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NORC Annual Report 2008

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NORC Annual Report 2008 NORC Board of Trustees Life Trustees Harry L. Davis Robert T. Michael Robert McCormick Adams Roger L. and Rachel M. Goetz Eliakim Hastings Moore Distinguished Nathan Keyfitz Distinguished Service Professor Service Professor Emeritus of Creative Management Harris School of Public Policy Studies Arthur Nielsen, Jr. Graduate School of Business Former Director, NORC Dorothy Rice University of Chicago University of Chicago Eleanor Sheldon Chicago, IL Chicago, Illinois Phil E. DePoy Ralph W. Muller Retired Director, CEO, University of Pennsylvania Health Meyer Institute of Systems Engineering System (Naval Postgraduate School) Philadelphia, PA NORC Officers Former President NORC Ruckersville, VA Janet L. Norwood Chairman Senior Fellow & Counselor, New York Edward O. Laumann John Mark Hansen Conference Board Dean, Division of the Social Sciences Former Commissioner of U.S. Bureau President Charles L. Hutchinson Distinguished of Labor Statistics John H. Thompson Service Professor Chevy Chase, MD Department of Political Science and Vice Chairman of the Board the College Clayton S. Rose Janet L. Norwood University of Chicago Senior Lecturer, Harvard Business School Chicago, IL Former Head of Global Investment Acting Secretary Banking, JPMorgan Chase & Co. Daniel S. Gaylin Edward O. Laumann Boston, MA George Herbert Mead Distinguished Treasurer Service Professor Thomas F. Rosenbaum James E. Dunne Department of Sociology and the College Provost of the University of Chicago University of Chicago John T. Wilson Distinguished Service Chicago, IL Professor of Physics Office of the Provost James L. Madara University of Chicago Board of Trustees Committees CEO, University of Chicago Medical Chicago, IL Center Audit and Finance Committee University Vice President for Medical Stephen M. Stigler Members: Clayton S. Rose (Chair), Harry Affairs Ernest DeWitt Burton Distinguished L. Davis, Ralph W. Muller, Stephen M. Dean, Division of the Biological Sciences Service Professor and Chairman Stigler and the Pritzker School of Medicine Department of Statistics and the College Sara and Harold Lincoln Thompson University of Chicago Executive Committee Distinguished Service Professor Chicago, IL University of Chicago Members: Edward O. Laumann (Chair), Chicago, IL Judith M. Tanur Harry L. Davis, John Mark Hansen, Ralph Distinguished Teaching Professor Emerita W. Muller, Janet L. Norwood, Clayton S. Walter E. Massey Department of Sociology Rose, Thomas F. Rosenbaum, Stephen M. President Emeritus, Morehouse College Stony Brook University Stigler Chairman, Salzburg Global Seminar Montauk, NY Chicago, IL Compensation Committee Gail R. Wilensky Members: Harry L. Davis (Chair), Phil E. Senior Fellow, Project HOPE DePoy, Ralph W. Muller Former Administrator of the Health Care Financing Administration and Presidential Advisor on Health Care Committee on Conflicted Transactions Issues Members: Janet L. Norwood (Chair), Bethesda, MD Clayton S. Rose, Stephen M. Stigler, Judith M. Tanur 2008 ANNUAL REPORT 2 Letters from the President and Chairman 4 In Memory of Our Colleague 6 NORC Senior Fellows 7 Finance and Administration 9 Research Focus Areas 23 Operations and Information Technology 25 Academic Research Centers and the University of Chicago Affiliation 30 Selected Clients FROM THE PRESIDENT FROM THE CHAIRMAN John H. Thompson Edward O. Laumann President Chairman he past year has been one of reflection and reexami- is brought to scale. The second is our joint initiative with nation for NORC as we chart our path forward. We the Harris School of Public Policy Studies to operate the Thave experienced great success in our business devel- Cultural Policy Center at the University of Chicago, a North opment efforts, in the renewal of many existing projects, and American leader in research on cultural policy. in the delivery of high-quality products and services to our clients. We finished 2008 with the highest level of revenue One of our major efforts in 2008 was the development of a in our 67-year history and we received more award notices strategic five-year plan for NORC. Working closely with our during the month of September than in any previous single Board of Trustees, we reexamined our mission and crafted a month. We owe this success to the efforts of our most valu- vision for where we would like the organization to be in five able resource – our staff, many of whom are pictured on the years. We set major goals and objectives and are in the pro- cover of this report. cess of developing specific tactics to realize these goals. We expect to finalize the plan at the April Board meeting. Members of our staff tell us that one reason they join and stay at NORC is the interesting work they do here and their Part of reexamining our organization led to a change in our ability to contribute, within and outside the organization, in reporting structure in order to allow better management of ways that matter to our society. Recent examples of these NORC’s broad range of day-to-day activities. Under this kinds of contributions include Senior