URA 2005 Annual Report

Corporate Structure

Membership and Governance

As a non-profit corporation, URA acts under the authority of its governing body, the Council of Presidents of its 90 member universities. The Council is analogous to the shareholders of a public corporation. A Board of Trustees, elected by the Council, has the fiduciary responsibilities for the corporation and deals with corporate policy and planning issues. The Trustees appoint boards of overseers for each URA research enterprise. The headquarters office of URA in Washington, D.C. coordinates the activities of the Council and boards, and is responsible for oversight and governance of Fermilab and for corporate relations with the Federal government, industry, academe, and the general public. The Internal Audit Manager for Fermilab reports to the URA Headquarters Office.

The Fermilab Director is selected by the Board of Trustees with the approval of DOE. Daily operations are coordinated directly between Laboratory management and DOE's Fermi Site Office or the Office of Science at DOE headquarters. The total number of URA employees at corporate headquarters and at Fermilab is now about 2,030.

URA member universities are divided among seven geographic regions within the United States to ensure that the boards reflect the organization's national character. URA has expanded these regions to include its international members. The Council of Presidents elects one Trustee from each of the seven regions; each Regional Trustee is president or equivalent chief executive officer of a member institution in the region. There are up to nine At-Large Trustees. Similarly, there are seven regional members and up to eleven at-large members of a board of overseers.

URA board members over the years have included university presidents, corporate chief executive officers, Nobel laureates, and directors of other major research laboratories. Regional group secretaries, who are faculty members at URA member universities, help to identify candidates for election to the boards of overseers.

In lieu of annual dues, URA has assessed its member universities as special needs arise. Since the formation of the corporation in 1965, assessments have totaled $30,000 per member. Newly elected members are assessed the amount of the most recent prior assessment.

Headquarters Office

Corporate officers include leaders of the URA governing bodies (Council of Presidents and Board of Trustees), and executive officers at the URA headquarters in Washington, D.C., including the President, Vice President / Secretary, Chief Financial Officer/ Treasurer, and General Counsel of URA.

Regional Group Secretaries

1. Kam-Biu Luk, University of California, Berkeley
2. Kenneth J. Heller, University of Minnesota
3. Sally C. Seidel, University of New Mexico
4. Randal C. Ruchti, University of Notre Dame
5. Paul D. Sheldon, Vanderbilt University
6. Bruce A. Barnett, Johns Hopkins University
7. Michael Tuts, Columbia University