Grant Writing Services & Guides

Sponsored Programs Support

To assist SVSU faculty and staff in the identification and administration of sponsored research support, SP works with a number of other University offices to provide timely and effective service. The general responsibility for administering sponsored projects is distributed as follows:

Sponsored & Academic Programs Support

The SP staff assists faculty and administrators in researching and finding external funding sources for their projects, securing application materials, and analyzing proposal guidelines. SP also assists in project, proposal, and budget development, and can provide institutional narrative, secure institutional approvals, and produce and package proposals for submission to sponsors. Upon receiving an award, SP negotiates the terms and conditions of funding awards, reviews various administrative reports to sponsors, interacts with sponsors in post-award administration, and provides post-award publicity. Other activities are noted below in the description of SP interaction with others.

Controller’s Office

The Controller’s office establishes project accounts and summarizes all accounting and fiscal matters relating to sponsored projects among SVSU administrative offices, SP, and Principal Investigators. The Controller’s office is responsible for submitting all financial reports required by the sponsoring agency. This office also coordinates all audits performed by the University’s independent auditors, federal agencies, and other sponsoring agencies, as well as prepares and negotiates the Federal Facilities & Administrative Cost rates (indirect costs rates) and fringe benefit rates.

Department Secretaries or Project Assistants

Department secretaries and/or project assistants assist faculty in the process of administrating proposals. They are the prime locus of responsibility for day-to-day administrative support for sponsored projects. Included in the latter are such functions as properly charging expenses to sponsored project accounts, purchasing supplies and materials, and coordinating personnel matters to ensure that faculty, staff, and students’ efforts are properly recorded and allocated to sponsored project accounts.

SP may also interact with other administrative offices and University committees. A brief description of these interactions follows:

Institutional Review Board (IRB)

This committee, composed of faculty members from various departments, as well as legal counsel, is responsible for reviewing and approving protocols submitted by faculty who intend to use humans as subjects in their research. The IRB meets monthly to review proposals before they are submitted to internal or external sponsors. Project applications for consideration must be submitted at least two weeks prior to the scheduled monthly meeting. The IRB meeting calendar can be found on SP’s website here.

SVSU Foundation

When appropriate, SP works with the SVSU Foundation in finding sources of funding for activities of interest to members of faculty and the University community. While the two offices have clearly defined areas of responsibility, it is recognized that there are many situations that require the expertise both offices can provide. Members of SP and the Foundation office will consult jointly with faculty on finding appropriate sources of funding and review proposals collaboratively when needed.