WESTERN KENTUCKY UNIVERSITY

Office of Sponsored Programs THIRD QUARTER Report, FY 97

January 1, 1996-March 31, 1997

Office of Sponsored Programs

104, 105, and 106 Foundation Building

Bowling Green, KY 42101-3576

Telephone:(502) 745-4652

FAX: (502) 745-4211

Web Site: http://www.wku.edu/Dept/Support/SponsPrg/grants/home.htm

AUGUST 4, 1997

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Compared to Third Quarter last year, there was a decrease of $15,093 in indirect recovery costs (-18%).

Table 1: AWARDS RECEIVED, Third Quarters 1995-1997

Table 2: Awards Received by Academic College and Other Units Third Quarter FY 97

Comparisons with previous year third quarter awards are made with many of the programs in Table 2. (See pp. 20-24 for more information).

Table 3: Awards Received by Academic Departments, Third Quarter FY 97

Thirteen academic departments, seven more than last year, and six more than 1995, and 20 faculty members (12 less than last year) received 48% of the total awards and 89% of the indirect costs. Last year six academic departments received 52% of total awards and 86% of indirect costs. (In Table 3 below, indirect costs are included in the total award and are also broken out separately.) In Table 3b Individuals receiving more than one award are signified with the number of awards in parenthesis. Summaries appear in the following two tables.

Table 3a: Third Quarter FY 97-Summary of Academic Departments' Contributions to Awards

Table 3b: Third Quarter FY 97 Academic Departments' Contribution to Awards

Table 4: Awards Received by Chief Support Units, Third Quarter FY 97

Chief support units contributed 22% if award amount. They contributed 7% of the indirect costs derived from awards. In all, 6 project directors in 6 support units received awards.

Table 5: Awards Received by Award Type Third Quarter FY 97

There were 3 fewer grants but they totaled $399,205 more than last year. There were 6 fewer MOAs at almost exactly the same amount as last year. There was one less subcontract totaling over $116,000 less than last year. There was 1 less contract totaling $207,937 less than last year.

Table 6: Awards Received by Project Type Third Quarter FY 97

Compared to last year, there were 7 fewer awards for instruction. The dollar amount of awards for instruction decreased $102,867. There were 12 more awards for research for $252,634 more dollars. There were 5 less public service awards but for $68,834 less than last year.

Table 7: Awards by Funding Sources Third Quarter FY 97

There were 5 more federal awards than last year but for $254,508 fewer dollars. There were 8 more state awards than last year for $66,715 more dollars. We received 5 fewer awards from other public institutions (research foundations and regional companies) but for $257,493 more dollars. We received the same number of awards from foundations for $5,233 more dollars. The large increases in awards from state and other public sources explains our increase in total awards over last year.

Table 8: Top Ten Awarding Agencies Third Quarter FY 1997

Forty-one sponsors made awards to WKU during this reporting period. The top ten are listed below. These ten sponsors contributed 87% of the dollars awarded and 92% of the indirect costs. Last year the top ten contributed 93% of the funding; and in 1995 the top ten contribution was 81%.

PROPOSAL SUBMISSIONS

Table 9. Number and Amount of Proposals Submitted, Third Quarter FY 88-97

Table 10: Third Quarter FY 1997 Proposals by College or Principal Unit

Table 11. Academic Departments Submitting Proposals Third Quarter FY 97

Academic departments submitted 76% of the total dollar amount of proposals and accounted for 65% of the total number of proposals that were submitted. Four more faculty submitted proposals than last year. Four fewer academic departments submitted proposals than last year. The academic departments accounted for 82% of the indirect costs proposed.

Table 11a: Support Units Submitting Proposals Third Quarter FY 97

Seven support units unaffiliated with academic colleges submitted 17 proposals for $612,176. Of this amount, $67,591 was in indirect costs. Compared to last year, 2 fewer units submitted proposals. However, this year the support units submitted $194,817 less in proposals than last year.

