Leveraging Resources Through Interdisciplinary Partnerships

In 2014, the College of Health at the University of Utah hired a new dean, who was charged with increasing research productivity (e.g., extramural funding). This paper highlights several ways that the Department of Health and Kinesiology (more broadly the College of Health) leveraged resources through interdisciplinary partnerships to meet this challenge. More specifically, the paper highlights efforts to develop new research space, explore partnerships with other units and initiatives on campus to recruit and retain faculty, and use existing programming on campus to strengthen the research infrastructure. It also illustrates changes in policies that enabled this research expansion.