Skip to content
MyData Login/Create Account

Council Committees

Budget and Policy

Chair: Althea Huston
Michael Haines
Sam Myers
Ann Wolpert
Francine Berman
Jeff Moon
Ruth Peterson
Rita Bantom - Staff
Myron Gutmann - Staff
Stacey Kubitz - Staff

Collection Development

Chair: Matthew Snipp
Michael Goodchild
Kathleen Mullan Harris
Lori Weber
Thomas LaVeist
Christopher Zorn
George Alter - Staff
Peter Granda - Staff
Amy Pienta - Staff
JoAnne O'Rourke - Staff

Membership and Marketing

Chair: Sam Myers
Michael Goodchild
Thomas LaVeist
Jeff Moon
Linda Detterman - Staff
Bree Gunter - Staff
Mary Morris - Staff

Preservation and Access

Chair: Kathleen Mullan Harris
Matthew Snipp
Francine Berman
Ann Wolpert
Nancy McGovern - Staff
Bryan Beecher - Staff
Mary Vardigan - Staff

Training and Instruction

Chair: Michael Haines
Aletha Huston
Lori Weber
Christopher Zorn
Ruth Peterson
Dieter Burrell - Staff
Bill Jacoby - Staff
Diane Thompson - Staff

Budget and Policy

ICPSR's governing documents require the Council to approve a budget proposed by the staff. The Budget and Policy Committee reviews budget documents in detail and provides a recommendation to the full Council about whether to approve the budget or whether to request modifications. The committee also reviews periodic reports by the staff about the fiscal status of the organization, and makes recommendations in consultation with the Membership and Marketing Committee about appropriate membership fees, and with the Training and Instruction Committee about appropriate fees for training courses. The Budget and Policy Committee is responsible for managing many non-membership external relationships of the Consortium, especially those with the Institute for Social Research and the University of Michigan. The Budget and Planning Committee manages Council's role in the periodic Situational Review of ICPSR that is called for in the Memorandum of Agreement (MoA), and reviews potential changes in the MoA. In addition to its fiscal monitoring and external relations responsibilities, the Committee operates as the medium- and long-term planning review for ICPSR, providing guidance to the staff about plans for future activities and about general policy-related issues that call for Council advice. Other duties include reviewing research initiatives within ICPSR, as well as grant applications submitted by ICPSR. In addition, it is responsible for reviewing the recommendations of the Nominating Committee, and making final recommendations for future Council nominations. The Council Chair normally serves as Chair of this committee. The staff is represented on this committee by the Director, one or more Assistant or Associate Directors, the Director of Finance, and the Director of Human Resources.

Collection Development

The Collection Development Committee is responsible for all activities related to identifying, acquiring, and processing the archival collection of the Consortium. These activities include setting strategies for building the collection, evaluating suggestions for new areas of collection, addressing suggestions and requests from members or data suppliers, and exploring the implications of new types of media. The committee is responsible for the periodic review of the Collection Development Policy. The committee considers policies and practices related to disclosure risk analysis and limitation, and gives advice on policies for the technical processing of data that is acquired by ICPSR. In doing so, the Committee may be asked to consider technology issues related to the identification and processing of data, understanding that most technology issues will be dealt with by the Preservation and Access Committee. The committee reviews ICPSR proposals for externally-funded grants and contracts related to collection development. The staff is represented on this committee by the Director of the General Archive, the Director of Acquisitions, and one or more Directors of the topical archives. When appropriate, the Director of Computing and Network Services or his delegate may also attend.

Membership and Marketing

The main responsibility of the Membership and Marketing Committee is to keep up relations with member institutions and monitor changes in the membership and in policies related to membership. The Membership and Marketing Committee considers changes to the structure of membership categories when they are scheduled for periodic review. Together with the Budget and Policy Committee, this committee considers and approves changes in membership fees. The committee is responsible for working with staff on proposals to increase membership, and will provide advice about marketing plans as appropriate. The Membership and Marketing Committee is responsible for overseeing the planning of the biennial ICPSR Official Representatives meeting, and for appointing a Program Committee. In addition, it is responsible for reviewing the recommendations of the Prizes Committee. The Staff is represented on this committee by the Director of Membership and Marketing and other staff as appropriate.

Preservation and Access

The Preservation and Access committee is charged with considering strategic and policy decisions related to maintaining current and long-term access to the holdings of the ICPSR archive. This responsibility includes issues related to assuring the preservation of the Consortium's accumulated holdings, and ensuring that users of the archive have effective access to those data over the long term. Preservation policies are a major subject to be considered by the Committee. Its mandate also includes all forms of access regulation and control, including those aspects of the preservation of confidentiality that require restricted access to data, such as contract access and the secure data enclave. The Committee is the main point of contact with the Alliance for the Data Documentation Initiative (DDI) and other external groups. It reviews grant applications related to preservation, metadata, and access to data. Technology issues related to internal support of computing, access through the world wide web, and long-term preservation and off-site mirroring all fall within the purview of this committee. Staff participants in this committee include the Director of Collection Delivery, the Director of Computing and Network Services, and the Preservation officer, along with others as needed.

Training and Instruction

The main charge of the Training and Instruction Committee is to monitor the progress of the ICPSR Summer Program and make recommendations about its activities. In addition to reviewing the Summer Program activities, the committee also reviews the activities of subcommittees on educational materials, such as the Instructional Materials and Information Subcommittee (IMIS) and the Quantitative Methods Underrepresented Groups Subcommittee (QMUG). The committee is responsible for approving new educational and instructional tools to train students -- both graduate and undergraduate -- learning about quantitative methods and research. Staff assigned to this committee include the Director and Assistant Director(s) of the ICPSR Summer Training Program, as well as the Director of Membership and Marketing.

^ top of page