July, 2020
The iSRA Summer Webinar Series will offer webinars almost daily for the month of July, and attendees will be able to purchase an all you can learn pass for the full month. This format gives participants the opportunity to choose their own education and pace. With a purchase of the all access pass, you will be able to reserve your spot in hot topic sessions and have access to your registered sessions for 30 days after the presentation. All of the webinars are presented by speakers from the cancelled Section Meeting in Savannah. This program has been thoughtfully selected by the leadership and program committees of the Southern and Western Sections.
* All times for webinars are Eastern Standard.
The National Institutes of Health from the Post Award Perspective
2:00 PM - 3:00 PM
The webinar will discuss Post Award Management of NIH grants and cooperative agreements, and discuss some of the unique features of awards from NIH/DHHS. The webinar will discuss modular budgets versus R&R budgets, and their implications for re-budgeting during the award stage, the DHHS salary cap, Financial Conflict of Interest compliance requirements, the different types of NIH awards (R01, R21, K01) and their specific requirements. Aspects of the Post Award reporting requirements, prior approval requests, and closeout will also be discussed.
Speaker(s):
Laura Hefta, Senior Post Award Associate, Virginia Tech
The Power of a Visual Management Board in Research Administration
2:00 PM - 3:00 PM
A Lean Management System embodies a culture of continuously improving customer value and eliminating waste in order to improve efficiency and quality for a customer base. This webinar provides a brief introduction to Lean and a Lean Management System, with a more in-depth focus on visual management boards as a mechanism to improve performance and productivity, and provide systematic accountability. Visual Management Boards can reduce response times and provide staff with the information to identify waste - empowering staff to begin solving problems and improving processes on their own.
Speaker(s):
Amanda Breeden, Director, Sponsored Programs, Denver Health & Hospital Authority; Leah Emerick, Lean Faciliator, Denver Health
Best Practices for Effective Leadership
2:00 PM - 3:00 PM
The most effective leaders are professional students. They are endlessly seeking understanding of causes and effects, and how operations can be optimized and help shape their organization and maximize the best their staff has to offer. Leadership can be learned and practiced just like any other business skill set. The panel discussion focuses on best practices for management and leadership, by looking at what works and does not work well for them as leaders within their respective organizations.
We will discuss topics such as: • Leadership style • How management style impacts teamwork • Do you have a team or players on the team? • Differences between Management and Leadership
Speaker(s):
Gloria Greene, Director, Office of Sponsored Programs, The University of Alabama in Huntsville; Gina Hedberg, Executive Director, Office of Sponsored Projects Administration, University of South Alabama; Fran Stephens, Director, Pre-Award Services, University of Oklahoma
From Proposal Submission to Award Acceptance
11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
The journey from proposal submission to award acceptance can be straight forward or a circuitous route. Often the negotiation of agreement terms is the biggest hurdle. A pre-award administrator must be familiar with a variety of agencies and a myriad of problematic agreement terms. This interactive webinar will identify several troublesome clauses, offer negotiation strategies, and provide tips and tricks to ensure successful award execution.
Speaker(s):
Andrea Deaton, Associate Vice President for Research & Partnerships, University of Oklahoma
Dealing with Stress as a Research Administrator
2:00 PM - 3: 00 PM
Being a Research Administrator can be stressful. This webinar will discuss ways to dealing with stress management in the office environment and working with PIs. It will also discuss ways to make the office environment less stressing.
Speaker(s):
Laura Pattillo, Contracts and Grants Specialist, Auburn University
Understanding Other Transaction Authority (OTA)
2:00 PM - 3: 00 PM
OTA has been used for over 60 years, however, there is little expertise within research administration comuinty about this instrumentality, which is distinct from federal assistance (grants and cooperative agreements under 2 CFR 200) and federal contracts (Federal Acquisition Regulation). With the increasing use of OTAs by federal agencies, particularly the NIH and DoD, understanding the use cases and distinctions from other instrumentalities is critical to stewards of federal funding.
Speaker(s):
Sarah White, Associate Vice Chancellor for Research, Office of Sponsored Programs, University of Tennessee Health Science Center; Gloria W. Greene, Director, Office of Sponsored Programs The University of Alabama in Huntsville
2:00 PM - 3: 00 PM
As a research administrator, especially those in research development and pre-award, you will be integral in helping your program identify funding opportunities. In this session, we will review available tools – websites, search engines, services, and databases – to identify funding resources. Some of these tools are traditional and some you may not have thought to investigate. We will learn what information we need at hand to successfully identify opportunities for a program or principal investigator. We will look at the importance of having a timeline for exploring funding opportunities and targeting specific requests for proposals to launching the application process.
Speaker(s):
Kimberly Read, Assistant Director, FCIC, University of South Florida
Improving Faculty/Research Administrator Relationships: Frameworks for Working Together Towards Successful Research Collaborations
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
In a research-focused environment, faculty and research administrators can often have a strained relationship; competing priorities and shifting deadlines can cause stressors in an otherwise productive workplace. This session will discuss how to work together (from each vantage point) towards overall success in lifecycle project administration. Both parties will outline their distinct roles in the research process and how they manage opposing priorities for a successful collaboration.
Speaker(s):
Nicholas Prieur, Research Process Senior Manager, Regents of the University of Michigan
Doing Less with Less: Moving to an Institutional Proposal Review Model
11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Budget cuts coupled with a demand for greater research administration support are the reality at many public institutions of higher education. Is it possible to do less with less and still meet the needs of PIs, our institution, and our sponsors? This presentation will describe the "institutional proposal review model" in which central office review is limited to only those proposal elements that pose a risk to the University. The presentation will cover the impetus for this change, how the model was derived and implemented, the impact on department RAs, other organizational challenges and the results to date.
