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Archived News Information NEH Summer Stipends 2009 Competition - posted July 20, 2009- Sponsored Programs announces the internal nomination process for the National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Stipends 2009 competition. Summer Stipends support individuals pursuing advanced research that is of value to scholars and general audiences in the humanities. Recipients usually produce articles, monographs, books, digital materials, archaeological site reports, translations, editions, or other scholarly tools. The program supports projects at any stage of development. Summer Stipends provide $6,000 for two consecutive months of full-time research and writing. Recipients must work full-time on their projects for these two months, and may hold other research grants supporting the same project during this time. Awards are made directly to individual scholars and do not come through the University. Faculty teaching full-time at colleges and universities must be nominated by their institutions in order to apply. Each institution may nominate up to two faculty, selected through an internal competition. Prior to seeking nomination, faculty should review the full announcement, evaluation criteria and FAQs at http://www.neh.gov/grants/guidelines/stipends.html. Faculty planning to seek nomination are asked to notify Sponsored Programs by sending an email to Tiffany.Hamblin@eku.edu. This notification will assist in arranging for faculty reviewers from appropriate fields. Preliminary applications must be submitted by email to Tiffany.Hamblin@eku.edu no later than Monday, September 7, 2009. A committee comprised of faculty in appropriate fields will conduct the preliminary review of applications and will select the two applicants to be nominated by the University. Selected applicants will be notified of their nomination by Tuesday, September 22, 2009. The final application must be submitted online through grants.gov by October 1, 2009. The grants.gov submission process requires an individual (rather than a University) grants.gov account, and Sponsored Programs will provide support for the registration and submission process as needed. The Preliminary Application must include the following items:
All application components must follow the instructions provided at http://www.neh.gov/grants/guidelines/stipends.html. For assistance with the application process, contact Sponsored Programs at 859-622-3636 or email Tiffany.Hamblin@eku.edu. Click here for a printable copy of this announcement. Revision to Vendor Agreement/Subaward Request and Routing Form - posted July 7, 2009 - Minor revisions have been made to the Vendor Agreement/Subaward Request and Routing Form. The form now requests the name and email address for an administrative contact for entities other than individuals and a copy of the indirect cost rate agreement for subrecipients if indirect costs are requested in the subrecipient's budget. The new form is available on the Forms and Documents page. FY 2010 Composite Fringe Benefit Rate Information - posted May 21, 2009 - The University’s fringe benefits composite rates have been updated. Effective immediately, project directors are advised to use the new composite benefit rates in developing budgets for fiscal year 2010. As an alternative to using composite fringe benefit rates, project directors may continue to use actual fringe benefit rates for existing employees with an estimated increase of 3 percentage points from the current actual rate charged for each individual’s fringe benefits. Project directors may calculate actual fringe benefit rates for existing employees from labor distribution reports. Because the updated rates are composite rates, Sponsored Programs will not automatically require the revision of budgets that have already been approved for submission to an external agency. However, project directors are strongly encouraged to consider the funding needs of their budgets at the time of award and monitor fringe benefit charges during the project period. If benefits are charged at a higher rate than originally budgeted, budgets should be revised accordingly. The new composite rates are as follows and a detailed breakdown is available here:
*In most cases, fringe benefits will not be charged against the salaries of student employees who work less than 30 hours per week. However, if the individual circumstances of the students are not known at the time of budget development, the rate of 8% should be budgeted in order to ensure that adequate funds are available. In order to qualify for an exemption from FICA and Medicare benefits, student workers (including graduate assistants) must meet the following criteria:
If you are certain that existing student workers meet this criteria and that your budget is not being charged for benefits associated with student employees, it is not necessary to budget for fringe benefits on student salaries. These rates are not a change from the current practice, so if you are currently being charged benefits for your students, you will continue to be charged. Grant Proposal Development Course - posted April 14, 2009 - The Fall 2009 Course is currently full, but we are accepting names for a waiting list. The course will meet on the following Tuesdays from 9:00 to 10:30 in the Coates 11 computer lab. September 1: Introduction to Grants and Sponsored Programs September 8: Locating and Evaluating Funding Opportunities September 22: Developing a Competitive Grant Proposal, part 1 October 6: Developing a Competitive Grant Proposal, part 2 October 20: Creating a Grant Proposal Budget November 3: Using Electronic Proposal Submission Systems and Completing Proposal Forms November 17: Understanding the Grant Proposal Review Process December 1: Reflecting on Success – Forum with successful proposal writers Space is limited, so please register early! For more information or to register, please contact Tiffany Hamblin. “If you are new to grant writing or need a refresher after being away from it for a while, this course will give you the skills, motivation, and confidence you need to write your next grant proposal.” - Fall 2008 Participant “This course is very beneficial for the first-time and advanced grant writer. You learn a lot from the readings, lectures, and guest speakers, as well as your fellow students.” - Fall 2008 Participant “My experience proved to be beneficial as I actually turned in a completed proposal on the last day of class!” - Spring 2009 Participant “This course helped me to focus on writing a grant proposal and gave me the general and EKU-specific steps to allow me to successfully write and submit an external grant proposal.” - Spring 2009 Participant Approval of University Policies Related to Sponsored Projects - posted February 9, 2009 - At the Board of Regents’ January meeting, several policies were approved for implementation that relate to sponsored projects at EKU. The policies are now available on the new website for EKU’s Policy Library. The following are descriptions of each of the recently approved policies.
