Home of the Bobcats

Assessment of the Sponsored Projects Services Office at the University of California, Merced

Jennifer Teixeira

Sr. Research AdministratorSponsored Projects Services OfficeUniversity of California, Merced

The Leadership ChallengeKouzes & Posner’s Model

Model theWay

Motivate Staff

Challenging

the Process

Challengingstatus quo

EnableOthers to Act

Enable VCR

Encourage the Heart

Positive aboutMeaningfulresults

Inspiring a SharedVision

Stakeholders

to participate

Project VisionAssessment of a Sponsored Projects Services (SPS) Office that will result in meaningful recommendations that allow SPS to

fulfill it’s mission

Personal Best Project Overview

Data Collection• Time & Effort Tracking• Proposal Tracking• Roles &

Responsibilities Mapping

• Survey Collection (Pre & Post Award)

Assessment• Workload Assessment• Roles &

Responsibilities Gap Analysis

• Survey results

Recommendations• How can we improve

our organizational design?

January- June 2011

July - October

2011

November - December 2011

University of California MercedSponsored Projects Services (SPS) Background

• Doors Open• Sponsored Projects – 1

Director & 1 Pre-award Staff

• 3 Schools• 45 Ladder Ranked Faculty

Fall 2005

• Present Day• Sponsored Projects- 2

Pre-award Staff, 2 Post-award staff, 1 ARRA Specialist, & 1 Director

• 3 Schools, 1 Org. Research Unit (ORU), & 4 Non-Academic Units

• 125 Ladder Ranked Faculty

Fall 2010 • Full Development• Sponsored Projects- 15

Research Administrators• New School of

Management, ORU’s, Non-Academic Units & School of Medicine

• 1,420 Ladder Ranked Faculty

Looking Forward

The University of California, Merced is the first new research university to be founded in the 21st century and the first new University of California to be

founded in over 30 years.

SPS Office Current Organizational Design

Pre-Award Proposal budget development

assistance (not for School of Engineering)

Review proposal and budget for compliance with sponsor and UC policy

Submit proposal on behalf of the Regents

Negotiate and accept awards to comply with sponsor and UC policy

Sub-award/ subcontract preparation and administration

Non-financial post-award assistance Award closeout Preparation and administration of

incoming Material Transfer Agreements Preparation and administration of

Nondisclosure Agreements Research activity reporting Faculty and Staff general inquires Liaison with compliance committees

Post-award Award set-up and monitoring Monthly expenditure statements and

projections Policy clarification and compliance Reconciliation Cost sharing collection Award re-budgeting Purchasing, travel and

reimbursement approvals Sub-award set-up and monitoring Financial award closeout Faculty and Staff general inquires

Note: The School of Engineering and some off site programs are responsible for all or a portion of post award management.

The Mission of the Sponsored Projects Services Office is to provide effective and timely pre- and post-award services to faculty, staff and students, for extramurally-sponsored research and educational projects at the University of California, Merced.

Pressures for Assessment of SPS Office

Fragmented Process & Inconsistent Services Differences among the three schools and one

Organizational Research Unit

Efficient Organizational Design Eliminate duplication of effort Support SPS Mission

WASC Accreditation Required Annual Assessment

Current Progress

Time & Effort Tracking – Started January 2011

Proposal Tracking- Started January 2011

38%

49%

4%10%Who are we spending time

with?Faculty

Staff

Senior Man-agement

External

17%

44%5%

34%

What are we spending our time on?

Pre-award

Post-award

Reporting

Other-Audits, As-sessment, KC, etc.

26%

25%26%

23%

Who is submitting proposals?

School -Social Sciences

School- Natural Sciences

School- Engineering

ORU Sierra Nevada Institute

When are we receiving proposals?Average 3 working days prior to deadline (Internal deadline is 5 working days)

What % of proposals are not submitted through SPS? 5%

Future Plans

Roles & Responsibilities Mapping Started February 2011

Survey Collection Started March 2011

Assessment of Data To Begin July 2011

Recommendations to VCR Planned for December 2011

Data collection & Assessment To Continue Annually

External Assessment VCR included NCURA external assessment in budget request