Post COVID, Surviving With and Without Department Administrators
If you are a central office administrator your challenge is to create a shared environment that promotes cooperation. Every interaction with college or department or external institution may vary.
Where would our researchers be without a support team? In today’s world, leaders within large institutions advocate for the resources and implement processes needed to support the growth of the research enterprise. On the other hand, small institutions and non-profit organizations often operate on limited resources and lack the funding to hire research administration professionals.
When collaborating on research proposals with organizations unfamiliar with grant or contract administration, you may find yourself working with an individual whose job function does not include the role of “research administration.”
The profession of research administration encompasses the entire life cycle of a sponsored project, including pre-award, post-award, compliance, and reporting. For many institutions, a central office of research administration (ORA) is comprised of professionals trained in various areas of research administration. If you are a central office administrator your challenge is to create a shared environment that promotes cooperation. Every interaction may vary.
Often, a department administrator (DA) serves as the liaison between a Principal Investigator (PI) and the central office. The DAs are embedded in a department and assist with proposal development, budget management, hiring, purchasing, prior approval requests, progress reports, and study closeouts. Departments vary in size and include faculty members, postdoctoral associates, staff, and students working together to advance research. DAs have firsthand knowledge of the unit’s research operations and the institution’s policies, making them a valuable resource for investigators and the central office.
Depending on an institution’s organizational structure and budget model, hiring a department administrator may not be feasible. With the goal of reducing costs and improving service, some institutions have created offices of shared services, combining some or all areas of Research Administration, Information Technology, Finance, and Human Resources.
Thomas Jefferson University successfully implemented the Office of Shared Support Services, a partnership between the Research Administration Center of Excellence (RACE) and the Office of Research Administration (ORA). ORA is the university’s central Pre-Award office, and RACE provides service-level agreements tailored to meet the specific needs of the department. Complete details on the creation and implementation of this shared service model is described in the 2017 Journal of Research Administration article, “Research Shared Services: A Case Study in Implementation.” (1)
The University of Saskatchewan also adopted a shared service model, Connection Point, which is a hybrid resource, providing on-campus and online services. (2) Yale University created a Faculty Research Management Services (FRMS) unit, which provides grant management support to faculty without designated department support. FRMS provides these investigators with the resources needed to successfully compete and manage sponsored projects. (3)
It becomes clear that key factors to effectiveness with or without an administrator are communication and respect when working to submit applications, manage proposals and ensure institutional and sponsor compliance. Key elements of success include the following:
- Having the relationship share a vision--“let's meet the deadline.”
- Challenge the process. Always looking for process improvements and encouraging partners to identify weaknesses.
- Enable others to be a part of the process. Consider being inclusive of the PI (Principal Investigator), with or without a department person. Create standards in communications that facilitate interactions.
- Model the way communications and interactions will occur.
- Encourage others by celebrating accomplishments and encourage commitment to change.
Having a department administrator is a tremendous advantage and enhances the success of those fortunate central offices. Institutions with shared services models provide a clear advantage for faculty researchers without department administrators.
For those institutions without a shared service nor departmental administrators, they must consider a clear communication strategy that continually examines the needs of the clients, provides resources to enable effectiveness, and be open to challenge processes.
References cited:
- Brian Squilla, Jenna Lee, Andrew Steil, Research Shared Services: A Case Study in Implementation. The Journal of Research Administration. 48 (1) 2017
- University of Washington, University Shared Service Case Studies. 2016
- Yale University Research: https://your.yale.edu/research-support/faculty-research-management-services
G. Angie Calicat, Sr. Grant Specialist
Temple University
Karen D. Mitchell, Director of Special Projects
Temple University
SRAI Distinguished Faculty
Stella Ouellette, Administrator, College of Public Health
Temple University