DRAC is a belief system in the importance of research administration on campus. The Departmental Research Administration Center (DRAC) is designed as a virtual center, with the mission of improving the functionality of research administration at the departmental level. UCLA offers campus-based resources from central offices to assist research administrators in completing their job functions.
However, we have found that the needs of a research administration in a department requires a unique set of skills, and in turn demands a unique set of resources be available to the departmental fund manager. DRAC seeks to provide these resources, ensuring that new and experienced individuals have a single site resource for fund managers and department administrators to access campus links, information, and resources; provide access to training materials, conference information, national certification, and related resources; share information regarding existing resources and tools; and to create a community for departments that supplements campus resources.
What is DRAC is is a central repository for research administrators across campus that takes into account the day-to-day needs, leveraging the campus-based resources, into a central portal that fund managers may use to educate themselves and better fulfill their functions. This resource serves as a single storehouse for links, training, tools, and examples that fund managers utilize on a daily basis at a departmental level.
The goal is to create an opportunity to share resources among research administrators on campus and to assist departments self-improve their fund management. Resources a departmental administrator needs to use are unique. DRAC seeks to create a virtual center to fill this void.
Please share your thoughts on what you’d like to see in the DRAC. Feel free to participate in helping developing this as a resource for YOU.
