Institutional Review Board

CCCS encourages and supports the scholarly endeavors of students, faculty, and staff of each College. Pursuit of scholarly work and research often involves the use of human subjects for data collection and analysis. CCCS’ Institutional Review Board (IRB) reviews human subjects research proposals to ensure that the rights and welfare of human subjects used in research studies by any CCCS College personnel are protected; that risks have been considered and minimized; that the potential for benefit has been identified and maximized; that all human subjects only volunteer to participate in research after being provided with legally effective informed consent; that any research is conducted in an ethical manner and in compliance with established standards. Those individuals seeking to conduct such research may not solicit subject participation or begin data collection until they have obtained clearance by the Colorado Community College System Institutional Review Board.

At this time, CCCS does not accept IRB request from individuals who are graduate students and not affiliated with CCCS.

INSTITUTIONAL ANIMAL CARE AND USE COMMITTEE

Research projects involving human participants and animal subjects are required by federal law to undergo a prescribed review. Studies involving humans are reviewed by the Institutional Review Board (IRB). Studies involving animals are reviewed by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC). As a teaching institution, faculty members are not allowed to conduct research involving animal subjects. However, students who plan to conduct such research as part of the official curriculum must follow the respective guidelines set forth by the CCCS IACUC. The primary responsibility of submitting an IACUC proposal resides with the student researcher; supervising faculty have the responsibility to ensure the appropriate approval has been met before data collection begins. Serious violations of these guidelines will be referred as an academic integrity violation. Faculty, who use animals as part of the curriculum, must submit information for approval by the IACUC.

Colleges that include a research opportunity utilizing animals must have a veterinarian review the facility and research plan.