Dear Colleagues,

There is a lot happening in research administration at UTSA, some of which I have shared previously (e.g., college meeting, emails).

I’m writing to share with you 3 new sources of information that will be of interest to you if you are actively seeking or managing sponsored projects.

One is a revised HOP policy related to fixed price contracts, which describes the use of a designated Cost Center for faculty to capture residual revenue at the end of separate projects so those projects can be closed but the excess revenue retained. See link below, especially if you have any fixed price accounts right active right now

https://www.utsa.edu/hop/chapter10/10.14.html

Also new in the HOP are details on the re-organization of the RSCs, with the creation of a designated post-award administration office wherein each project will have its own designated point person. At the HOP link below you will see which support function each office does now. Other key definitions related to proposal development and planning can be found at this link as well.

https://www.utsa.edu/hop/chapter10/10.12.html

Lastly, I want to commend the REDKE leadership and Can Saygin and Arya Sing, in particular, for the numerous innovations they have put forward this year. I’ve shared with you the expanded access to fiscal oversight for PIs in the Research Dashboard (including F&A tracking), the various ways to use Academic Analytics in the Dashboard for seeking grant opportunities or locating partners for coloration. New routing and proposal intake/planning forms are located there too. Please go to the Research Dashboard and explore what it has to offer.

In addition, as described (or introduced) in the attached pdf, there is a new “Monthly Reconciliation Assistance” process that, coupled with the monthly reconciliation approval process in SAHARA, will make faculty reconciliation (and approval—now done by PIs themselves, not Dept. Chairs) much more clear and transparent.

And, speaking of transparency, I further commend Dr. Saygin for bravely naming the “bumps in the road” they have encountered this year and for making explicit the steps being taken to facilitate several these important developments in research administration, including the increased staffing of RSCs and post-award office, and hires underway to fill vacant fiscal administrative positions. If you are grant active and work regularly with UTSA research administrative staff, you may find what you read in the attached pdf both clarifying and reassuring when you learn all that’s being done to advance the processes and staffing needed to take research support at UTSA to the next level.

If you have any questions, please let me know.

Sincerely,

Michael

Michael J. Karcher, Ed.D., Ph.D., Associate Dean for Research

Professor of Educational Psychology (pronouns: he/him)

College of Education and Human Development, University of Texas at San Antonio 
501 Cesar Chavez Blvd., Suite DB 4.337 (DT); MB 3.476 (Main Campus) 
San Antonio, TX 78207 
(210) 458-2032; 458-2650 (department)
michael.karcher@utsa.edu