Susan Carter Thea Vicari University of California at Merced / University of California at Merced1

“Building the plane while we are flying it…” University of California at Merced2

UC San Diego – founded 1960 UC Irvine – founded 1965 UC Santa Cruz – opened 1965 UC Merced – founded 2002, opened 2005 Number of faculty, students in 2002 – 0 Number of staff Number of faculty, students in 2010 – 117 faculty, 3400 students Number of staff Amount of grants and contracts 2002 – $0 Amount of grants and contracts FY $23M University of California at Merced 3

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SPO established– one position 2010 – two Research Administrators, one ARRA Research Administrator, two Sponsored Projects Accounting Analysts, one Director (6 positions within SPO) University of California at Merced9

Proposal and budget development assistance Proposal review, authorization, and transmissions Grant and contract negotiation and acceptance Processing award accounts University of California at Merced10

Subcontract preparation and administration Post-award assistance Liaison with compliance committees Material Transfer Agreements (incoming) Liaison with compliance committees Research activity and associated reports University of California at Merced11

Goals:  Promote growth in campus extramural funding for research and graduate training  Expand UC Merced's capacity to pursue major multi and interdisciplinary team based research initiatives University of California at Merced12

Established September 2008 with one 50% position Works closely with SPO but a separate unit within OR; position reports to VCR March 2009 expanded to one FTE position University of California at Merced13

Identification and dissemination of funding opportunity information Training on proposal writing and grantsmanship Advice and assistance regarding responses to new/emerging/changing funding opportunities and environments Assistance in identifying potential collaborators University of California at Merced14

Advice and assistance regarding funders' proposal policies Building relationships with funders Support for planning, coordination and submission of large and/or complex proposals Provision of proposal resources (‘boilerplate’, search engines, etc.) Proposal writing and editing University of California at Merced15

Faculty composition Fall Professor (30); Associate Professor (15) Assistant Professor (72)=117 Faculty Challenges include: instruction on proposal submission; funding opportunities; policies of the University of California Opportunities include development of campus practices to accommodate new faculty University of California at Merced16

Faculty effort includes:  Curriculum development  Formation of campus Academic Senate  Committee work (IRB, IACUC, COI)  Faculty recruitment! Challenge = limited time for proposal preparation Opportunity = closer involvement with proposal preparation; direct involvement with proposal budget preparation University of California at Merced17

Challenge = No electronic database; no S2S electronic proposal submission; no web presence; manual reports on proposal and grant activity (remember Word and Excel?) Opportunity = No legacy system for data conversion Challenge = No web Challenge = difficult to perform evaluation and assessment Opportunity = Time to collect best practices University of California at Merced18

See SPO Challenges !  Percentages of early career faculty  Staffing limitations  Lack of infrastructure, particularly lack of electronic database  Capacity; creating a culture that supports research and support for junior faculty Opportunities to support UC Merced’s interdisciplinary approach to research and training Opportunity to collect and develop best practices Opportunity to provide flexible customer service University of California at Merced19

Both a challenge and an opportunity:  Outreach and Communication: marketing a new idea at a new campus  Setting workload goals and limits  Assessment and Evaluation University of California at Merced20

National Council of Research Administrators National Organization of Research Development Professionals Society of Research Administrators University of California at Merced21