Sponsored Project News University of Vermont Sponsored Project Administration

Issue No.15
September 2013
Sponsored Project News
University of Vermont
Sponsored Project Administration
Trusted, Expert, Skilled Partner in the University’s Research Enterprise
Best Wishes to Ruth Farrell, Associate
Vice President for Research
Administration - Retires after 40
years of service to UVM!
For months now Ruth has been quietly making
to-do lists in her usual efficient and organized
fashion to prepare well in advance for the day
when she turns over the leadership of SPA to
others as she retires. The past few weeks have
been filled with back to back meetings, special
lunches and strategic planning; business as
usual only more of it and with more urgency.
That day is just about here and we share her joy
as she moves on, having brought tremendous
energy, creativity and giftedness to the research
enterprise at UVM.
This month Ruth completes 40 years of service
to the University, most of them related in some
capacity to research administration; her most
recent appointment being the Associate Vice
President for Research which she has held since
2004. Her crowning achievement is the
fulfillment of her vision several years ago to
combine Pre-award and Post-award services for
grant administration into one streamlined unit
which now operates as the Sponsored Project
Administration office with the vision to be
trusted, expert, skilled partners in the
University’s research enterprise and for all
sponsored project activity.
To say we will miss Ruth is an understatement.
She takes with her a part of all of us who have
come to respect, appreciate and enjoy the
wonderful, supportive, selfless, down-to-earth
colleague, boss and friend that she is. Her
secret in all of this is her integrity,
trustworthiness and ability to make each person
feel appreciated, respected and supported.
Yes, we will indeed miss you; your smile, your
humor, your laugh, the ease and grace with
which you do everything – and we wish you
ALL the Best!
As all brilliant and beloved leaders do, Ruth
has left SPA in good hands. Through the years
she has not only poured herself into the field of
research administration but also into the lives
of her office staff, getting to know their
strengths and weaknesses, tapping into their
talents to be the best partner possible in UVM’s
research enterprise and mentoring each of us to
be leaders in our areas of expertise. With
infinite gratitude we say, well done Ruth!
Interim Research Administration
Leadership Announced
We are extremely
fortunate to have two
outstanding people to lead
us through this time of
transition.
Reminder for Departmental
Administrators
SPA is soliciting the help of Departmental
Administrators to ensure that all investigators
on PHS grants have disclosed through UVM’s
Significant Financial Interest in Sponsored
Research Disclosure System. In particular
Departmental Administrators are being asked to
Jennifer Gagnon has been
appointed Interim
Associate Vice President
for Research
Administration. In this
role, Jen will oversee all operations related to
Sponsored Project Administration and the
Research Protections Office. She began her
career in research administration in 2002, and
became the director of UVM's Grant and
Contract Administrative Services in 2008. Jen
was instrumental in the efforts to integrate the
Office of Sponsored Programs Pre-Award
Services and Grant and Contract
Administrative Services, becoming a codirector of the newly formed unit in 2011. In
2012 she became the director of Sponsored
Project Administration.
1) Check the disclosure status and date when
distributing faculty, post-docs (including postdocs on training grants), and statisticians to
PHS grants who were not listed as personnel in
the original proposal;
2) If the individual hasn’t yet disclosed, ask her
or him to do so and check that the disclosure
has been made before completing the
distribution.
3) If the disclosure type reads “potential
conflict,” check with the SPA research
administrator for your unit before completing
the distribution.
Departmental Administrators need to contact
SPA to request permission to access the site to
do this. For more information about the policy
and UVM’s disclosure system see:
Dr. John N. Evans, Professor of Physiology and
Biophysics, has been appointed to the position
of Interim Vice President for Research. Dr.
Evans has worked closely with SPA in past
leadership positions and we look forward to
working with him again as he provides
guidance through this interim period. Dr. Evans
has been a faculty member in the College of
Medicine since 1976 and has broad experience
in the areas of intellectual property, technology
transfer, company start-ups, government and
business relations, and economic development.
http://www.uvm.edu/spa/documents/sptp_08_01_12.pdf
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http://www.uvm.edu/spa/?Page=conflictofinterest.html
View the UVM Training Presentation here:
From the Honors College Office of
Fellowships Advising
Fall is deadline season for nationally
competitive graduate fellowships! UVM's
Office of Fellowships Advising offers
individual advising sessions for graduate
students who are considering applying for NSF,
NIH, Fulbright or other nationally competitive
opportunities. Advising includes discussing
UVM Sponsored Project News
potential fellowship opportunities, strategies for
essay writing, and application feedback. Visit
www.uvm.edu/~honcoll, then click on
Fellowships for more information.