Speaker(s):
Pamela Miller, Executive Director, Sponsored Projects Office, University of California Berkeley
eRA Overview/Submission Technologies
11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
This webinar offers an overview of electronic research administration systems that assist in locating and submitting to funding. Funding development tools such as Research.gov, Grants.gov, NIH RePorter, Foundationcenter.org, etc will be discussed. Common electronic submission systems such as Grants.gov and NSF Fastlane will be overviewed in some detail with additional discussion of other systems such as Proposal Central, NSPRIES, e-Grants, etc. A historical overview of eRA will be provided and system-to-system interfaces will be touched on. Integration of sponsor guidance, representations, and certification will be outlined. Strategies and tips for successful submissions will be provided
Speaker(s):
Fran Stephens, Director, Pre-Award Services, University of Oklahoma
Preparing PIs to Talk with Program Officers
2:00 PM - 3:00 PM
PIs, particularly early-career PIs, are often reluctant to have preproposal conversations with their cognizant program personnel. This webinar provides instruction and promotes interactive discussion about preparing PIs to communicate effectively with program officers. The speaker will provide an overview of considerations in and strategies for helping PIs to prepare for conversations with program officers.
Speaker(s):
Charna Howson, Director, Sponsored Programs, Appalachian State University
Facilities & Administrative Costs: Sponsor Requirements and Institutional Costs
2:00 PM - 3:00 PM
From the first day we entered the field of research administration, we’ve had the importance of facilities and administrative costs (aka F&A or indirect costs) drilled into us. We’ve heard words and phrases such as F&A rates, facilities and administrative costs, cognitive agencies, cost pools, cost share undermines the F&A rate, MTDC, recovered F&A … We know that facilities and administrative costs are an integral part of an institution’s funding profile and that these funds are needed to support the research infrastructure of our institution. We’ve undoubtedly been told that F&A represents costs that cannot be directly attributed to a specific project, but are incurred by the institution in the support of research. However, how much detail do we know about the negotiation of our institution’s F&A rate? In this webinar, we will dive into the details of the all-important F&A rate. We will explore how to balance sponsor requirements and institutional costs.
Speaker(s):
Kimberly Read, Assistant Director, FCIC, University of South Florida
A Capstone Approach to Innovation in Research Administration
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
Capstone projects in academic program are often used to address complex problems with an ultimate goal of a scholarly product(s) through presentations or publication. Two seasoned research administration scholars are proposing utilization of principles for capstone projects as a means of solving multiple challenges in research administration: process improvement;, engagement and development of talented staff members who need to feel valued and recognized for contributing to improved procedures, systems and morale; and providing opportunities for emerging leaders in our profession to development presentations and scholarly works. The added benefit is that engaging talented professionals on this level can help with retention and combating the constant brain drain when those people move on to new challenges. Come be inspired to inspire others.
Speaker(s):
Susan Sedwick, Senior Consulting Specialist, Attain LLC; Marianne Woods, Program Director, Master of Science in Research Administration Krieger School of Arts and Sciences Advanced Academic Programs, Johns Hopkins University
11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
A research unit presents a unique set of challenges by the nature of being self-reliant on funding. This presentation will talk about the pre- and post- award responsibilities of a unit. We will also look at projecting research expenditures, how to manage funding lapses for researchers, basics of Human Resources for research managers, immigration and intellectual property issues.
Speaker(s):
Tracy Reinke, Executive Director, Finance and Operations, Cooperative Institute for Mesoscale Meteorological Studies
Investigator/Faculty On-boarding: Facilitating the Transfer of Your New PI (Principal Investigator)
2:00 PM - 3:00 PM
Faculty come into our University regularly, and many expect to transfer awards from their prior Institution. This presentation will focus on the many responsibilities and duties that face the Department Administrator to achieve a successful faculty transfer, with input from the Central Administration office. This webinar will provide a checklist of specific duties and "best practices" that will facilitate a seamless transition, and considerations for bringing on new or more senior faculty. The presentation will also provide case studies and real-life scenarios so that the participants can dialogue on these "what would you do now" or "how would you handle this " cases/situations.
Speaker(s):
Karen Sack, Department Administrator, University of Maryland School of Medicine; William Hoffman, Research Administrator, University of Maryland, Baltimore School of Dentistry, Office of the Dean; Janet Simons, Director, Research Policy, University of Maryland, Baltimore, ORD Sponsored Programs Administration; Debbie Pettitt, Senior Grants Management Officer, National Institutes of Health
Risk and Crisis Management: From Shutdowns to Shooters
2:00 PM - 3:00 PM
In addition to planning for the normal upheavals caused by weather events or public safety threats, the longest government shutdown in US history had many research offices scrambling to get calibration on how other institutions were handling the situation and what advice they were providing their principal investigators. The impact had implications for our global community who are recipients of US funding as well. The failed Brexit plan has posed equally uncertain stressors on research offices as well. How do institutions plan for the unexpected crises: government shutdowns, stop-work orders, campus emergencies and natural disasters? Senior administrators with experience in formulating strategies to address a myriad of situations to include government shutdowns, political upheaval, campus safety threats, technology disruptions, and weather events such as hurricanes where you have days to plan or tornadoes where you may have minutes to act will share strategies. Focus will be placed on the data needed for decision making in times of crisis and how to ensure communications that mitigate rather than heighten concerns. It is clear from the RESADM listserv that many institutions need better planning and draft communication strategies that can be activated quickly and efficiently when a crisis arises. Even with careful planning and practice drills sometimes don't totally work in the face of a true emergency.
Speaker(s):
Susan Sedwick, Senior Consulting Specialist, Attain LLC; Andrea Deaton, Associate Vice President for Research and Executive Director, Office of Research Service, University of Oklahoma