Fellow Tom W. Smith’s new structure four organizational groups, each headed by an appointment as president-elect of the World Association for Executive Vice President, report to me: Public Opinion Research and NORC Research Associate • Finance and Administration - Jim Dunne continues Linda J. Waite’s receipt of a National Institutes of Health to oversee the administrative departments. His new title (NIH) MERIT award in recognition of her superior compe- is Executive Vice President for Administration and Chief tence and outstanding productivity in research work on bio- Financial Officer. markers and population-based aging research as part of the • Research Programs - Dan Gaylin oversees all of NORC’s National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project (NSHAP). research (with the exception of Survey Research, described below) and its business development activities as Executive We also have seen some staffing changes in 2008. One Vice President for Research Programs. that deserves special mention is the departure of Mike Tilkin • Operations and Information Technology - Missy after eight years as NORC’s chief information officer and Koppelman is Executive Vice President for Operations and the assumption of that key role by Ron Jurek. Also, two top Information Technology, with oversight of the Information notch researchers joined NORC: Senior Fellow Avinash (Avi) Technology Group, Field Operations, and the Telephone Singh in the Center for Excellence in Survey Research; and Survey and Support Operations Centers. Senior Fellow Ryung Suh, who is heading up a new project • Survey Research - Kirk Wolter, as Executive Vice in the Health Care Research Department that provides assis- President for Survey Research, provides leadership for tance to the Office of Rural Health’s Policy and Planning NORC’s senior fellows focused on survey methodology, over- Group in the Veterans Administration. sees the Statistics and Methodology Department, and contin- ues to direct the Center for Excellence in Survey Research. Another important development has been the addition of He also will continue some of his work as a senior fellow. two new groups to our Academic Research Centers. The first is the newly established Center for Advancing Research and As NORC’s new President, I am honored to have been given Communication in Science, Technology, Engineering, and the privilege of, and the responsibility for, leading this great Mathematics (STEM). Funded by the National Science organization. Foundation and headed by Principal Investigator and NORC Senior Fellow Barbara L. Schneider (Michigan State University), the Center will increase the likelihood that opportunities for impacting policy and practice are not John H. Thompson missed, and that investments in basic, upstream, 'frontier' President STEM education research are supported and promising work 2 FROM THE PRESIDENT FROM THE CHAIRMAN John H. Thompson Edward O. Laumann President Chairman ne of the most rewarding aspects of being John Mark Hansen, the NORC trustee who chaired the Chairman of NORC’s Board of Trustees has been search committee for the position, said NORC has "found Owitnessing the growth in research collaboration a leader for this organization who can inspire us to live up between the University of Chicago and NORC, and the to the achievements of our past and challenge us to even powerful outcomes that result from those collaborations. greater achievements in our future. John Thompson is the Recent examples include the National Social Life, Health, right person to lead the organization now." and Aging Project (NSHAP), which gained nationwide attention in the popular press and in academic journals I agree wholeheartedly and look forward to working with for its groundbreaking insight into the social lives of older him in 2009. Americans (see p. 15). Other collaborative projects such as the National Children’s Study (p. 9) and the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (p. 18) are under way and we expect equally striking results. An important source of NORC’s current success, and of its Edward O. Laumann success throughout its history, has been the contributions of Chairman those who have served as NORC trustees. Over the years, they have given us guidance in all aspects of managing and leading an organization. Examples of their contributions are many but two from former trustees come to mind: Joe Sullivan, former chairman of NORC’s Audit and Finance Committee, devoted so many hours of his time, many of them while he was gravely ill, to the betterment of our financial systems and controls; and Art Nielsen, Jr., now a life trustee, who generously shared his wealth of experi- ence heading a research organization and pioneering the survey research industry. After great service to NORC, Edward Lawlor stepped down this year. He joined the Board in 2002 and contributed his considerable knowledge of public health issues and policy analysis; his work as a researcher and a trustee has been invaluable to NORC. A great source of satisfaction in 2008 was the Board of Trustee’s selection of John H. Thompson as NORC’s new President.
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