Sponsored Projects Symposium
The SPA Sponsored Projects Symposium encourages community and informal dialogue as well as an opportunity to learn more on key topics of the day. The event is funded by SPA and the Research Compliance Office (RCO), so there is no cost for attendees.
Symposium XI
February 20, 2018—McNamara Alumni Center
Event Photos
Schedule
Jump to session descriptions and resources
| Time/Location | Activity |
| 8:00 - 8:45 a.m. Memorial Hall |
Registration |
| 8:45 - 9:00 a.m. Memorial Hall |
Welcome and Introductions |
| 9:00 - 9:15 a.m. Memorial Hall |
Plenary Session Allen S. Levine, Vice President for Research |
| 9:15 - 9:30 a.m. Memorial Hall |
Opening Plenary Session President Eric W. Kaler |
| 9:40 - 10:25 a.m. (See each session for location) |
Session 1: Conflict Competency: Moving From Avoidance to Opportunity Session 2: Human Subjects - Payments, Billing, Compliance, and Cost Determinations Session 3: Red Light/Green Light, Is This Expense Allowable on My Sponsored Project? Session 4: Capital Equipment - Acquisition, Fabrication, and Disposition Session 5: Life Hacks for the Grant Accountant Session 6: UFRA - Sharing Research Tools Without Receiving Funding |
| 10:35 - 11:20 a.m. (See each session for location) |
Session 7: Promoting Research Ethics from a GA Perspective Session 8: Multi-Institutional Projects from Cradle to Grave: Best Practices for Effective Communication Session 9: Tricky Scenarios in Outgoing Subawards Session 10: Introduction to SFR Collection Processes and Objectives Session 11: A Day in the Life of a SPA GA Session 12: Fellowship or Employment Relationship? Job Aid for Making Determinations |
| 11:20 - 12:50 p.m. The Commons & Memorial Hall |
Luncheon Buffet: The Promise of Plastics from Plants |
| 1:00 - 1:45 p.m. (See each session for location) |
Session 13: Day in the Life of an SFR Accountant Session 14: Financial Management of Clinical Trials Session 15: Leveraging UM Analytics to Proactively Manage the Closeout of Sponsored Awards Session 16: ORCiD is More Than Just a Pretty Flower Session 17: Preaward Tips & Tricks |
| 1:45 - 2:15 p.m. Memorial Hall |
Desserts |
| 2:15 - 3:00 p.m. Memorial Hall |
Closing Plenary Session - Hot Topics Webex recording Presentation |
| 3:00 - 3:30 p.m. | Networking |
Sessions
9:40 - 10:25 a.m.
Session 1: Conflict Competency: Moving from Avoidance to Opportunity
Conflict competency emphasizes that conflict is an inevitable product of complex human relationships, and discourages the common but ineffective desire to ignore or avoid difficult issues. Often, there is a desire to address the conflict, but not the skill set to do so effectively. This program provides practical assistance to those wishing to raise concerns in a constructive manner and to leaders wishing to manage difficult situations more effectively.
Julie Hagen Showers, Director, Office for Conflict Resolution, Interim Associate Vice President, Office for Equity and Diversity
Resources: Presentation
Session 2: Human Subjects – Payments, Billing Compliance, and Cost Determinations
This thrilling advanced session course is meant to be a dive into the budgetary and regulatory concerns associated with human subjects on sponsored research from an accounting perspective and should be of interest to both pre and post award staff. We will discuss policy and practical application of subject payments, ensuring billing compliance for medical costs (who pays), and categorization of those expenses (patient care costs vs. lab medical services). Attendees should come away with a better understanding on how to manage and budget costs associated with human subjects on sponsored research.
Joy Bremer, FinPro 4, Department of Pediatrics and OB/GYN
Seth Goldberg, FinPro 3, Institute for Social Research and Data Innovation
Resources: Presentation, References
Session 3: Red Light/Green Light, Is This Expense Allowable on My Sponsored Project?
Join us and a distinguished panel of authorities as you weigh in on the possibility of an expense being allowable on a sponsored project. Each of the 40 attendees will receive three cards “lights,” red/yellow/green with which to vote after hearing the facts of the case. After the audience votes the panel will register their answers. Come and see if you can match the wits of the panel in the wildly unpredictable world of spending on a sponsored project.
