Grants and Research Funding Committee

Submitted April 20, 2005

University Faculty Senate

By

Dr. Bill Snell, Chair
Grants and Research Funding Committee

The Grants and Research Funding Committee recommended funding to the Provost for (a) 20 of the 24 submitted research proposals during the Fall and Spring “Calls for Proposals” and (b) 1 request for publication charges funding.  A total of $93,571.77 was requested during the two rounds of proposals.  Twenty of the research proposals (and 1 publication charge proposal) were recommended for funding for a total allocation of $70,736.97.

The average allocation for the 20 funded research proposal was $3,536.85 (excluding the publication charge request).  An additional $790 was allocated to reimburse faculty for publication charges (one such request was received during the current academic year).  Overall, the total amount funded, including GRFC proposals and publication charges, was $70,736.97.

The distribution of requests by Colleges is shown below:

The distribution of requests by Departments (and monetary amounts) is shown on the next page (organized by College):

Previous GRFC Chairs have suggested changes/additions to the GRFC Guideline that have never received Senate action (see following pages):

  II.  Eligibility of Personnel

       A.  Eligible personnel

1.    All members of the full-time University Faculty on the Southeast Missouri State University campus payroll are eligible, except those who have received funding from GRFC for four proposals investigating the same general line of research without having submitted a grant or contract proposal to an outside funding agency.  Outside funding may include grants or contracts received for research or service projects, and gifts to the university in the form of funds or equipment. The amount of the grant, contract or gift must be comparable to the amounts previously awarded by or currently sought from GRFC.  

Funds may be allocated without an attempt to obtain external funding in the rare event that no appropriated funding source is available. If the efforts of proposer, working in conjunction with the Director of Sponsored Programs, fail to locate potential funding sources, a letter from the Director of Sponsored Program attesting to the absence of appropriate funding sources must be attached to the proposal.

RATIONALE:     When university eligible faculty have received at least 4 GRFC grants, they are required to seek external funding before becoming re-eligible to apply for GRFC funding.  Currently, some faculty are becoming re-eligible by obtaining external grants for about $100.00 (or fewer dollars).   This proposed changed in the GRFC Guidelines will address that problem.

I.      Deadlines for Submitting Proposals

         A.     Fall semester:  Nine (9) copies [An electronic copy] of the completed proposal must be in the hands of the Chairperson of the Grants and Research Funding Committee (GRFC) [must be emailed to the Chair of the Grants and Research Funding Committee (GRFC)] no later than 5 p.m. on the second Monday of October.  Before the proposal is submitted to the Chairperson [emailed to the GRFC Chair], the College Representative should conduct the initial screening to make sure that the proposal adheres to the GRFC guidelines and is structured in the proper format.  Because signatures of the GRFC College Representative, the Department Chairperson, and the College Dean must be obtained for the proposal to be forwarded to GRFC, it is strongly suggested that applicants allow enough time to gather the required signatures and to deliver the proposal to the GRFC Chair [signatures on the required “Title Page,” to scan the signed “Title Page,” and to email the completed proposal to the GRFC Chair] by the 5 p.m. deadline.  To ensure file compatibility for GRFC members, the electronic copy of the completed GRFC proposal should be prepared in the word processing software currently used by the Campus (e.g., Microsoft Word).

         B.     Spring semester:  Nine (9) copies [An electronic copy] of the completed proposal must be in the hands of the Chairperson of the Grants and Research Funding Committee (GRFC) [must be emailed to the Chair of the Grants and Research Funding Committee (GRFC)] no later than 5 p.m. on the last Monday in February.  It should be noted that if all funds are recommended for encumbrance during the Fall semester, no proposals will be considered in the Spring semester.  Before the proposal is submitted to the Chairperson [emailed to the GRFC Chair], the College Representative should conduct the initial screening to make sure that the proposal adheres to the GRFC guidelines and is structured in the proper format.  Because signatures of the GRFC College Representative, the Department Chairperson, and the College Dean must be obtained for the proposal to be forwarded to GRFC, it is strongly suggested that applicants allow enough time to gather the required signatures and to deliver the proposal to the GRFC Chair [signatures on the required “Title Page,” to scan the signed “Title Page,” and to email the completed proposal to the GRFC Chair] by the 5 p.m. deadline.  To ensure file compatibility for GRFC members, the electronic copy of the completed GRFC proposal should be prepared in the word processing software currently used by the Campus (e.g., Microsoft Word).

RATIONALE:     The GRFC members recommend updating the procedure whereby individuals submit their proposals to the GRFC.  Contemporary and future funding guidelines require electronic submissions.

IMPORTANT:   Since the Office of Sponsored Programs is no longer in existence, the GRFC Guidelines need to be changed in several places that mention the Office of Sponsored Programs.

Page 6:     Section VI

Page 10:   Section II

Page 14:   Section VI

RECOMMENDATION:       The Faculty Senate may want to charge some Senate Committee with updating the GRFC GuidelinesᾰAT SOME TIME IN THE FALL 2005 SEMESTER.  Various GRFC Chairs over the past 5-10 years have recommended changes to the GRFC Guidelines.  Usually, the GRFC Chairs make such suggestions at the last business meeting of the Senate, in late spring of each academic year.  During the past 5-10 years, no Senate has taken action on any of these recommendationsᾰperhaps because a new composition of Senate members is convened AFTER the last Senate meeting of each year!