Table 11c: Proposals Submitted by Support Units Affiliated with Academic Colleges

Table 12. Proposals Submitted Third Quarter FY 97 by Proposal Type

Nearly 50% of the dollar amount of proposals submitted supported Research, whereas 43% of the dollar amount supported research last year. The dollar amount of research proposals in this FY was $1.5 million less than last year, despite 9 more research awards than last year. There were 18 fewer proposals for Instruction than last year, and the dollar amount was $1,606,685 less. There were 2 fewer Public Service proposals than last year for $1,023,009 less.

Table 13: Proposals Submitted Third Quarter FY 1997 by Agency Type

There were 3 more Federal proposals for $1,588,234 more than last year. There were 8 more proposals to state agencies for $412,266 more than last year. There were 13 less proposals to other public agencies but for $428,744 less than last year. There were 3 less proposals to foundations than last year, for $768,989 less.

Table 14: Top Ten Sponsors In Proposals Submitted Third Quarter FY 97

21% of the proposals were submitted to ten sponsors. These top ten sponsors constituted 17% less than the number of proposals to the top 10 last year. Then, the number of submissions to the top ten was 38%. The dollar value of proposals to the top ten sponsors constituted 66% of the total dollars proposed. Last year the dollar value was 80%. Federal sponsors were conspicuous among the top ten. Exactly 75% of the indirect costs proposed were submitted to the top ten sponsors below.

Table 15: Indirect Costs in Proposals Submitted Third Quarter FY 97

Indirect costs were included in 30 of the 63 proposals submitted (47.6%).

COST SHARING IN GRANTS AWARDED THIRD QUARTER FY 97

Cost sharing by the university reflects full costing of budgets and enables accurate cost sharing budget projections. During the Third Quarter FY 1997, $61,677, or 4% above the $1,514,512 awarded by external sponsors, consisted of WKU cost sharing as Table 16 shows. The OSP Contributions accounts contributed 8% of the total costs WKU shared in awards. Adding the university cost sharing to the awards from external sponsors means that the total amount of cash awards was $1,576,189. The university cash cost shared 8% less than in the previous year as Table 16 shows.

Table 16: Summary of Cash Cost Sharing Awarded by WKU Third Quarters FY 95-97

The table above discloses several points. The 41 awards for Third Quarter FY 97, 8, or 19.5%, carried cost sharing obligations. Table 17 depicts the distribution and amounts of cost sharing for the Third Quarter compared to other quarters. Cash cost sharing award from OSP accounts and from indirect costs have climbed steadily as the numbers of proposals and awards have increased over the past three years. Less was awarded Third Quarter this year in total dollar amount than in FY 96. In Third Quarter of the current year, all $4,950 of the costs shared from OSP contributions accounts are for FY 98.

Table 17. Cost Sharing in Grants Awarded FY 97

Table 18: Cost Sharing in Awards from Sponsored Programs Contributions Accounts, Third Quarter FY 97

As the Table 16 above shows, $4,950 was awarded out of Sponsored Programs Contributions Accounts in Third Quarter FY 97. All of that amount was committed for FY98. The 1 award that drew upon the contributions accounts constituted 2.4% of the 41 total awards.

Indirect Cost Sharing in Awards Third Quarter FY 97

Indirect cost sharing occurs when the current negotiated rate of 54% of salaries is used for cost sharing (22% when over half of a project will occur off campus). Generally, the amount of indirect money cost shared is the difference between 54% of salaries and the maximum indirect cost rate that sponsors will allow. The University will show $16,212 in indirect cost sharing for Third Quarter FY97, all to be certified in FY98. Table 19 indicates departments that received awards with indirect cost sharing obligations during Third Quarter FY97 and the amounts. For comparisons over the past three years, in Third Quarter FY96 eight units indirect cost shared $141,029; and in Third Quarter FY95 one support unit cost shared $2,564.

Table 19: Indirect Cost Sharing in Awards in Third Quarter FY 97

COST SHARING IN PROPOSALS SUBMITTED THIRD QUARTER FY 97

In addition to the $4,666,102 external funds requested, $659,003 was proposed as university cost sharing. The sum of these numbers equals the total proposal budgets for Third Quarter FY 97--$5,325,105. This amount was proposed in 19 proposals, or 30% of the 63 proposals. This cost sharing amount is $2,028,872 less than last year. Last year's Third Quarter cost sharing in proposals was $2,687,875. To date, none of the 19 proposals with cost sharing obligations were funded. Six of the 19 proposals (9.5% of the 63 total proposals) carried cost sharing obligations from Sponsored Programs Contributions accounts. To date none have been funded. Table 20 includes breakdowns for proposed cost sharing for Third Quarter FY97 and comparisons with Third quarters the previous two years.