Students are invited to a nuts-and-bolts
information session on the NSF Graduate
Research Fellowship application on September
26, 2013 at 5:30 pm in the Jost Foundation
room, Davis Center 4th floor.
For more information or an individual
appointment please contact Fellowships
Director Brit Chase at [email protected]
or 802-656-4658 or swing by drop-in hours in
17a University Heights North on Friday from
1:30-3:30 p.m.
From the Honors College Office of
Undergraduate Research
The Honor's College Office of Undergraduate
Research (OUR) offers an array of valuable
resources for undergraduate students promoting
mentored research, creative works, and
scholarship, including programs for facultymentored undergraduate research opportunities.
Funding is provided for research or creative
projects in all disciplines, including the
humanities, fine arts, social sciences,
professional studies and the physical and life
sciences. Mini grants are offered in the fall,
spring and summer. Special funding programs
are offered for Honor’s College students and
each spring the Undergraduate Research
Enrichment Competitive Awards (URECA)
program is offered to support non-course
related research experiences. For more
information and a timeline of all OUR research
awards and programs see:
http://www.uvm.edu/ugresearch/?Page=grants.html
REACH Grant Program to provide
internal funding to Faculty
The Office of the Provost and the Office of the
Vice President for Research will once again be
offering a competition for faculty to apply for
internal funding to provide seed money,
exploratory funding, leveraging capability, and
similar options. All UVM faculty members
active in scholarship, research, and/or creative
work are eligible to apply. The 2014-2015
application and guidelines for this program will
be available September 30, 2013. For more
information see:
http://www.uvm.edu/~gradcoll/?Page=facstaff/reac
hgrant.php&SM=facstaff/_facstaffmenu.html
NIH to Require Student registration
in eRA Commons
NIH will soon be capturing data on NIHsupported students by means of a new
requirement to have them register for an eRA
Commons account.
Beginning August 15, 2013, undergrads and
grad students will be able to create a personal
profile in eRA Commons. Beginning October
18, 2013, grantees submitting progress reports
using the Research Performance Progress
Report (RPPR) will be prompted to enter eRA
Commons IDs for undergrads and graduate
students listed in their Participant List, though
these IDs will not be required at that time. By
October 1, 2014, these Commons IDs will be
required.
Students cannot register for a Commons ID
themselves but will need the assistance of the
Research Administrator in Sponsored Project
Administration assigned to their academic
department. To contact the appropriate
Did you know? There are other internal funding opportunity programs listed here on our website.
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UVM Sponsored Project News
Research Administrator please see the contacts
by department list on the SPA website at:
NIH to update Application Form
http://www.uvm.edu/spa/?Page=contactus_bydepartmentassign
ments.html&SM=contact_submenu.html
NIH has updated its application form to the
new “Adobe Forms C” version for applications
to be submitted on or after September 25, 2013.
Read the NIH Guide notice for more
information: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-
Our InfoEd system has been updated to include
the new form sets so that UVM
Investigators will be able to submit applications
through InfoEd via system-to-system per the
usual process.
files/NOT-OD-13-097.html
CALENDAR
Next IBC (Institutional Biosafety Committee) submission deadline
(completed Risk Assessment due prior to submitting to IBC)
http://www.uvm.edu/~ibc/?Page=ibc_meeting_dates.html&SM=initial_submenu.html
September 24, 2013
Next CHRBS (Comm. on Human Research in the Behavioral Sciences) submission deadline September 24, 2013
http://www.uvm.edu/irb/reference/sect16-meet-dateBS.pdf
Next CHRMS (Comm. on Human Research in the Medical Sciences) submission deadline
http://www.uvm.edu/irb/reference/sect16-meet-dateMS.pdf
October 2, 2013
Next IACUC (Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee) submissions deadline
(vet review due prior to submitting to IACUC)
http://www.uvm.edu/~iacuc/?Page=iacuc_meeting_dates.html&SM=initial_submenu.html
October 14, 2013
Next National Science Foundation (NSF) Regional Grants Conference
https://www.signup4.net/Public/ap.aspx?EID=NATI484E
October 21-22, 2013
Next National Institutes of Health (NIH) Regional Seminar
http://grants.nih.gov/grants/seminars.htm
TBA
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UVM Sponsored Project News