Richard H. Timpson, who has been at the University of Utah for nearly 25 years and director of the Sponsored Projects Office (formerly Research Administration) since 1973, will retire this month.
Timpson has played a major role in the growth of university research funding and student assistance. When he came to the university in 1966 as a grants administrator, the U. was attracting about $13 million in external funding. Last year, the figure was more than $100 million. The U. ranks 24th among all state institutions in the nation in federal research support.Timpson has been a member of the National Council of University Research Administrators and been a chapter and regional president of the Society of Research Administrators. He has been a member, and from 1987 to 1989, was president of the Utah Educational Resources Committee, a panel of higher education research administrators in Utah.
He has served on the parking appeals, personnel relations and administrative policy advisory committees and has been a member of the U.'s Institutional Review Board for research with human subjects.
Timpson received a bachelor's degree in business and did post-graduate work in law and higher education administration at the U. Before joining the staff he was purchasing agent for Western Steel, contract administrator at Hill Air Force Base and purchasing supervisor at Hercules Inc.
He has been a member of the Utah Symphony Chorus and Tabernacle Choir and has sung in Promised Valley Playhouse and University of Utah summer theater productions.
The Sponsored Projects Office helps faculty identify sources of external funding; reviews funding applications; negotiates contract provisions and budgets with sponsoring agencies, which includes the recovery of research overhead costs; and provides reports to the governor, Board of Regents, Institutional Council and university administration.