Purpose of Core

The Administrative Core serves as the central organizational unit of the Center and facilitates collaboration with the Center’s research partners at ORC Macro, Morehouse School of Medicine, and the University of Alabama. The Core has highly qualified leadership and support staff, and a clear plan for working with Center projects and other Cores to guide, support and evaluate their research activities.

The Administrative Core is responsible for providing the Center with: (1) scientific leadership, (2) research oversight, and (3) administrative and budgetary support services.

Scientific Leadership

Figure 1 shows the leadership and decision making structure of the Center. Core director and Center P.I. Dr. Freimuth works with the Scientific Leadership Committee to

• Set research priorities, and
• Evaluate all research activities of the Center.

Two external groups provide input to this committee to help facilitate its discussion and decisions:

• The National Research Advisory Board represents the larger scientific community in
  • health communication
  • health
  • poverty
  • tobacco studies
  • The Lay/Community Steering Committee represents the interests and concerns of the state of Georgia served by the Center’s research.

Research Oversight

The second domain of organizational functioning in the Center is research oversight and evaluation. Under the Administrative Core, the project manager coordinates research activities of the Center Projects and Cores, assures consistency and timeliness in documentation of these activities, provides project management support where necessary, and facilitates communication between and among Projects and Cores.

Administrative and Budgetary Support Services

The third area of organizational functioning in the Administrative Core is the administrative and budgetary support services. Support services include:

• Budget planning tracking and management
  • The financial management of the grant is provided by the Biomedical & Health Sciences Institute (BHSI). The BHSI is the administrative office for the Center and other research scientists housed in the new $40 million Paul D. Coverdell Center.
• Liaison between Center and CDC, partner institutions and other research organizations

Administrative support services

Objectives

The goals of the Core are organized around its three overarching responsibilities:

The Core’s scientific leadership responsibility consists of three tasks:

1. Establishing, reviewing and adapting, as needed, the Center’s research priorities.
2. Identifying new opportunities for research on health communication and health marketing to low-income individuals.
3. Assuring the Center’s responsiveness to the concerns of the Lay/community Steering Committee concerning health communication and health marketing initiatives.

The Core’s research oversight responsibility consists of four tasks:

1. Establishing and maintaining a master calendar of the Center’s research activities and deadlines.
2. Maintaining records of the agendas and minutes of meetings of the projects, cores and advisory boards.
3. Coordinating with the Projects and Cores to maximize performance of research.
4. Maintaining the contact list for the Center’s research pool.

The Core’s administrative and budgetary support responsibility consists of four tasks:

1. Administering and overseeing all aspects of planning, tracking and managing the budget for the Center.
2. Providing administrative support services for personnel, travel, meeting planning and computing.
3. Serving as primary liaison between the Center, the University of Georgia, CDC, and research partners.
4. Establishing and maintaining a system of routine Center-wide communication and a web site for the Center.