WESTERN KENTUCKY UNIVERSITY

Office of Sponsored Programs FIRST QUARTER FY1999 Report
JULY 1, 1998 -- SEPTEMBER 30, 1998

Office of Sponsored Programs
106 Foundation Building
Bowling Green, KY 42101-3576
Telephone:(270) 745-4652
FAX: (270) 745-4211
E-mail: Phillip.Myers@Wku.Edu
Web Site: http://www.wku.edu/Dept/Support/SponsPrg/grants/home.htm

Prepared, February 7, 1999

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Introduction

This report covers the activities of the Office of Sponsored Programs at Western Kentucky University from July 1, 1998-September 30, 1998. During this period, the University received 85 awards totaling $9,408,672, the highest dollar amount in Western history for a comparable reporting period. WKU submitted 48 proposals totaling $4,986,743. There were 15 more awards than a year ago and the dollar amount of awards increased by 17%, or $1,344,400.

Included in the awards was $510,684 in indirect costs, which is the largest amount of indirect costs awarded for any first quarter. A year ago, $378,850 was awarded in indirect costs. This years indirect cost award dollars marked an increase of 35% compared to a year ago; and an increase of 61% compared to two years ago.

Nearly $200,000 was collected in indirect costs during this reporting period. This amount represents nearly a $50,000 increase over the previous period.

In addition, WKU cash cost shared $283,773 above the $9,408,672 awarded. Total awards therefore equaled $9,692,445. WKU cost shared 3% of the total award dollars. This percent is the lowest in the past three years.

Included in the 48 proposals was $631,069 in indirect costs.

WKU cash cost shared $674,113 in addition to the $4,986,743 proposed. Total proposals therefore equaled $5,660,856. WKU cost shared 12% of the total amount proposed, which is normal for this reporting period.

Awards

The 17% increase in award amount was caused principally by $800,000 awarded for 15 more grants than the previous year; $393,147 more awarded in MOAs; and nearly $100,000 more awarded to WKU in subgrants than last year. Seen another way, there were 12 more research grants for $125,000 more; over $600,000 awarded in public service projects; and over $600,000 awarded for instruction. Seen yet another way, Federal funding increased $1,500,000, with 13 more Federal awards.

Proposals

Twelve academic departments submitted proposals, representing two fewer departments than last year. There were five first-time proposers, a record number compared to previous years.

The dollar amount of proposals submitted decreased by $575,077 (-10%) compared to a year ago. There were 6 more proposals than a year ago. The dollar amount of proposals decreased because the dollar amount of instruction proposals was down $818,751. There were 11 more Federal proposals but the dollar amount was $460,546 less than a year ago.

Fifty-one percent of the dollar amount of proposals supported research, whereas 41% of the dollar amount supported research last year, a 10% increase. There were 2 fewer proposals to state agencies but for $76,835 more than last year.

Summary Awards and Proposals Comparisons with Previous Years

Other Activities in the Sponsored Programs Community

The OSP Web Site

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

Sponsored Programs continued to rely heavily on the WKUNET to expedite operations through widespread use of e-mail with project directors and grant developers. Electronic postings were made of grant opportunities, deadlines, tips, and policies and procedures. The OSP home page provides faculty and staff members with information from the grant community nationwide. Issues of local.grants, the OSP newsletter, were placed on the OSP home page and direct mailed. Monthly tallies of awards received and proposals submitted were published in On Campus and on the OSP Web Site. The Web Site contains information to facilitate pre- and post-award developments for the campus.

Summary of Other Activities of the OSP during First Quarter FY 99

The OSP assists departments with subgrants and non-cash affiliation agreements. The OSP coordinated 19 new subgrants to other institutions totaling $439,842, and 19 affiliation agreements with regional hospitals, clinics, and medical offices on behalf of internship programs in Nursing (11), and Public Health (8).

The OSP staff attended, presented, and moderated at professional meetings, and chaired or served on university committees about intellectual property, faculty research, and human subjects of research.

