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PANEL: Staff Development at PUIs, Training for Department Research Support

PANEL: Staff Development at PUIs, Training for Department Research Support. Beryline Temples Senior Sponsored Programs Administrator University of Central Arkansas November 5, 2012. Research Support. Research Support. Training for Department Research Support.

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PANEL: Staff Development at PUIs, Training for Department Research Support

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  1. PANEL: Staff Development at PUIs, Training for Department Research Support Beryline Temples Senior Sponsored Programs Administrator University of Central Arkansas November 5, 2012

  2. ResearchSupport

  3. Research Support Training for Department Research Support Pro-active versus Reactive: Why is it so important to have department research support? 1 How do you assess the needs of faculty for research administration support? 2 What kind of training does your support personnel need to assist their faculty with grant activities? 3 4 Thinking about doing some surveys? 5 Training sessions, where to begin? 6 How do we get the support personnel to come to the training sessions? 7 How can we know if the training is beneficial to the support personnel?

  4. Research Support Pro-active versus Reactive: Why is it so important to have department research support? Reactive Research Support – Central Pro-active Research Support – Department • Manage deadlines • Follow guidelines • Appropriate student pay in specific disciplines • Appropriate tuition costs for students • Available and appropriate effort • Appropriate salaries • Available facilities • Available equipment • Appropriate forms • Follow institutional and department policies and procedures • Consortium Agreements • Cost Sharing Forms • Follow compliance policies and procedures • Last minute submissions • Budget Errors • Missing or incorrectly filled out forms • Missing proposal components • Missing information • Incorrect salary • Incorrect effort • Over committed faculty • Ineligible faculty • Faculty uninformed of involvement • Ineligible or inappropriate opportunity for the institution • No IRB or IACUC approval (if required at submission time) • Missing approvals 1 2

  5. Research Support How do you assess the needs of faculty for research administration support? “Of great importance for research administrators, DRAs, and/or support personnel is stretching to understand the researcher’s point-of-view regarding what their needs are, what assists them with their administrative grants activities, and the impact of having these needs met for the researcher “ (Evans, 2011). ”It is also crucial to realize that research and grants activities are one element in faculty activities – not just how many submissions and/or awards they bring in” (Temples, Simons & Atkinson, 2012). ”Understanding the makeup of faculty can help research administrators to influence change” (Evans, 2011). Surveys Distribute surveys to faculty active in grants 3 1 Interviews Take time to talk to the faculty in person and show you are interested in them and their research 2 Reviews Review files in central office for prior issues with submissions

  6. Research Support What kind of training does your support personnel need to assist their faculty with grant activities? Guidelines/Policies/Compliance Personnel/Financial Aid/Travel Budget Development & Maintenance • Institutional Base Salaries for faculty and staff • New hires, part-time, extra-help, classified versus non-classified • Student pay • Scholarships, fellowships, internships, and grants for faculty, staff and students • Stacking limits for students • Fringe rate breakdowns • Faculty and staff hiring policies and procedures • Undergraduate student hiring packets • Graduate assistantships requirements, procedures and hiring packets • Personnel Action Forms (PAFs) • Tuition scholarship procedures • Undergraduate federal and state aid eligibility • Faculty, student, staff and participant travel procedures • Travel requisitions and travel reimbursement procedures • Program guidelines can vary widely at a PUI (Fine Arts, Music, History, World Languages, Biology, Physics, Computer Science) • Reading and comprehending the guidlines is very important • General understanding of OMB regulations • General understanding of state regulations • Adherence to university policies and procedures • Adherence to departmental and college policies and procedures • Protection of human subjects (IRB) policies and procedures • Protection of animal subjects (IACUC) policies and procedures • Radiation safety policies and procedures • Responsible conduct of research (RCR) policies and procedures • Pre-award: • Salaries, fringe rates, effort as % and year(s), student salaries, salaries versus stipends • Travel and conference expenses • Equipment (capital and non-capital) • M&O, supplies, other expenses • Contract Services • Participant costs • Tuition • Facilities & Administrative (Indirect Cost) calculations • Cost sharing, cash match versus in-kind • Post-award: • Grant and matching accounts, budget access and maintenance • Requisitions • Budget Adjustments • Allowable cost transfers • Subcontracts and sub-recipient monitoring • Invoices and financial reports 3 1 2

  7. Research Support Thinking about doing some surveys? • SurveyMonkey http://www.surveymonkey.com/ (10 questions 100 responses free) • Zoomerang http://www.zoomerang.com/ (now partnered with SurveyMonkey) (10 questions 100 responses free) • Kwik Surveys http://kwiksurveys.com/ (unlimited questions and responses free) • SurveyGizmo http://www.surveygizmo.com/ (unlimited questions and responses free) • eSurveyspro http://www.esurveyspro.com/ (unlimited questions and responses free) • LimeSurvey http://www.limesurvey.org/ (free, however donations are accepted) • Survey Expression http://www.surveyexpression.com/ (unlimited questions and responses free)

