POLICIES AND PROCEDURES

A. Lakeland Community College shall establish an Institutional Review Board (IRB) to protect the rights and safety of persons participating in research, while safeguarding the academic freedom of researchers. The IRB at Lakeland Community College shall be registered with the federal Office of Human Research Protection. The IRB will oversee all research conducted with human participants by or through the college.

 

B. Lakeland Community College will make appointments to the IRB as a subcommittee of the Academic Integrity Committee; those memberships will consist of staggered-year terms to ensure continuity. Service on the IRB will be voted on at the first fall semester meeting of the Academic Integrity Committee and appointments will continue through the member's term on the Academic Integrity Committee. The IRB will also include the following standing members: associate provost and dean of faculty, associate vice president and dean of students, and a public member outside of Lakeland (diversity focus).

 

C. The IRB will ensure that human participants are treated with the utmost respect and fairness throughout the research process as stipulated by the Belmont Report, Title 45, Code of Federal Regulations, Part 46, Protection of Human Subjects. The IRB will assist the researcher in the recruitment and ethical treatment of human participants, assure informed consent by the participants, ensure confidential data gathering, and fully consider the relationship of risks and benefits to participants. The IRB shall have authority to approve, require modifications in, or disapprove all research activities covered by this policy. 

 

D. Research covered by this policy that has been approved by the IRB may be subject to further appropriate review and approval or disapproval by officials of the college. However, those officials (executive vice president and provost and/or president) may not approve the research if it has not been approved by an IRB.