We encourage all current and prospective project directors and others involved in sponsored projects to review and familiarize themselves with these policies. Please feel free to contact Sponsored Programs with any questions. Implementation of New IACUC Online Training Module - posted February 9, 2009 - The Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) announces the implementation of a new training module, the Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI). This online training system satisfies the federally-mandated educational requirement for investigators using animals in research, as prescribed by Public Health Services. Certification is required for principal investigators, personnel, and faculty advisors involved in animal subjects research and is valid for a period of three years. The CITI training system is linked from the IACUC website and is available for immediate use. The Money Hunt: Identifying and Evaluating Grant Funding Opportunities- posted January 13, 2009 – Sponsored Programs and University Development will offer a workshop exploring resources for identifying funding opportunities and issues that should be considered in evaluating whether to pursue a particular opportunity. Participants will learn to register for email notifications of funding opportunities, and time will be provided for using online resources. The workshop will be held on Thursday, February 12, 1:00-2:30 in Combs 230 White Room. To register for this workshop, please contact Tiffany Hamblin. Now Accepting Registrations for Spring 2009 Grant Proposal Development Course - posted December 3, 2008 – Sponsored Programs is pleased to announce that we are now accepting registrations for the Spring 2009 Grant Proposal Development Course. The goal of this course is to provide a collaborative environment of continuous and structured support in which participating faculty and staff will learn about the process of developing competitive grant proposals for submission to external sponsoring agencies. This course is open to full-time EKU faculty and staff who wish to submit grant proposals for funding to support research, teaching, or service projects to be conducted as part of EKU’s mission. Participants will be expected to make regular progress on a grant proposal throughout the course, and the goal is that each participant will finish the course with a completed grant proposal ready for submission. The course format is a combination of lectures, activities, and forums with guest speakers. Additional one-on-one assistance is also available from Sponsored Programs staff throughout the course. The course will meet on the following Tuesdays from 9:00 to 10:30 in Coates 11.
“If you are new to grant writing or need a refresher after being away from it for a while, this course will give you the skills, motivation, and confidence you need to write your next grant proposal.” “This course is very beneficial for the first-time and advanced grant writer. You learn a lot from the readings, lectures, and guest speakers, as well as your fellow students.” Space is limited, so please register early! For more information or to register, please contact Tiffany Hamblin. Implementation of New IRB Training Module - posted October 21, 2008 – The Institutional Review Board (IRB) announces the implementation of a new training module, the Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI). This online training system satisfies the federally-mandated educational requirement for investigators using human subjects in research, as prescribed by the United States Office of Human Research Protections. The CITI modules will replace the current NIH tutorials that have been used for investigator training. Certification is required for principal investigators, key personnel, and faculty advisors involved in human subjects research and is valid for a period of three years. If an investigator has completed one of the NIH tutorials within the last three years, the IRB will continue to accept those certificates as evidence of meeting the federally-mandated educational requirement. However, if the completion date on the certificate is more than three years old, investigators are required to complete the CITI training module. The CITI training system is linked from the IRB website and is available for immediate use. Click here for instructions on registering and using the CITI training system. FY 2008 Annual Report – posted October 13, 2008 – Sponsored Programs' Annual Report for the 2008 fiscal year is now available online. Vendor Agreement/Subaward Updates – posted April 23, 2008 – The Vendor Agreement template has been revised to include a Scope of Work and Deliverables and Fee Schedule as an attachment rather than a Scope of Work and Budget as attachments. Other changes include the modification of the address to which vendors and subrecipients are required to submit invoices and the addition of designated representatives to the Vendor Agreement template. The most recently revised version of the Vendor Agreement and Subaward templates are available on the Sponsored Programs website at http://www.sponsoredprograms.eku.edu/forms. Rather than a cost-reimbursement contract, a Vendor Agreement is a fee-for-service agreement. Essentially, this means that a vendor quotes a price to perform a particular service, and EKU pays the vendor only after the service has been provided. The result of the work to be provided is called a deliverable, and each deliverable must be tied to a certain fee. Deliverables must be clearly defined in Attachment 1 of the Vendor Agreement and will vary by vendor and by project. For example, a deliverable can be the provision of a training manual that the vendor has developed, the vendor’s presentation of a workshop, the vendor’s submission of a progress report detailing services that have been provided, or other appropriate documentation that signifies the work has been completed. Vendors will be paid for services only in accordance with the Deliverables and Fee Schedule outlined in Attachment 