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Research Infrastructure at UTSA

Research Infrastructure at UTSA. A NEW MODEL FOR ACADEMIC/RESEARCH SUPPORT and F&A FUND DISTRIBUTION. John H. Frederick Provost and VP for Academic Affairs. Premise. Research growth depends on efficient use of available resources

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Research Infrastructure at UTSA

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  1. Research Infrastructure at UTSA A NEW MODEL FOR ACADEMIC/RESEARCH SUPPORT and F&A FUND DISTRIBUTION John H. Frederick Provost and VP for Academic Affairs

  2. Premise • Research growth depends on efficient use of available resources • Academic departments must play a central role in promoting research activities • Academic departments must receive adequate resources to carry out the university’s research mission

  3. Academic Department Support • M&O budgets • NTT budgets • Research support budgets

  4. What is the source of F&A funds? • F&A costs are funds provided to reimburse institutions for... “costs which are incurred for common or joint objectives, and therefore cannot be identified readily and specifically with a particular sponsored project, an instructional activity, or any other institutional activity.” (OMB Circular A-21.B.4)

  5. Some facts about F&A at UTSA • We presently budget a total F&A recovery of approximately $7.5 M. • UTSA’s full federal F&A rate is 44.5%. • Not all agencies allow recovery of the full federal rate for F&A. Our “effective” rate is approximately 20%. • The infrastructure cost to support $1 of sponsored research at UTSA is 75.6¢.

  6. How are F&A funds distributed? • $2.1 M (28%) of the total F&A costs recovered by UTSA each year are spent on debt service incurred for start-ups and West Campus renovation. • $1.1 M (15%) goes to Provost office, primarily to support startup packages for new faculty. • $1.0 M (13%) is generally used for facilities costs related to research • About $600 k (8%) goes to VP Business Affairs in support of accounting, facilities, lab safety offices.

  7. How are F&A funds distributed? (continued) • About $1.2 M (16%) goes to VP Research to support research administrative infrastructure, centers/institutes, startup equipment, seed grant programs, compliance expenses. • $750 k (10%) goes to the college (3.5%) OR the center/institute (6.5% of total) • $750 k (10%) goes to the PI(s) of the funded project.

  8. Process for F&A proposal • January— provost introduced proposal for changing F&A distribution policy • January, February— open forums with faculty; feedback on initial proposal • March— retreat with stakeholders to refine proposal • April— white paper describing revised proposal in detail

  9. Revised Proposal— Element #1 Centers/Institutes • Create central fund to support research centers/institutes equivalent to current support received (~6.5-7.0% of total F&A) • Formula for allocation to be developed by group of research center/institute directors • Formula should include both base funding and incentive funding • Annual performance evaluation will play a role in funding amount, continuation

  10. Element #2 Colleges • Colleges will receive 8% of total F&A generated by faculty of the college (currently receive 3.5% of F&A) • Phase-in: 3.5%  6%  8% in FY 2012 • Uses of funds: research support, start-up, facility renovation, etc. • Deans to determine spending policies

  11. Element #3 Departments • Departments will receive 7% of total F&A generated by faculty of the department (currently receive 0% of F&A) • Phase-in: 0%  3.5%  7% in FY 2012 • Uses of funds: research support, travel, bridge funding, etc. • Each department to form F&A Advisory Committee to advise chair on uses and set policies, guidelines

  12. Element #4 PIs • PIs will receive 5% of F&A they generate (currently receive 10% of F&A) • Phase-in: 10%  7.5%  5% in FY 2012 • Uses of funds: discretionary, within university policies • Multiple PIs to receive proportionate shares of F&A based on documented percent effort

  13. Element #5 Post-FY 2011 Funding • $1.4 M (18% of total F&A) to become available upon partial retirement of research debt • 7% allocated to central pool to support research centers/institutes • $500 k (7%) to enable enhanced department support • Remainder to support a variety of new research support initiatives

  14. Possible new research initiatives: • central research services, core support (e.g. computational facility for research) • grant writers • student research positions • increase available start-up funding

  15. Element #6 Guidelines • Establish task force to develop policies for various F&A accounts (PI, Dept., College, Center/Institute), including • minimum distribution to accounts • thresholds for distributions on grants with lower negotiated F&A • spending expectations and carryover limits to encourage resource use

  16. Element #7 Transparency • Provost, VP for Research to report use of F&A funds at institutional level • Deans to report use of F&A funds at college level • Research center/institute directors to report use of F&A funds at time of annual evaluation • Chairs to report use of F&A funds at departmental level

  17. Periodic Review • Review general uses of F&A funds every three years • Provost and VP for Research to develop performance metrics • Review to be performed by Research Advisory Board, who will recommend any suggested changes to Provost and VP for Research

  18. Questions/Comments/Suggestions?

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