ABBREVIATIONS USED IN REPORTS

As you can see by consulting any of the tables in the appendices, brevity is required for entries into the OSP database of awards and proposals. Each database sheet is a record containing one award or proposal. There are a number of fields in each record which require brevity. For this reason, the following abbreviations are used for consistency in creating reports and the data that the reports produce.

Funding Agencies and Other Abbreviations Used in Reports

INTRODUCTION

The Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP) provides pre- and post-award services for faculty, staff members, and students seeking external support for research, instruction, public service, scholarships, and fellowships. The OSP helps faculty and staff members develop grants, memorandum of agreements, contracts, subcontracts (subgrants), and affiliation agreements. The OSP is the link between extramural projects and the Offices of Academic Affairs, Graduate College and Research, and Accounts and Fiscal Services.

The OSP coordinates with academic colleges and departments, and all support units of the University engaging in extramural funding efforts. On behalf of these entities, the OSP coordinates proposal development, submitting and approving awards for the University, award routing; maintains records of faculty and staff members' interests; identifies potential sponsors; presents grant development and compliance workshops; supports grant development initiatives of the deans, the Center for Teaching and Learning, and units across the campus; provides individual consultation; renders contract compliance and institutional assurance; establishes charts of accounts for awards; negotiates post-award modifications; provides liaison with external agencies on behalf of the University, and computes the University indirect cost rates and negotiates the rates with the cognizant Federal agency. The OSP manages intellectual property and copyright matters. The OSP is the authorized representative for signature for all documents associated with extramural funding activities.

AWARDS RECEIVED, First Quarter FY 99

In this reporting period, Western Kentucky University received 85 awards in the amount of $9,408,672 that included $510,684 in indirect costs awarded. These amounts are the highest in Western history for this reporting period. Compared to last year, these data reflect an increase of 15 awards. The award dollar amount increased from last year by $1,344,440 or +16%.

Table 1: AWARDS RECEIVED, First Quarter 1997-1999

Table 1a: F & A (Indirect) Costs Awarded and Collected, First Quarter, FY 99
Under the institutional F & A policy, F & A costs from awards are collected and allocated quarterly. Allocations are: college dean or appropriate vice president 40%; General Fund 40%; OSP 20%. Quarterly collections began July 1, 1997; and a record of those collections may be reviewed in the table below. Comparisons are given with the previous year. Comparison demonstrates that almost $50,000 more was collected in the current year compared to the previous year, an increase of 33%

Table 2: Awards Received by Academic Colleges and Other Major Units, First Quarter, FY 99

Awards Received by Academic Departments, First Quarter, FY 99

Fourteen academic departments, 2 more than last year and 3 less than the year before, and 38 faculty members (13 more than last year) received 50 awards. This number of awards was 59% of the total awards, 33% of the award dollars, and 25% of the indirect costs. As Table 3a shows, last year 12 academic departments received 46% of total number of awards, 37% of award dollars and 23% of indirect costs. In Table 3b, individuals receiving more than one award are signified with the number of awards in parenthesis.

Table 3a: Academic Departments' Contributions to Awards, First Quarter, FY99

First QuarterFY	# of Depts. Receiving Awards	# Faculty Receiving Awards	% # of Awards Received by Faculty	% of $ Amount of Awards Received by Faculty	% F&A Costs Received by Faculty
1999	14	38	59	44	25
1998	12	25	46	37	23
1997	17	36	36	49	59

