Hangin' With Zwisch: The ABCs of the Grant Life Cycle

Or, How to keep your white coat from turning into an orange jumpsuit.

Sponsored Research Administrative Services (SRAS) titled the December installment of their two-part Hangin’ With Zwisch presentation “The ABCs of the Grant Life Cycle: From Idea to Post-Award.” Dr. Jay Zwischenberger added his own informal subtitle to the discussion – “How To Avoid Trading Your White Coat for an Orange Jumpsuit.”

Four speakers from different facets of ��ɫ��’s research administration gave Department of Surgery faculty and staff a broad overview of their services in the management of major grants and awards. Subjects covered during the session included the following:

Proposal Development Office (PDO)
Margot McCullers, director of the Proposal Development Office (PDO), explained how her office can help researchers refine an idea into a specific avenue of inquiry, provide critiques and advice on “grant-speak language” into draft proposals for major grants, and furnish resources on elements common to most applications, such as a web-based library of ��ɫ�� lab facility descriptions.

Regarding the information on facility descriptions, Dr. Zwischenberger added that researchers should take care not to simply cut and paste the language on the website into a formal application. He urged faculty to pay close attention to the text and select only those sections which the funding source specifically requests.

“Anything extra that they don’t want to see just gives reviewers an excuse to throw the application in the trash,” he said.

PDO also provides timely information on the grant funding cycles and endeavors to convey announcements of new opportunities as they come available, McCullers explained.

Office of Sponsored Projects Administration (OSPA)
Kim Carter, director of the Office of Sponsored Projects Administration (OSPA), ran down a list of the critical services her office provides. Chief among those services is the responsibility to “review and negotiate the terms of grants and contracts,” she said. OSPA also manages the ��ɫ�� policy on financial conflicts of interest and has a hand in reviewing proposals

Adding to Carter’s presentation, Zwischenberger reminded the research faculty not to sign awards documents should they receive good news.

Aside from the fact that as researchers, they work for an institution and must abide by its policies, “putting your name on a contract means that you take on personal liability and risk for the reward which I promise, you really don’t want to assume. With OSPA negotiating and signing those contracts, it protects you and it protects the institution,” Zwischenberger said.

SRAS Post-Award Management and ��ɫ�� Sponsored Project Accounting
Explaining what ��ɫ�� can do after an award has been received, Gina Vessels, a post-award specialist with the College of Medicine SRAS, and Paige Brown, senior accounting manager with Sponsored Project Accounting, both touched on their jobs to ensure responsible accounting practices regarding sponsored grants or federal awards for research.

Both ��ɫ�� HealthCare and the larger University of Kentucky institution have dedicated support to help with the administrative and budgetary concerns associated with research funds.

Post-award specialists at SRAS help with “reconciling documentation for active grants” and monitor expenditures to ensure that the use of those funds comply with grant regulations and University policies. They also assist in the closing out process of grant accounts, Vessels added.

Sponsored Project Accounting (SPA), Brown explained, reports to the Executive Vice President for Finance and Administration at the University of Kentucky. Its responsibility extends to all externally funded research at the ��ɫ��, its mission being to promote proper stewardship of research grant funds.

SPA is usually the last stop in the cycle when it comes to the conclusion of a funded research project. The office reviews and audits all aspects of a project and is usually involved in the financial closeout of an award.

Both these services are extremely valuable and vital for obvious reasons, Zwischenberger explained. Allowing ��ɫ�� to manage the administrative details of grants and awards frees researchers to focus on the subject of their inquiry. It also protects faculty from allegations of mishandling funds should discrepancies occur. When researchers imagine they can handle that complex responsibility by themselves, they often find themselves embroiled in litigation that resulted in time spent behind bars.

The information contained in these last two “Hangin’ With Zwisch” presentations is massive. He advised that researchers seek out Linda Combs in the Department of Surgery Publications Office, MN 253, who can help faculty navigate these complex bureaucratic waters.