Rita Bolluyt, Grant & Contract Administrator, Morris Grants Development
Kelly Kuhns, Audit Manager, Office of Internal Audit
David March, Assistant Director, Research Compliance Office
Kevin McKoskey, Director, Sponsored Projects Administration
Nicole Pilman, Director, Sponsored Financial Reporting
Frances Spalding, SPA Training Coordinator
Presentation to be posted after Symposium
Session 4: Capital Equipment – Acquisition, Fabrication, and Disposition
This beginner session will start with an elementary explanation of capital equipment, how to budget for it in a proposal, and how to buy it when it was not in the proposal. It will include the treatment of government-owned property, new safety requirements for equipment manufactured abroad, and how to apply for duty-free entry. The equipment fabrication procedure will be outlined and examples will be given of what can and cannot be included as a fabrication cost. The session will close with a short explanation of how to dispose of equipment that is no longer needed.
Joe Klancher, Research Safety Program Manager, University Health and Safety
Sherrie Kutzler, Finance Director, Controller’s Office
Ginny Olson, Finance Manager, Physics and Astronomy
Jillian Rung, Finance Operations Manager, Computer Science and Engineering
Resources: Presentation
Session 5: Life Hacks for the Grant Accountant
This session will showcase time-saving productivity tools to help grant accountants manage pre-award and post-award work effectively. What are folks using throughout the University? How might you incorporate these simple tools into your daily work to further the research mission of the University? We will take a detailed look at products like Boomerang, Meltwater, Box, Trello, Slack, Evernote, and revisit Google Drive capabilities to see what is possible for 2018.
Katherine Lindsay, Interim Department Administrator, Mechanical Engineering
Resources: Presentation, Award Kickoff Checklist
Session 6: UFRA - Sharing Research Tools Without Receiving Funding
Unfunded Research Agreements include confidentiality agreements, material transfer agreements, and data use agreements. This is a beginner session that will cover what UFRA is, when to use UFRA, and how to use UFRA.
Brianna Graham, UFRA Grant and Contract Administrator, Sponsored Projects Administration
Tom Schouweiler, UFRA Principal Grant & Contract Administrator, Sponsored Projects Administration
Josh Williams, UFRA Grant and Contract Administrator (1/2 time), Sponsored Projects Administration
Resources: Presentation
10:35 - 11:20 a.m.
Session 7: Promoting Research Ethics from a GA Perspective
In this advanced session we’ll explore real-world (but sanitized) examples of diverse research ethics and compliance dilemmas to illustrate the techniques, strategies, and institutional resources that grant administrators can use to help their researchers operate in a manner consistent with relevant policies and standards of professional conduct. Attendees will be encouraged to share their experiences and insights during this practical, nitty-gritty conversation on ethical troubleshooting from the GA perspective.
Pat Briscoe, Export Controls and International Projects Officer
David March, Assistant Director, Research Compliance Office
Resources: Presentation
Session 8: Multi-Institutional Projects from Cradle to Grave: Best Practices for Effective Collaboration
This basic session will cover tips and best practices for working on grants that involve multiple institutions. This session will address strategies that can be implemented at the department level to maximize efficiency and ensure all bases are covered when it comes to these complex projects. These strategies will address the life-cycle of the project, from proposal to award to closeout.
Lindsy Halleckson, Pre-Award Coordinator, Department of Biomedical Engineering
Elizabeth Hedin, Research Support Services Manager, Department of Pediatrics
Resources: Presentation, Collaboration Readiness Inventory
Session 9: Tricky Scenarios in Outgoing Subawards
In this advanced session, we will discuss tricky scenarios that may occur during the life cycle of out-going subawards from proposal stage to close out. We will present best practices for analyzing and addressing each situation and will open it up to discuss other potential approaches. The panelists will be ready to discuss their experiences, and attendees are encouraged to bring tricky scenarios they have encountered so we can work through a few together.
Andrea Marshall, Assistant Director, Sponsored Projects Administration
Lesley Schmidt Sindberg, Subaward Compliance Officer, Sponsored Projects Administration
Lori A. Wallin, Director, Research Support Services, Department of Pediatrics
Resources: Presentation, Subaward Tricky Scenarios
Session 10: Introduction to SFR Collection Process and Objectives
Introduction to SFR Collection Process and Objectives: Collection and Accounts Receivable Role in SFR, Common Collection Issues and Solutions, Collection Tools, Other Responsibilities.