  8. Research Support Who do you survey and why? • Areas where faculty need the most support • Types and degree of support that vary depending on discipline • Management of institutional requirements • Faculty in sciences are more accustomed to the grants process than those in the arts and soft sciences Faculty • Feelings about the extra burden research support activities add to their “normal” activities • Training that would help support staff do these additional tasks quickly and efficiently. Support Staff • Directors, chairs, deans and other administrators about research support needs for their faculty • Opinions about weaknesses in research support • Suggestions for research support training Administrators

  9. Research Support Training sessions, where to begin? • Experts on campus • Contact every office on campus that approves proposals • -Meet with representatives from each office • Ask for participation in Grants 101 Support Staff Training • Coordinate Grants 101 Sessions • Schedule compatibale dates, times, and places for sessions • -Design format of sessions • Organize time frame for each expert’s session • Work with representatives on materials for sessions Tips: Share the work. By enlisting help from the other offices, you can tap into their expertise, and when they work directly with the support staff it gives a name and face staff need to contact when they have questions or problems.

  10. Research Support Who are the experts? Grants Accounting 1 Approval of pre-award budgets, post-award grant financial account management, reporting, and close-out Graduate School Using Graduate Assistants and Graduate Students on grants, qualifications, standing, coursework, and full-time status 2 Human Resources Personnel Action Forms (PAFs), who needs one, when is one used, appointments, new-hires. faculty, administrators, non-classified, classified, graduate assistants, extra-help employees, full time, part time, changes in status, and terminations 3

  11. Research Support experts continued… Financial Aid Approves awarding of grant and/or scholarship funds to undergraduate students, federal and state aid eligibility, institutional and private aid, monitoring over-awards and stacking, coordination with appropriate institutional offices, and student accounts 4 Travel Office Adherence to state and institutional travel policies and procedures, requisition requirements, advance requirements, reimbursement requirements, and forms. 5 Compliance Federal regulations governing the ethical conduct of research in the protection of human subjects (IRB), the protection of animal subjects (IACUC), radiation safety, responsible conduct of research (RCR), and the required education/training for these areas. 6

  12. How do we get the support personnel to come to the training sessions? Research Support E-mails to individual support staff inviting them to the session and follow-up with reminders E-mails to active grants faculty to enlist encouragement for their support staff to attend E-mails to directors, chairs and deans to enlist their encouragement for staff to attend Have a nice lunch right before or after the session Give them free materials like flash drives, motivation buttons, notebooks, Grants 101 certificates of completion, etc.

  13. Research Support How can we know if the training is beneficial to the support personnel? Follow up training sessions with surveys Call individual support staff about a month after the session • Many good ideas for better service come from our support staff. Here are a few ideas from support staff at UCA: • Checklists for each area with contact information • Proposal and award reports shared with support staff • Support staff notified of new or revised institutional policies & procedures affecting grants Send out more surveys six months after the initial session

  14. Research Support • Comments from attendees at Grants 101 Session • “This is a good program with lots of helpful information. There is a need to add something regarding the role of the support staff. We are glad to be included in future communications regarding grant awards and appreciate knowing the closing dates and when we need to have things submitted.” • “This training should be only for new employees.” • “This training should be mandatory for everyone submitting, receiving, and working on grants.” • “Please provide more in-depth information, especially more about the actual process of a grant…from beginning to end.” • “Offering the training 2 or 3 times throughout the year would allow for flexibility with department schedules and busy times.” • “We need a detailed checklist for the hiring process of GA’s being paid by a grant, more information on do’s and don’ts, or a checklist of requirements when traveling on a grant.” • (Attendance rate 51%)(Temples, Simons & Atkinson, 2012) • Helpful information • Included in communications about closing dates and grant awards • Novice level sessions separate from experienced level training • More training sessions throughout the year • Detailed checklists

  15. Research Support Post-Workshop Questions of Support Staff Participants Participants agreed by 93.8% that this training program is necessary. When participants were asked if the program would eventually benefit faculty, professional staff, students involved with grant activities, and the university as a whole, 81.3% agreed that it would. When asked if this training should be mandatory, 75% agreed. (Temples, Simons & Atkinson, 2012)

  16. Research Support Survey of NCURA Research Administrators: Department Research Administration Neighborhood Predominantly Undergraduate Institution Neighborhood 77.6% responses from PUIs with a central research administration office only 10.3% supported mandatory training 53.8% reported support staff attended training voluntarily 85.4% have no trained research administrators in the departments 79.2% do not have formal training programs for research support staff 69.6% support staff serve as research support in departments (Temples, Simons & Atkinson, 2012)

  17. Research Support What do we need?

  18. Research Support Where do we all stand? TOGETHER! Faculty Department Support Staff, Chairs & Deans We’re all on the same team to help our faculty be successful in all their grants activities! Sponsored Programs University Administration Funding Agency

  19. Literature Cited Evans, L. (2011). What research administrators need to know about researcher development: Towards a new conceptual model. Journal of Research Administration, 42(1), 15-37. Temples, B., Simons, P., & Atkinson, T. (2012). Case Study: Research administration training and compliance at the department level for a predominantly undergraduate institution. Research Management Review, 19(1).

  20. THANK YOU! Beryline Temples Senior Sponsored Programs Administrator University of Central Arkansas 201 Donaghey Avenue Torreyson West 324 Conway, AR 72035-0001 Phone: (501) 450-3451 Email: beyrline@uca.edu

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