Table 3b: Academic Departments' Contribution to Awards, First Quarter, FY 99

Unit	Awardees	Award Totals	F&A Awards
Agriculture	D. Coffey, O. Dotson, R. Johnson	260,000	0
AHHS	D. May	87,615	6,490
Biology	B. Ferrell, R. Hoyt, A. Meier, L. Rhoads	60,520	2,367
CFS	L. Fong	8,507	630
Chemistry	C. Lee, W-P Pan(2), J. Riley, L. Shank(2)	155,952	4,968
Comm. & Broadcasting	J. Hoover	15,000	0
Educational Leadership	J. Fiene(2), D. Nims, C. Wagner	240,389	17,012
English	J. Hagaman	165	0
ET	R. Handy(2)	8,491	1,364
Geography & Geology	G. Conner, N. Crawford, C. Groves(4)	156,592	5,498
Nursing	J. Richardson	90,600	0
Physics/Astronomy	M. Carini, S. Clements, K. Hackney, R. Hackney(3), D. Humphrey, R. Scott, W. Vandermeer, G. Vourvopoulos(3)	1,164,166	63,549
Psychology	J. Craig, L. Layne, C. Myers	151,042	8,003
Teacher Education	R. Roberts, A. Ruff, V. Stayton, J. Vokurka(2)	772,491	18,812
14 Departments	38 Faculty, 50 awards	3,171,530	128,693

Table 4: Awards Received by Support Units, First Quarter, FY 99

Support units contributed 65% of the dollar amount of awards. They contributed 74% of the indirect costs awarded. In all, 9 project directors in 9 support units received awards.

Table 5: Awards Received by Award Type, First Quarter, FY 99

There were 15 more grants totaling $800,778 more than last year. There were 2 more MOAs for $393,147 more than last year. There were the same number of subcontracts for $81,402 more than last year. There were 2 less contracts but for $69,073 more than last year.

Table 6: Awards Received by Project Type, First Quarter FY 99

Compared to last year, there were the same number of awards for instruction. The dollar amount of awards for instruction increased $609,483. There were 12 more awards for research for $126,235 more dollars. There were 3 more public service awards for $608,682 dollars than last year.

Table 7: Awards by Funding Sources, First Quarter FY 99

There were 13 more federal awards than last year for $1,439,944 more dollars. There were 4 fewer state awards for $38,731 less dollars. We received 1 less award from local government. There were 7 more awards from private agencies but for $50,340 fewer dollars. (There were 0awards from foundations which was the same as last year).

Table 8: Top Ten Awarding Agencies, First Quarter FY 1999

Forty-three sponsors made awards to WKU during this reporting period. The top ten are listed below. These ten sponsors contributed 85% of the dollars awarded and 89% of the indirect costs. Last year the top ten contributed 89% of the funding; and in FY97 the top ten contributed 73% of the dollars awarded.

PROPOSAL SUBMISSIONS

Table 9. Number and Amount of Proposals Submitted, First Quarter, FY 88-99

The fourth largest dollar amount of proposals in the last 9 years were submitted during this reporting period. In this reporting period, 24 academic departments, 11 more than last year, and 15 support units, 8 less than last year, comprising 88 faculty (2 more than last year) and 17 staff (6 less than last year), submitted 210 proposals (58 less than last year) totaling $22,095,411. Compared to last year, there was a 14% increase in the number of proposals and an 11% decrease in the dollar value of proposals.

Table 10: Proposals by College and Other Units, First Quarter FY 99

Table 11. Academic Departments Submitting Proposals, First Quarter FY 99

Twelve academic departments submitted $3,306,081in proposals. Altogether, academic departments submitted 66% of the total dollar amount of proposals and accounted for 62% of the total number of proposals that were submitted. The same number of faculty submitted proposals as last year. Five proposals were submitted by faculty who had not previously submitted. Two fewer academic departments submitted proposals than last year. The academic departments accounted for 85% of the indirect costs proposed. The academic departments submitted $1,016,693 less in proposals compared to last year. Public Health and Chemistry were the leading departments submitting proposals.

Table 11a: Support Units Submitting Proposals, First Quarter FY 99

Six support units submitted 18 proposals for $1,680,662. Of this amount, $91,552 was in F & A costs. One less unit submitted proposals for compared to last year.

Table 11b: Proposals by Support Units in Academic Colleges, First Quarter FY 99

Included in the units in Table 11a were 3 support units in academic colleges that submitted proposals for $1,528,874 which included $85,641 in F & A costs proposed. These units constituted 30% of the total proposal dollars, and 13% of the F & A costs proposed. These proposals were submitted by 3 project directors and represented 15 projects.

