator of large, competitive federal or similar research grants, as well as record of successful training of graduate students.
• Demonstrated ability to facilitate and attract support for research, scholarship, and creative works—from the public and private sectors—consistent with the expectations of a comprehensive tier-one research university that has a land-, sea- and space-grant designation.
• Successful experience obtaining NIH funding and understanding the NIH landscape and that of other health-related funding entities will be highly valued.
• A history of strong interactions with government agencies, corporate and private sectors and knowledge of national and international research agendas and enterprises.
• Superb ability to collaborate and bring investigators together to conceptualize and develop large-scale, multidisciplinary research initiatives and translate them into compelling funding opportunities.
• Ability and willingness to work effectively within the existing Texas A&M University organizational structure, partner with deans and colleges, and collaborate successfully with the separate agriculture and engineering research agencies.
• A commitment to research as a core component of the academic enterprise rather than a separate endeavor and, as such, engages the entire institution around research so everyone sees their role and participates in advancing Texas A&M’s research mission.
• The humility and ability to work effectively in a highly complex administrative structure and to build cohesive, high performing teams that complement their own strengths and weaknesses.
• Understanding of the needs of the range of faculty—from early career faculty just beginning to build their research funding portfolios to senior level faculty working on large scale proposals—and can effectively support them.
• Ability to represent the research vision, strategies, goals and needs of the enterprise nationally, internationally and in serving as a member of the President’s cabinet and contributing to the executive leadership of the university.
• Broad knowledge of federal research policies, guidelines, processes, and grants and contract administration.
• A strong knowledge of and commitment to research regulation and compliance.
• A desire and ability to develop commercial partnerships and the commercialization of university research.
• Knowledge of philanthropic foundations in research and scholarship in liberal arts, science, technology, engineering, and professional schools.
• Experience in and/or a passion for public land-grant universities and the role they play in the vitality of the region and state.
• Advanced skill and demonstrated experience in strategic planning, budgeting, managing, executing, and administering a complex organization.
• An understanding of contemporary public higher education and the development of research infrastructure and enterprises.
• Advanced skill in effectively communicating and advocating for the university’s mission and impact and to diverse audiences.
• Ability to think strategically about best positioning Texas A&M and its faculty for the most productive outcome with each audience.
• Ability to lead and work collaboratively and to build and promote mutually productive partnerships both across the university and external entities including public and private sector organizations, higher education systems, and leaders and organizations in the community, region and state.
• Demonstrated commitment to fairness, transparency and inclusion.
• The highest level of ethical standards and integrity.

Appointment

The VPR reports directly to the Provost & Executive Vice President and serves as a member of the President’s cabinet. The VPR is appointed by and serves at the pleasure of the Provost & Executive Vice President.

Research at Texas A&M

Texas A&M's Division of Research delivers strategic support to further the university's research mission through facilitating collaborations to grow federal funding, strengthening the research infrastructure, promoting the value of research, encouraging commercialization partnerships, and ensuring research compliance. The division is committed to a truly comprehensive university, where students, researchers, and inventors bring scholarship and innovation to bear for the benefit of the community, the state, the nation, and the world.

As one of only seventy-one members of the prestigious Association of American Universities (AAU), an association of leading public and private research universities in the United States and Canada, Texas A&M boasts some of the top programs in academic research and scholarship. Texas A&M is one of only a select few institutions in the nation to hold the triple designation as a land- grant, sea-grant, and space-grant university and is an active member of the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU) — a research, policy, and advocacy organization dedicated to strengthening and advancing the work of public universities in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico.

Today, Texas A&M University stands among the top public research universities in America and garners international recognition for preparing students to enter the workforce.

Procedure for Candidacy

All inquiries, nominations/referrals, and applications (including resumes and letters of interest responding to the requirements outlined in the position profile) should be submitted by September 1, 2025 for full consideration via the Parker Executive Search website: https://www.parkersearch.com/current-opportunities.

Laurie Wilder, President
Porsha Williams, Vice President
Jacob Anderson, Senior Principal
Julia Butler-Mayes, Ph.D., Associate
Parker Executive Search
Five Concourse Parkway, Suite 2875 | Atlanta, GA 30328
(678) 775-4564
pwilliams@parkersearch.com || janderson@parkersearch.com || jbutler-mayes@parkersearch.com

Electronic submission of materials required.