WESTERN KENTUCKY UNIVERSITY

Office of Sponsored Programs SECOND QUARTER Report
OCTOBER 1, 1998 -- DECEMBER 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/

Prepared July 26, 1999

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Introduction

This report covers the activities of the Office of Sponsored Programs at Western Kentucky University from October 1, 1998 -- December 30, 1998. During this period, the University received 36 awards totaling $4,288,350. Since July 1, Western has received more award dollars than in any previous complete fiscal year. WKU submitted 55 proposals totaling $9,004,064. There were exactly the same number of awards as a year ago but the dollar amount of awards increased by 150%, or $2,572,132.

Included in the awards was $97,877 in indirect costs, which is the second largest amount of indirect costs awarded for any second quarter. A year ago, $74,200 was awarded in indirect costs. This quarter's indirect cost award dollars marked an increase of 32% compared to a year ago. Nearly $222,755.30 was collected in indirect costs during this reporting period. This amount represents a $113,341.94 (+103.59%) increase over a year ago.

In addition, WKU cash cost shared $182,243 above the $4,288,350 awarded. Total awards therefore equaled $4,470,593. WKU cost shared 4% of the total award dollars. This percent is the lowest in the past three years.

Included in the 46 proposals was $755,287 in indirect costs.

WKU cash cost shared $2,254,191 in addition to the $9,004,064 proposed. Total proposal dollars therefore equaled $11,258,255. WKU cost shared 20% of the total amount proposed, which is high for this reporting period.

Awards

The 150% increase in award amount was caused principally by $2,198,062 more awarded for grants than the previous year and $597,098 more awarded in MOAs. Seen another way, $1,876,696 more dollars were awarded for research and $676,308 more was awarded for public service projects than a year ago. Seen yet another way, State funding was increased by $2,200,000 by the restricted state grant from CPE for the Ogden College Program of Distinction.

Proposals

Fourteen academic departments submitted proposals, representing one more department than last year. There were five first-time proposers.

The dollar amount of proposals submitted increased by $5,570,458 (+162%) compared to a year ago. There were 4 more proposals than a year ago. The dollar amount of proposals increased because the dollar amount of instruction proposals rose $1,435,022 to enhance student learning and faculty development. Public Service proposals increased by $524,212 There were 11 more Federal proposals and the dollar amount was $4,999,882 more than a year ago.

The difference was made in Federal research proposals. Fifty-nine percent of the dollar amount of proposals supported research, whereas 37% of the dollar amount supported research last year, a 22% increase. There were 6 fewer proposals to state agencies for $354,917 less 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. Over 500 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 Second Quarter FY 99

The OSP assists departments with subgrants and non-cash affiliation agreements. The OSP coordinated 9 subgrants to other institutions totaling $511,714, and 21 affiliation agreements with regional hospitals, clinics, and medical offices on behalf of internship programs in Allied Health and Human Services, Biology's Medical Technician Program, Nursing, and Public Health.

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.

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, and award routing. The OSP maintains records of faculty and staff members' interests; identifies potential sponsors; presents grant development and compliance workshops; and supports grant development initiatives of the deans, the Center for Teaching and Learning, and units across the campus. The OSP provides individual consultation; and renders contract compliance and institutional assurance. The Office establishes charts of accounts for awards; negotiates post-award modifications; and provides liaison with external agencies on behalf of the University. It 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, Second Quarter FY 99

In this reporting period, Western Kentucky University received 36 awards in the amount of $4,288,350 that included $97,877 in indirect costs awarded. Compared to last year, these data reflect an increase of 0 awards. The award dollar amount increased from last year by $1,344,440 or +149%. Award dollar were the highest in the last four years.

Table 1: AWARDS RECEIVED, Second Quarter 1997-1999

Table 1a: F & A (Indirect) Costs Collected, Second 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 $91,500 more was collected in the current year compared to the previous year, an increase of 69%

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

Awards Received by Academic Departments, Second Quarter, FY 99

Seventeen academic departments, 6 more than last year and 7 more than the year before, and 15 faculty members (2 less than last year) received 19 awards. This number of awards was 52% of the total awards, 19% of the award dollars, and 63% of the indirect costs. As Table 3a shows, last year 11 academic departments received 47% of total number of awards, 36% of award dollars and 25% 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, Second Quarter, FY99

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

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

Support units contributed 79% of the dollar amount of awards. They contributed 36% of the indirect costs awarded. In all, 8 project directors in 7 support units received awards.

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

There were 7 fewer grants but totaling $2,198,062 more than last year. This increase, despite fewer awards, was because of the Program of Distinction dollars from CPE. There were 12 more MOAs for $597,098 more than last year. There were 5 fewer subcontracts for $223,579 less than last year. There were the same number of contracts but for $551 more than last year.

