Administrative Services > Business & Financial Services

The objective of the administrative core is to provide basic organizational and administrative support for the advancement of interdisciplinary research, and training associated with that research, to further the scientific objectives of the PSC.

The administrative core thus functions at two inter-related levels: It is the organizational apparatus for scientific governance and interorganizational interaction at the faculty, scientific, and professional level. This includes communication among research scientists, organization of collaborative projects, maintenance of support from University and external sources, and recruitment of new program scientists. These are activities that are primarily the responsibility of scientific personnel, beginning with the Director Herbert L. Smith. The other level is the administrative activity that supports these processes, collects information from PSC program scientists, shares information with them, supports grant applications, maintains regular PSC activities, hosts scientific visitors and collaborators, responds to requests for organizational information, allocates offices and research space, and so on. These are a combination of continual, cyclical, and episodic activities managed primarily by the Administrative Associate Director Julia Crane and her clerical and professional staff.

The administrative core is also the “nerve center” of the PSC and supports the activities of the other cores: First, it hosts the clerical activities associated with these cores. Second, it coordinates relations among the cores. Viewed from this perspective, it is easier to see that the administrative core is not a substitute for normal faculty support provided by the University. There are administrative assistants, but they are in service to research activities; they are not faculty secretaries. Similarly, the administrative core is not responsible for financial administration of grants or other business services activities.