Table 20: Cost Sharing in Proposals Third Quarter 1997

Table 21: Cost Sharing of Proposals from Sponsored Programs Contributions Accounts Third Quarter 1997

Ten percent of the total of $659,003 cost shared for proposals came from the three Sponsored Programs Contributions accounts as shown below.

Table 22. Indirect Cost Sharing in Proposals Third Quarter FY 97

Indirect costs sharing proposed is broken out in Table 22. The $41,722 proposed in indirect cost share this year is $148,802 below last year (-78%).

AFFILIATION AGREEMENTS BETWEEN WESTERN AND EXTERNAL AGENCIES

The Office of Sponsored Programs assisted 3 academic departments with coordinating 30 affiliation agreements. All were with external agencies to initiate and continue student internship programs. These agreements enable faculty members and students to interact with professionals throughout the region to enhance curriculum. A breakdown by department of this activity for the year to date is depicted in Table 23 below. There were 7 more affiliation agreements than in the Third Quarter last year.

Table 23. Affiliation Agreements by Department, Third Quarter FY 97

SUBGRANT ACTIVITIES THIRD QUARTER FY97

WKU awarded or extended five subgrants to other universities for $16,000. One was declined because a graduate student funded at the University of Louisville became ill and a replacement could not readily be found.

ACTIVITIES OF THE OFFICE OF SPONSORED PROGRAMS DURING Third Quarter FY 97

OSP Web Site: The Web Site contains information about current announcements of changes in protocols by sponsors, new considerations for preparing and administering grants and contracts, the mission and resources of OSP, SPIN Online to find sponsors, resources, regulations and links to all Federal agencies and many Foundations. The Home Page links you to the Foundation Center, which, in turn, will link you to many other foundations. Statistics about the Commonwealth of Kentucky to help strengthen need statements in proposals are available through this link. Another vital link from the OSP Home Page is to the Kentucky Department of Education. To access any of these links, merely click on contents of interest.

Grant Newsletter: The newsletter, local.grants, was initiated during the first quarter of FY 97. Each issue of "local.grants" contains a main theme to help faculty, staff and students with developing and administering their grants. The first issue in September highlighted how the OSP can help the grants community. The second issue in October was headlined "Funding for Undergraduate Institutions." In the Second Quarter, issues focused on "Industry and University Collaboration" and "Funding Sources for Undergraduate Institutions". One newsletter was disseminated during the Third Quarter. It focused on "On-line Resources for Proposals Writers." Each issue contains good-to-know information for grant writers such as new web sites, policies and procedures and program descriptions and deadlines. Faculty and staff may contribute information. Pamela Napier, the Sponsored Programs Information Coordinator, composes local.grants.

Monthly Reports of Proposals and Awards: Beginning in September of 1996, Molly Daniel, Sponsored Programs Development Coordinator, began to compile and disseminate a list of faculty and staff who submitted proposals to external sponsors and received awards. It is distributed to the grants community just after the tenth of each month and published in On Campus. Copies disseminated this quarter may be found in the Appendices to this report.

1. Pre-Award Activities.

Grant Workshops: These workshops are coordinated by Molly Daniel, the Sponsored Programs Development Coordinator. An NSF FastLane Workshop was held on February 11, 12 and 13 to promote preparation and submission of NSF proposals by this relatively new electronic means. The Basic Workshop was held on February 26, 27, and 28. Twelve participants evaluated the Basic workshop as 94% successful. Six participants evaluated the Advanced workshop as 97% successful. The workshops consisted of 3 similar 3-hour sessions at both basic and advanced levels in Grise Hall 457 and Room 111 of Cravens. Both workshops covered funding sources on the Internet and the contents and links on and from the OSP Home Page. Participants learned to use the computerized Sponsored Programs Information Network (SPIN) during the last hour of the basic workshop in the Grise Hall Computer Lab, searched for funding sources on the Internet and learned the elements of a grant proposal. In addition to teaching about grant information on the Internet and how to retrieve it, the advanced workshop consisted of submissions of grants and a review and discussion by a panel of experts drawn from various programs.