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

Compared to last year, there were 9 fewer awards for instruction. The dollar amount of awards for instruction decreased $82,728. There were 2 fewer awards for research but for $1,876,696 more dollars. This increase resulted from the Program of Distinction award from the state. There were 8 more public service awards for $676,308 more dollars than last year.

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

There were the same number of federal awards as last year for $66,000 fewer dollars. There were 3 more state awards for $2,685,131 more dollars because of the Program of Distinction grant from CPE. We received 1 more award from local government. There were 4 fewer awards from private agencies but for $46,918 fewer dollars. (There were 0 awards from foundations which was the same as last year).

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

Twenty-four sponsors made awards to WKU during this reporting period. The top ten are listed below. These ten sponsors contributed 89% of the dollars awarded and 79% of the indirect costs. Last year the top ten contributed 96% of the funding; and in FY97 the top ten also contributed 96% of the dollars awarded.

PROPOSAL SUBMISSIONS

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

The largest dollar amount of proposals in the last 9 years were submitted during this reporting period. In this reporting period, 14 academic departments, 1 more than last year, and 7 support units, 2 more than last year, comprising 26 faculty (6 less than last year) and 9 staff (4 more than last year), submitted 55 proposals (4 more than last year) totaling $9,004,064. Compared to last year, there was a 8% increase in the number of proposals and an 162% increase in the dollar value of proposals.

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

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

Twelve academic departments submitted $5,154,153 in proposals. Altogether, academic departments submitted 57% of the total dollar amount of proposals and accounted for 64% of the total number of proposals that were submitted. Seven fewer faculty submitted proposals compared to last year. Five proposals were submitted by faculty who had not previously submitted. One less academic department submitted proposals than last year. The academic departments accounted for 94% of the indirect costs proposed. The academic departments submitted $2,284,639 more in proposals compared to last year. Chemistry and Industrial Technology were the leading departments submitting proposals.

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

Eight support units submitted 19 proposals for $3,647,760. Of this amount, $45,993 was in F & A costs. Three more units submitted proposals compared to last year.

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

Included in the units in Table 11a were 4 support units in academic colleges that submitted proposals for $2,849,675 which included $41,077 in F & A costs proposed. These units constituted 32% of the total proposal dollars, and 5% of the F & A costs proposed. These proposals were submitted by 4 project directors and represented 4 projects.

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

Sixty percent of the dollar amount of proposals supported Research, which was 174% more than last year. There was 1 fewer proposals for research than last year. There was 1 more proposal for Instruction than last year but the dollar amount was $1,435,022 more. There were 3 more Public Service proposals than last year and the dollar amount this year was $524,212 more.

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

There were 3 less Federal proposals but for $2,399,882 less than last year. There were 9 more proposals to state agencies for $3,294,414 more than last year. There were exactly the same number of proposals to Private agencies compared to last year. One foundation was included in the Private count. This proposal by Dr. Murat Tiryakioglu in IT was for $132,700.

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

Fifty-Five percent of the proposals were submitted to ten sponsors. These top ten sponsors constituted 1 less % than the number of proposals to the top 10 last year. The dollar value of proposals to the top ten sponsors constituted 85% of the total dollars proposed. Last year the dollar value was 81%. Four of the top ten proposals were sent to federal sponsors and six to state sponsors. Ninety-one percent of the indirect costs proposed were submitted to the top ten sponsors below, which was 11% more than last year and 14% more than the year before.

Table 15: F & A Costs in Proposals Submitted, Second Quarter FY 99

F & A costs were included in 38 of the 55 proposals submitted (69%).

COST SHARING IN GRANTS AWARDED, Second Quarter, FY 99

Cost sharing by the university reflects full costing of budgets and enables accurate cost sharing budget projections. In this reporting period, $182,243, or 2% above the $4,288,350 awarded by external sponsors, consisted of WKU cost sharing as Table 16 shows. The OSP Contributions accounts contributed 4% of the total amount of awards (sponsors + WKU cash), or $182,243. Adding the university cost sharing to the awards from external sponsors means that the total amount of cash awards was $4,470,593. The university cash cost shared 7% less than in the previous year.

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

Of the 55 awards, 8, or 22%, carried cost sharing obligations. Of the 55 awards, 4 used OSP contributions. Table 17 depicts the distribution and amounts of cost sharing compared to previous years.

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

Table 18: Cost Sharing Awarded from OSP Contributions Accounts, 2^nd Quarter FY 99

$47,795 was awarded out of OSP Contributions Accounts.

$4,739 of the $47,495 was awarded for FY00.

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

In addition to the $9,004,064 external funds proposed, $2,254,191 was proposed as university cost sharing. The sum of these numbers equals the total proposals of $11,258,255. Cost sharing was proposed in 23 of the 55 proposals, or 42%. This cost sharing amount is $1,095,311 more than last year, and $1,688,506 more than second quarter FY97, as Table 20 shows.

