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| Vol. 17, No. 6 | Oct. 9, 1997 |
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| Vol. 17, No. 6 | Oct. 9, 1997 |
Sponsored program expenditures at the University of Delaware reached $69,104,594 during the fiscal year that ended June 30, 1997.
According to Costel Denson, vice provost for research, UD's sponsored research expenditures totaled $46,410,348 (up 9.9 percent), sponsored expenditures for instruction were $13,918,180 (up 3.2 percent) and sponsored expenditures for public service were $8,776,066 (up 6.6 percent)-with an overall average increase that was 6.6 percent higher than the previous fiscal year.
This increase is very satisfying, Denson said, especially in light of concerns that the balanced budget legislation in Congress might cause the amount of research money available to decrease significantly.
But, Denson said, there were a number of reasons that the University was able to increase both the amount of money received and number of grants approved.
"We have bright, enthusiastic and aggressive faculty," Denson said. "We also have put into place the procedures and personnel to support the submission of proposals by faculty."
According to Denson, the number of faculty proposals and applications for sponsored funding increased 30 percent during the past fiscal year. And, he added, the number of awards also increased by the same amount.
While staffing in the research office has not increased, new procedures have helped speed processing and increase the University's chances of gaining funding approvals. In particular, the manner of handling submissions has been changed.
According to Denson, a new project manager structure in the research office is an important improvement. "One-stop shopping, from cradle to grave, is one way to describe the new project manager structure," Denson said.
In the past, he explained, faculty had to contact different staff members about separate steps in the grant process. Now, under the project manager structure, a team of two professionals assists faculty and staff through the entire grant process from proposal submission to post award processing.
"This is an innovative approach, and Delaware is one of the first to try it," Denson said. "It's a single point of contact service delivery model that we refer to as the Delaware Model."
When Denson was appointed to his current position in 1992, grant processing was divided between the Office of Research and Patents, where funding opportunities were identified, and the Office of Sponsored Programs Administration, which had responsibilities for preaward and postaward administration of sponsored contracts and grants. Under Denson's leadership, the two units were merged to form the current Office of the Vice Provost of Research.
The next goal, he said, was to streamline grant processing and make the office more "user friendly" and efficient. The project manager approach was put into place, with faculty and staff working with a research manager team of professionals, familiar with their needs and goals, to advise them throughout the grant process.
"We are here to facilitate, not regulate," Denson said. "Our goal is to find out what faculty want to do and decide how best to do it. The system allows for greater flexibility and autonomy, so that those needing more assistance receive it, while others can operate more independently."
The new system allows more flexibility, the ability to respond to new opportunities and to share information, which is important as funding patterns change, Denson said.
Another major change is an electronic grants management system, implemented with the help of Information Technologies. "White-out used to be a major budget item in the department, and now it's down to zero. Instead of reams of paper, most documents can now be processed electronically," Denson said.
Processing grants used to take a minimum of five days, but 75 percent of proposals can be processed withing 24 hours, and 90 percent within 48 hours.
Users can complete "Blue Sheets," the University's internal proposal routing sheet, and budget sheets online. Training sessions are underway for units across campus.
When an award is made, all proposal data can be easily entered into the University's financial systems. Project managers now have access to all proposal and award data for their units at their fingertips. Faculty also now have access to locating funding sources via the World Wide Web at http://www.udel.edu/hpc/homepage.html
"We've taken a leadership role in developing the use of technology for electronic research application and processing," Denson said. "We are not a paperless office yet, but the amount of paper being moved is substantially less." UD was one of the first institutions to receive federal funding through a National Science Foundation (NSF) project called "Fast Lane," Denson said proudly, referring to the federal agency's program that requires institutions to submit applications electronically. He added that the University was well prepared to submit online applications and the result was the receipt of a Recognition Award for the Integration of Research and Education (RAIRE) from NSF in the amount of $500,000-one of only 10 given nationally-in 1997. The awards recognize demonstrated leadership, innovation and achievement in developing programs institution-wide, which integrate research and education activities.
"We were prepared to respond to their new electronic requirements," Denson said, "and we are submitting more applications in this fashion. I'm confident in saying we are in the forefront of this process."
In July 1996, Denson said, a policy for indirect cost recovery was instituted that is very attractive to the colleges. Under the policy, a portion of the indirect cost generated by researchers is designated for use in the college that initiated the application.
To make UD applications more attractive to federal funding agencies, since July 1, UD has covered the tuition of research assistants needed for sponsored research projects. In the past, this cost was included in the grant application.
"That commitment by the University, and the fact that the cost is not part of the application, is attractive to decision makers. In fact," he added, "they love it."
UD now provides matching money to purchase equipment if the principal investigator has submitted a proposal to a federal agency and the proposal is funded.
"This makes our application more attractive to the granting agency, because it sees that the University is committed to the project."
Denson estimated that the University has received a rate of return on sponsored programs award dollars of from eight to 10 times the amount of its matching expenditures for equipment on an annual basis. "This is a significant success," he added.
Reviewing the efforts, changes and advances in an office that did not exist until July 1, 1992, Denson said he was satisfied with the accomplishments but eager to continue the unit's upward trend.
He said he expects grants related to research and instruction to continue to increase. But he added that he also expects activity in the service area to be strong. With the recent realignment of the colleges, there will probably be new efforts to increase the University's presence in and service to the state, region and local jurisdictions.
"The University's visibility in the region is substantial and what it has to offer is important to the communities and the state," Denson said.
"The success we've experienced is the result of our efforts to bring together different parts of the academic community, to centralize our facilities, to restructure our processing and to respond to the individual needs of our researchers and faculty."
Even with this success, he added, improvements will continue to be made.
"We have discussions in staff meetings," Denson said, "about what is working and what isn't. And we are open to suggestions. We're making progress in a number of areas. We're submitting more grants electronically, but we know there is more work to do. We're not waiting for things to happen, we're making thing happen.
"We're encouraging interdisciplinary cooperation within the University and we are reaching out to establish relationships with corporations in the industrial sector, plus those affiliated with state and local government.
"To some extent, this all has been done in the past. But we are pursuing these avenues more aggressively than has ever been done before, for the benefit of our faculty and the University."
-Ed Okonowicz and Sue Swyers Moncure