Grant workshop for Public School Personnel. None Third Quarter.

SPIN Searches: During Third Quarter FY 1997, 50 searches for potential sponsors were conducted for faculty, staff and graduate students by Sponsored Programs staff.

Grant development meetings about grants at different stages occurred with 71 faculty and staff members and students from Agriculture, Chemistry, Geography and Geology, History, Journalism, Physics and Astronomy, Psychology, and Teacher Education.

Email Network: Over 150 grant announcements were emailed to faculty and staff on targeted Sponsored Programs mailing lists. These messages contained announcements for new grant competitions, deadlines for submissions, tips on writing to various sponsors, and recent compliance regulations as revised or initially incorporated by agencies. The community was informed when comments were requested by various government agencies during the formulation of new policies

2. Post-Award Activities.

About 20 post-award meetings were held with numerous project directors about budgets, modifications, carry over funds, extensions, and final reports. The following table indicates the number of charts of accounts established this quarter.

Table 24. Charts of Accounts

3. New Sources about Grant Writing.

Writing Grant Proposals: A Resource Guide, Was compiled by OSP staff during the Fourth Quarter of FY96. This 70 page booklet addresses why grants are developed, how one can tell a good proposal from a not-so-good attempt, pre-proposal steps, working with program officers at sponsors, a checklist that grant reviewers use, same proposal letters for foundations, sample budget, and a proposal writing short course. Grants: A Bibliography of Selected Resources Available in the Helm Library Reference Area Grants Information Center, is available to complement SPIN. The Bibliography was made available on the Sponsored Programs Home Page. Moreover, the Reference Section in the Library contains publications of the Foundations Center and manuals about grant writing. Molly Daniel, Sponsored Programs Development Coordinator compiled Selected Kentucky Foundations to complement Grants: A Bibliography . . . mentioned above. Selected Kentucky Foundations is a directory that all Western grants writers will want to review while finding sponsors, since opportunities for funding increases with geographical proximity to Western. Personal copies are available upon request from the Office of Sponsored Programs at extension 4652 or by email to any OSP staff member.

4. Human Subjects of Research (HSRB).

Eleven projects were approved by the Human Subjects Review Board during Third Quarter FY 97. The level of approval is shown in the table below. The Human Subjects Review Board met on the third Friday of each month. Expedited and Exempted level applications are considered in the meantime by the Chair and Coordinator of the HSRB. All human subjects informations, links to federal sources and application forms are available on the OSP Home Page.

Human Subjects Review Board Actions

5. Coordination with the General Representative in Washington, D.C.

Workforce development, status of VA/HUD appropriations, and the appropriations report for funding targets are initiatives being pursued.

6. Resources Strategy Group.

This group was not convened during the Third Quarter. A meeting was held with one of the new development officers.

7. The Guide to the Preparation of Grants and Contracts

The Guide may be found on the OSP Web Site: http://www.wku.edu/Dept/Support/SponsPrg/grants/home.htm

8. Policy Formation.

The OSP is working with the Director of Budget and Management Information to revise the indirect cost policy. The revision will incorporate changes from the revised A-21 circular of May 8, 1996. Quarterly allocations of indirect costs recovery is another issue under consideration.

9. Searches.

None for the OSP. The Director of the OSP served on the search committee for the Director of Continuing Education and Center for Training and Development.

10. Professional Development Activities of the OSP Staff.

The OSP Specialist attended a computer software workshop sponsored by the Microcomputer Service Center. The entire OSP staff registered to attend a team-building workshop, to be held in the fourth quarter, to be sponsored by the Department of Human Resources.

11. Task Forces.

The Director was a member of the task force on Internationalizing Western and presented grant opportunities in International Education areas to assist the activity.

12. Intellectual Property Committee.

The Director chairs this committee which considered one Patent case and began discussions to revise the Patents policy of the University to put the policy in line with new protocols in this rapidly developing field. A new IP Committee was approved by the President.

13. Conflict of Interest Committee.

This new committee met to consider one case during the third quarter.

END