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Charlee Heimlich, Director of Sponsored Programs Development and Carol Toncar, Director Of Sponsored Programs Administration

The Sponsored Programs Office of RAGS serves as the administrative interface for university faculty, personnel and students in seeking external funding. This unit plays the dual role of supporting and promoting faculty academic research interests and assisting the university in maintaining accountability and compliance with laws, sponsor terms and regulations related to university grants and contracts in support of research and other projects. One could say that if they do their job well, the faculty will appreciate their role and performance in general (although feel that they are a little too sympathetic to sponsor regulation and university restrictive policies), while other University administrators appreciate their role and performance in general also (but feel that they are a little too sympathetic to the individual interests of the faculty project directors). From the cradle to the grave of a sponsored project, and in fact from inception of an idea until its result is in public use, the Sponsored Programs office lends its support as needed.

During fiscal year 2003-4, KentStateUniversity faculty and staff proposed, and the Sponsored Programs office assisted with and submitted, 427 new proposals. This is in addition to various preproposals, concept papers, amended proposals, etc. that are not reflected in these numbers. In addition, over 450 separate awards were received, with many requiring negotiation and subcontract activities and all requiring some post-award services of Sponsored Programs. Sponsored Programs rejoices in supporting the successes of the creative KentState faculty investigators and project leaders.

In addition to their major responsibilities described above, the Sponsored Programs office offers many supportive services including: workshops for new faculty and other interested personnel on proposal writing and award management; sponsorship of teleconferences on topics related to proposal development and project management offered by organizations such as the National Council of University Research Administrators; coordination of visits and presentations by funding agency personnel; participation in activities of Kent State’s various federally-mandated compliance committees as appropriate; provision of useful model agreements and templates developed in consultation with university counsel and others; and hosting of meetings with faculty to promote collaborative efforts among disciplines and with new sponsors, for example.

The directors and staff of Sponsored Programs strive to learn and grow in their profession. This keeps KentState up to date in research administration and assists the university in compliance with an increasing array of government rules and regulations. In addition to their regular participation in various national- and state-level professional organization meetings and attendance at sponsoring agency briefings, Sponsored Programs is at the forefront of the university’s participation in the Federal Demonstration Partnership Program (FDP). In fiscal year 2003-4, KentStateUniversity was again selected to participate in the Federal Demonstration Partnership Program, which is now in Phase IV. The FDP partnership consists of 92 institutions (universities, nonprofit research organizations and hospitals) along with federal funding agencies that work together toward shared goals of streamlining the federal grant process, thereby reducing faculty/administrative burden. FDP Phase IV has seen the deployment of the E-Snap pilot, permitting selected FDP institutions to submit grant award progress reports electronically to the National Institutes of Health. Sponsored Programs participated as a test site in the E-Snap pilot. Because KentStateUniversityis an FDP institution, Sponsored Programs has been able to utilize FDP subaward model agreements, for example, and effectively reduce administrative burden in this process. Sponsored Programs’ aim is for continuous improvement.

A newsletter for friends of RAGS

Division of Research, Graduate Studies and Technology Transfer