Table 12. Proposals Submitted by Project Type, First Quarter FY 99

Fifty-one percent of the dollar amount of proposals supported Research, which was 10% more than last year. There were 5 fewer proposals for research than last year. There were 3 fewer proposals for Instruction than last year but the dollar amount was $818,751 less. There were 8 more Public Service proposals than last year and the dollar amount this year was $841,416 more.

Table 13: Proposals Submitted by Agency Type, First Quarter, FY 99

There were 11 more Federal proposals for $460,546 less than last year. There were 2 fewer proposals to state agencies but for $76,835 more than last year. There were 2 fewer proposals to Private agencies compared to last year.

Table 14: Top Ten Sponsors In Proposals Submitted, First Quarter, FY 99

Forty-six percent of the proposals were submitted to ten sponsors. These top ten sponsors constituted 15% more than the number of proposals to the top 10 last year. The dollar value of proposals to the top ten sponsors constituted 83% of the total dollars proposed. Last year the dollar value was 94%. Half of the top ten proposals were sent to federal sponsors and half to state sponsors. Ninety percent of the indirect costs proposed were submitted to the top ten sponsors below, which was 8% less than last year and the same as the year before.

Table 15: F & A Costs in Proposals Submitted, First Quarter FY 9

F & A costs were included in 105 of the 210 proposals submitted (50%).

COST SHARING IN GRANTS AWARDED, First Quarter, FY 99

Cost sharing by the university reflects full costing of budgets and enables accurate cost sharing budget projections. In this reporting period, $283,773, or 3% above the $9,408,672 awarded by external sponsors, consisted of WKU cost sharing as Table 16 shows. The OSP Contributions accounts contributed 15% of the total costs WKU shared in awards, or $283,773. Adding the university cost sharing to the awards from external sponsors means that the total amount of cash awards was $9,692,445. The university cash cost shared 2% less than in the previous year.

Table 16: Summary of Cash Cost Sharing Awarded by WKU, First Quarter FY 96-99

Of the 85 awards, 9, or 1%, carried cost sharing obligations. Of the 85 awards, 2 used OSP contributions.

Table 17. Cost Sharing in Grants Awarded First Quarters FY 96-99

Table 17 depicts the distribution and amounts of cost sharing compared to last year.

Table 18: Cost Sharing Awarded from OSP Contributions Accounts, First Quarter FY 99

$44,300 was awarded out of OSP Contributions Accounts.

Table 19: Total and F & A Sharing in Awards by Unit, First Quarter FY 99

Total cost sharing was 34% lower than the previous year. During First Quarter, FY99 $283,773 was cost shared by 4 units, whereas last year $435,819 was cost shared by 9 units; and in FY97 $394,373 was cost shared. There was $72,663 in F & A cost sharing for 9 units in FY 98. In FY97, 8 units indirect cost shared $221,940.

COST SHARING IN PROPOSALS SUBMITTED, First Quarter FY 99

In addition to the $4,986,743 external funds proposed first quarter FY99, $674,113 was proposed as university cost sharing. The sum of these numbers equals the total proposals of $5,660,856. Cost sharing was proposed in 17 of the 48 proposals, or 35%. This cost sharing amount is $105,248 less than last year, but $116,394 more than first quarter FY97, as Table 20 shows.

Table 20: Cost Sharing in Proposals, First Quarters FY96-99

Table 21: Cost Sharing of Proposals from OSP Contributions Accounts, First Quarter FY99

$393,015 cost shared for proposals came from the three Sponsored Programs Contributions accounts as shown below for 981-984. This amount was 13% of total proposed cost sharing.

Table 22: Total and F & A Cost Sharing in Proposals by Unit, First Quarter FY 99

AFFILIATION AGREEMENTS BETWEEN WESTERN AND EXTERNAL AGENCIES

The Office of Sponsored Programs assisted 2 academic departments with coordinating 19 affiliation agreements with 3 faculty members. 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 student learning. A breakdown by department submissions for this activity is depicted in Table 23 below. Comparing fiscal years, there were 80 fewer affiliation agreements submitted compared to last year and 63 more than two years ago. The drop is positive as most units have followed the directive to conclude multiple year agreements to reduce paper work.

