When leadership changes: reflecting on the way forward in research administration

In an interview, Philip V. Spina, MA, CRA, SRA International President, talked about his reflections upon issues as he completes his two-year term. There are three major changes in the past thirty years that strikes him as particularly important. The first is the definition, or perhaps he should say the emergence of a definition of research administration as a profession. The second is the expansion of the profession. The third significant change has been the pace and diversity of technological changes. Perhaps by other names, internationalization and collaboration have always been part of the research process. "Collaboration" is another way to speak of "inter-departmental," "interdisciplinary," or "multi-institutional" when describing the relationships between researchers. "Internationalization" is probably best understood as awareness of the global nature of the marketplace for research results. Globalization always provides an important opportunity for research administrators to serve their researchers in ever new and unique ways.