David Ramroop, Accountant, Sponsored Financial Reporting
Alya Shafik, Accountant, Sponsored Financial Reporting
Resources: Presentation
Session 11: A Day in the Life of a SPA GA
A panel discussion and basic overview of different SPA teams with time for Q&A.
Sarah Danner, Senior Grants and Contracts Administrator, Sponsored Projects Administration
Pat Jondahl, Senior Grants and Contracts Administrator, Sponsored Projects Administration
Kim Makowske, Grants and Contracts Administrator, Sponsored Projects Administration
Hang McLaughlin, Senior Grants and Contracts Administrator, Sponsored Projects Administration
Resources: Presentation
Session 12: Fellowship or Employment Relationship? Job Aid for Making Determinations
This advanced session will walk through the Job Aid for Making Fellowship vs. Employee Determinations to help attendees identify when students are receiving fellowship payments versus compensatory payments. Specific fellowship programs and wage programs will be reviewed as well as situations that require weighing the facts and circumstances. Additionally, tax consequences of the determinations and reporting requirements will be discussed.
Heather Broneak, Assistant Tax Director, Tax Management Office
Kelly Farmer, Tax Director, Tax Management Office
Resources: Presentation, FERP Job Aid
1:00 - 1:45 p.m.
Session 13: Day in the Life of an SFR Accountant
This beginner level presentation answers common questions about the role SFR plays in the award process from NOGA issuance through the closeout process.
David Jagodinski, Accountant, Sponsored Financial Reporting
Katie Manthey, Accountant, Sponsored Financial Reporting
Todd Stroessner, Accountant, Sponsored Financial Reporting
Resources: Presentation
Session 14: Financial Management of Clinical Trials
This basic session will provide more in-depth information on how to manage clinical trials – both Pre- and Post-Award. We will discuss issues around budget development, payment terms, award set-ups, reconciling, and invoicing. We hope to provide suggestions and tools to assist in managing these unique accounts.
Alicia Callahan, Accountant, Department of Medicine
Leslie Kennedy, Director of Research, Department of Medicine
Resources: Presentation
Session 15: Leveraging UM Analytics to Proactively Manage the Closeout of Sponsored Awards
UM Analytics provides pre-built reports published by the University’s central units and also enables individuals to author their own ad hoc analyses, dashboards, and visualizations. This advanced session will provide an overview of a UM Analytics dashboard created by Sponsored Financial Reporting (SFR) that departmental grants administrators can utilize to proactively manage the closeout process as sponsored award end dates approach. Prior UM Analytics training is not necessary, but attendees should be well versed in the sponsored award closeout process as well as the various UM Reports related to sponsored awards.
Mary Gorder, Business/Systems Analyst, Sponsored Financial Reporting
Nicole Pilman, Director, Sponsored Financial Reporting
Resources: Presentation
Session 16: ORCID is More Than Just a Pretty Flower
This beginner session will start with a high-level overview of what ORCiD (Open Researcher and Contributor Identification) is and why it matters to researchers and grant administrators. It will then continue on to the specific uses of ORCiD by journal publishers, PubMed, the SciENcv biosketch, NIH plans to integrate it with the eRA Commons and the federal funders ORCID Reducing Burden and Improving Impact Tracking (ORBIT) project.
Caitlin Bakker, Research Services Liaison, Health Sciences Libraries
Katherine Chew, Research & Outreach Services Librarian, Health Sciences Libraries
Allison Langham, Assistant Librarian, Physical Science and Engineering Library
Resources: Presentation, Resource List
Session 17: Preaward Tips & Tricks
Are you new to the preaward research administrator role? Are you not so new to preaward but would like a refresher? Then this session is for you! In this session, we'll discuss the pre-award process, including how to search for funding opportunities, best practices of submitting proposals on time, basics of budgeting and common grant submission problems. We'll also have tips on where to find resources to help you through the preaward process. There will be a mixture of both basic and advanced information, but it will lean more towards basic.
Lynn Hochsprung, Finance Professional 3, School of Dentistry
Mackenzie Randolph, Grants/Contracts Professional 3, Medical School, MNPI Administrative Center
Megan Vimont, Finance Professional 3, School of Dentistry
Jeff Zytkovicz, Grants/Contracts Professional 3, College of Education and Human Development
Resources: Presentation