Table 23. Affiliation Agreements by Department, First Quarter FY99

SUBGRANT ACTIVITIES, First Quarter FY99

WKU awarded 19 new subgrants to other institutions for $439,842. Five new subgrants were awarded to researchers at the University of Kentucky, 3 to Morehead State University, 2 to Murray State University, 4 to the University of Louisville, 0 to Eastern Kentucky, 0 to Kentucky State and 2 to Northern Kentucky University. One new subgrant went to Transylvania University, and one went to Centre College. One new subgrant was awarded to the Kentucky Rural Water Association, Inc. Eight subgrants were modified to extend project periods for researchers at UK, UL, and Morehead. No actions were pending. In all, $835,520 in subgrants were transacted in these 27 matters. These matters were 43% above last year's amount of $530,505.

OFFICE OF SPONSORED PROGRAMS ACTIVITIES, First Quarter FY 99

General Activities. The Office of Sponsored Programs Web Site has been online for over three years. The OSP Web Site continues as the primary communication device for Western faculty, staff and students to find sponsors, prepare grants and contracts, and engage in post-award activities. It is a veritable "road map" to successful ventures through grants and contracts! It is updated frequently with new grant and workshop announcements, deadlines, policies and procedures, reports, new potential sponsors, and tips on how to discover funding success. The web site contains downloadable forms for submitting grants. It has a fact page for commonly used information on proposal cover sheets. Applications for approval of protocols for human subjects of research and disclosure statements for conflict of interest and intellectual property and copyright may be downloaded and submitted by attaching the application to email.

The Web site contains information about OSP staff to contact, current announcements of changes in protocols by sponsors, resources, regulations and links to all federal agencies. The OSP Web site 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 Web site is to the Kentucky Department of Education. To access any of these links, merely click on contents of interest. The OSP Web site may be accessed at: http://www.wku.edu/Dept/Support/SponsPrg/grants/home.htm

1. Grant Newsletter: The quarterly newsletter, local.grants, welcomed more than 50 new faculty members as it began its third year of publication.

2. Monthly Reports of Proposals and Awards: Beginning in September of 1996, the OSP 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 and published in On Campus. Copies disseminated may be found in the Appendices to the quarterly reports and on the OSP Web site.

3. Pre-Award Activities. Grant Workshops:

• On September 8, an NSF discussion on upcoming announcements was held with faculty in Ogden College.
• On September 18, Pamela Napier, Phil Myers, and Deborah Wilkins, General Counsel, presented an Affiliations and Contracts workshop to 22 participants. This was the third year of this workshop.
• The Introduction to Grants workshop was offered by Phil Myers and Pamela Napier in two sessions on September 23 and 24 to 25 total participants.
• Searches: 38 searches for potential sponsors were conducted for faculty, staff, and graduate students by Sponsored Programs staff.
• Grant development phone or in person conferences occurred with 277 faculty, staff, and students (some, obviously, more than once).
• Email network: 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.

4. Appointments

Bonnie Smith was hired as Proposal Development Coordinator and began in the OSP on July 27.

Regina Allen became the OSP Office Assistant in the OSP on August 31.

5. Post-Award Activities: 413 post-award conferences by phone or in person were held with numerous project directors about budgets, modifications, carry over funds, extensions, and final reports. The following table indicated the number of charts of accounts for awards established during First Quarter FY99.

Table 24. Charts of Accounts Established

6. Human Subjects of Research (HSRB). The HSRB meets on the third Friday of each month to consider application required for full board review. Expedited and Exempted reviews are handled outside of the full boar. Ten projects were approved or pending by the Human Subjects Review Board during First Quarter FY99. The level of approval is shown in the table below. All human subjects information, links to federal sources and application forms are available on the OSP Web site.

Human Subjects Review Board Actions