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

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

$205,786 cost shared for proposals came from the three Sponsored Programs Contributions accounts. This amount was 9% of total proposed cost sharing.

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

AFFILIATION AGREEMENTS BETWEEN WESTERN AND EXTERNAL AGENCIES

The Office of Sponsored Programs assisted 4 academic departments with coordinating 21 affiliation agreements with 4 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 quarters, 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, Second Quarter FY99

SUBGRANT ACTIVITIES, Second Quarter FY99

WKU awarded 3 new subgrants to other institutions for $153,500. One new subgrant went to BD III Engineering, Inc., one to T. J. Samson Community Hospital, and one to Macon Program for Progress. Four subgrants were modified to extend project periods for researchers at UK and the Kentucky Science and Technology Council. Two subgrants were continued. No actions were pending. In all, $511,714 in subgrants were transacted in these 9 matters. These matters were 20% less than last year's amount of $636,259.

OFFICE OF SPONSORED PROGRAMS ACTIVITIES, Second 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, 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. 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 is continuously updated and expanded to provide the latest information for your grants activities. During this quarter, over 20 new files and pages were added to the Web Site and over 30 files and pages were updated.

You may also access a free funding opportunities and investigator profile system to get grants you may be interested in to your desktop daily. It is through SPIN and is called GENIUS/SMARTS. The OSP can sign you up for this service in minutes.

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 123 proposers and awardees from 46 academic and support units to the annual luncheon on November 30, 1998.

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: The OSP taught a graduate student workshop on October 12 (Pamela Napier); a Proposal Review Workshop on October 14 (Pamela Napier and Phil Myers), a compliance workshop on October 28, and grants budgets workshops on November 11 and November 12. A contracts basics workshop was attended by six participants on December 2. Deborah Wilkins, General Counsel presented and answered questions along with the OSP staff.

Searches: 35 searches for potential sponsors were conducted for faculty, staff and graduate students by Sponsored Programs staff. Training on SPIN, IRIS (a database new to Western that the OSP subscribed to), and GrantSearch data bases of funding opportunities occurred with 12 faculty and staff members.

Workshops for Individual Departments: Pamela Napier presented a grant basics workshop to Sue Bryant's Graduate Nursing Research class on October 13. She and Phil Myers presented a contracts workshop to Potter College Department Heads on November 18.

Grant development phone or in person conferences occurred with 225 faculty, staff, and students.

Email Network: During this quarter, over 500 funding opportunities were emailed. Some were sent to only one person, but some were sent to as many as 200 people. 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. Staff Appointments: None. A vacancy was created in the OSP when Marilyn Anderson transferred to coordinate programs at the Applied Research and Technology Center.

5. Post-Award Activities. 42 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 indicates the number of charts of accounts for awards established during Second 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 by a subcommittee of the full board. Ten projects were approved or pending by the Human Subjects Review Board. 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

7. Coordination with the General Representative in Washington, D.C. In October Ken Lee worked on getting appropriations for the "Starbase Network" project for Physics and Astronomy. In November he worked on the CIBER grant request with senatorial offices and traveled to Bowling Green about Ogden College projects. He continued to work on the CIBER grant request for the COBA in December.

8. The Guide to the Preparation of Grants and Contracts may be found on the OSP Web Site.

9. Policy Formation. The Intellectual Property Committee continued to meet monthly to shape a draft policy statement.

10. Professional Development Activities of the OSP Staff. Dr. Phil Myers, Pamela Napier and Bonnie Smith attended the Office of Federal Programs fall meetings in early October. They sat in on sessions about federal and private funding opportunities for Western faculty and staff members. Phil Myers and Bonnie Smith attended the NCURA Annual Meeting in Washington in early November. They attended numerous sessions including forming and administering a research foundation. Phil Myers and Pamela Napier worked on the NCURA Regional elections, memberships, and by-laws committees. Bonnie Smith coordinated the annual proposals and awards luncheon. She implemented the Million Dollar Club Recognition Plaque which was displayed at the luncheon. Pamela Napier represented the OSP at an NSF FastLane Workshop at Murray State University on November 12.

11. Intellectual Property Committee. Work progressed on revision of the institutional intellectual property policy.

12. Conflict of Interest Review Committee. There were no positive disclosures considered.

13. Council of Academic Deans: The Director attended fall meetings and presented and responded about matters affecting the OSP and the grant community.

14. Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC): Met on November 5.

15. Coordination with the Development Office. One meeting was held with the Vice President in December.

16. Faculty Scholarship Council. Held monthly meetings. All proposals are entered into OSP records for proposal development information.

17. OSP Financial Support to Research for the quarter:

Last update made December 1, 1999.
Send comments to: Director, Office of Sponsored Programs phillip.myers@wku.edu
All contents copyright (C) 1999. Western Kentucky University.