1. Payment will be made upon receipt of the respective deliverable(s) and signed invoice(s) and subsequent to the approval of the Project Director signifying the satisfactory completion of each respective deliverable. Vendor Agreements are generally not amended as the fee for a particular service is not subject to change. However, there may be exceptional cases in which an additional activity and deliverable would be added to the scope of work, and an amendment would be necessary to include the fee for the additional deliverable. In addition, if EKU and the vendor mutually agree that a deliverable may take longer than anticipated to complete and the extended date of completion is within the period of the prime grant award to EKU, an amendment may be used to modify the project performance period and the deliverables schedule. Since payment is tied to deliverables rather than to the vendor’s cost incurred for the service, a detailed budget is no longer included as part of the Vendor Agreement. The most significant impact this change will have on Project Directors is that travel will no longer be included as a budget item for reimbursement. Vendors will need to consider travel costs when quoting a fee for their services, but they will not be reimbursed for travel expenses. Project Directors are responsible for ensuring that proposed fees are reasonable and in line with the rates of other vendors providing similar services. Vendor Agreements are subject to the University’s procurement process, which requires that agreements totaling $25,000 or more be competitively bid or have an approved Sole Source Justification. The address to which vendors and subrecipients are required to submit invoices has also been revised in the Vendor Agreement template as well as the Subaward template. Invoices will now be sent directly to Accounts Payable rather than to a departmental representative. Project Directors are still responsible for certifying that work has been performed satisfactorily and that the invoice is ready to be paid. The difference is that Accounting will process the invoice for Project Director approval and will withhold payment until a receiver has been entered in Banner and an approved copy of the invoice has been received. This change allows the University to account for liabilities at any given time rather than awaiting the submission of invoices from departments. It also puts into a place a system of follow-up that will allow Accounting to monitor the timely payment of invoices. In order to facilitate this process with Accounts Payable, Sponsored Programs will immediately implement a new process for assigning numbers to Vendor Agreements and Subawards. The new numbering system will include a six-digit organization code, a two-digit year code, and a three-digit assigned number (i.e., 451000-08-251). This new numbering system will not affect Vendor Agreements or Subawards that are already in place. The addition of the organization code will allow Accounts Payable to recognize the invoice as pertaining to a Vendor Agreement/Subaward on a sponsored project so that the appropriate approval process may be followed. It will have no impact on the payment process itself. The Vendor Agreement/Subaward Request and Routing Form has been revised to include the Banner Organization Code from which the vendor/subrecipient will be paid. If multiple organization codes will be used for payment, Sponsored Programs will use the first organization code listed on the routing form for the purpose of assigning a number to the Vendor Agreement/subaward. In order to ensure that all services are properly and thoroughly reviewed prior to the completion of the Vendor Agreement or Subaward templates, Attachment 1 of the Vendor Agreement and Attachments 1 and 2 of the Subaward are required to be submitted along with the Vendor Agreement/Subaward Request and Routing Form. Following approval of the routing form, the attachments will be retained by Sponsored Programs and attached to the template upon receipt. The attachments are now linked separately on the Sponsored Programs website. Sponsored Programs appreciates your patience and cooperation as we continue to review processes and documents and work towards a more regulation-compliant and user-friendly system. Please feel free to contact our office if you have any questions about these changes or the Vendor Agreement/Subaward process. Updated Fringe Benefit Rates - posted April 15, 2008 - Effective May 1, the fringe benefit composite rate to be included in grant proposal budgets will increase to 34% for faculty and professional staff and 40% for hourly staff. The full-time benefit rate shall apply to all staff who work 25 or more hours per week. The part-time benefit of 8% will remain unchanged for staff who work less than 25 hours per week. Because this rate is a composite calculation of all faculty and staff at the University and not an exact calculation for individual employees, the actual rate charged to a sponsored project account will vary for each employee based on the benefit options selected. Sponsored Programs encourages project directors to review fringe benefit expenditures for current staff and budget accordingly. Sponsored Programs will not require the revision of budgets already established or the resubmission of budgets that are currently pending awards. However, project directors are encouraged to revise budgets if they anticipate fringe benefits will be charged in excess of the amount budgeted. Project directors should use the new rates for all budgets submitted to Sponsored Programs after May 1.
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Forms & DocumentsResourcesFunding SourcesPolicies & ProceduresElectronic Research AdministrationReportsUniversity Research CommitteeInstitutional Review BoardInstitutional Animal Care and Use CommitteeStaff Sponsored Programs Jones 414 / Coates CPO 20 521 Lancaster Avenue Richmond, KY 40475-3102 (859) 622-3636 (Phone) (859) 622-6610 (Fax) |
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