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Commendation Letter from UNC's Office of the President for Centers & Institutes Work a 3rd Party Letter written by John W. Hardin, Ph.D. 12/11/2001

We actually redid the functionality of this system years ago and haven't changed it since. We're happy that it's still running smoothly for them, essentially maintenance free. The text version is below; you may also view the actual the letter December 11, 2001 To Whom It May Concern: A primary means to address the diverse mission of the 16-campus UNC system is through centers and institutes (hereafter, "centers"). Such units, currently 180 in number, strengthen and enrich multidisciplinary programs of research, instruction, and public service conducted by UNC faculty. They also have a strong positive impact on the economic development of the state by providing job opportunities, supplying technical assistance and training, fostering community development and outreach programs, and enhancing the transfer of new technologies. In FY 1999-2000 alone, UNC centers received $450 million in funding, employed 5,519 personnel, and produced 6,885 publications. UNC Board of Governors policy requires that each center submit a status report to the UNC Office of the President as a component of the biennial update of its long-range plan. The reports serve both as important planning and evaluative tools and as means to publicize the operations and services of UNC centers. In the past, centers submitted these reports in hardcopy, but such a medium made collecting, analyzing, and publicizing the information difficult. Thus to streamline the process and establish a new database, we decided in 1999 to collect and publicize center information using a Web-based system. Chris Ogden of InfoMatters, Inc. was called upon to design such a system. Chris designed the "UNC Centers and Institutes Website", which contains several valuable features: report preparation/submission capability (for center directors) report review/approval capability (for Chief Academic Officers) report editing/publication capability (for General Administration staff) report searching/viewing (for the public) links to center policies and procedures (for all users) links to center summary figures (for all users) links to contact information (for all users) I n short, the website Chris designed provides a powerful, reliable, and comprehensive resource for submitting and acquiring a wealth of information about UNC centers. The website has greatly enhanced our ability to manage information related to UNC centers. Although designing and implementation the website to serve such a wide array of users was not an easy task, the many who have accessed and used the site have offered strong words of praise for its intuitive design and ease of use. As the primary administrator of the website, I can say that I greatly enjoyed working with Chris during the design and implementation phases, and I continue to appreciate his hard work and expertise as I use the website on a daily basis. Chris's efforts have simultaneously enhanced my capabilities and made my job easier and more efficient. I could not be happier with Chris' work, and I would gladly turn to him when future Web-based needs arise. I give Chris my highest recommendation. Sincerely, John W. Hardin, Ph.D. Assistant Vice President for Research and Sponsored Programs