The Baruch College Faculty Handbook

SPAR - Office of Sponsored Programs and Research
(Grants Office)

Last updated on 8/03/11

                                                   Mission

SPAR's role is to facilitate and enhance the acquisition of external funding by Baruch faculty, staff, and administrators to support the College's missions of research, teaching, and public service. SPAR works closely with the Research Foundation of CUN, the Baruch College Fund, and other College fiscal agents to insure that awardees have ample administrative support during the funding period. The tree main areas of service are: pre-application planning, proposal preparation and submission, and post-award administration.

Services

1.  Pre-application Planning: (Amrish Sugrim-Singh, Melisa Mendez, and Alan Evelyn)                                                                                  

 

    • SPAR provides funding strategies for faculty to enhance career development, and to staff and administrators to support institutional goals.
    • SPAR informs faculty about upcoming grant deadlines and potential funding sources through our web page, and by email.
    • SPAR can coordinate efforts to secure seed monies necessary for proposal development.
    • SPAR can assist in arranging meetings with representatives of potential funding sources.

2.  Proposal Preparation and Submission: (Melisa Mendez and Alan Evelyn)

    • During the proposal preparation process, SPAR provides grant applicants with the necessary application forms, verifies submission requirements, provides needed institutional information (i.e., tax exempt letter, tax ID numbers, etc.)
    • We offer extensive support in the proposal development process in terms of tailoring the proposal to address the guidelines in a sponsor's RFP. SPAR will assist those seeking external funding with identifying experienced and discipline-appropriate readers to provide constructive reviews of applications prior to submission.
    • If faculty are developing collaborative proposals, we serve as the central point of contact with collaborators at other institutions, making sure all individual pieces of a proposal come together and meet sponsor space/type specifications.
    • SPAR can coordinate efforts to secure cost share and matching funds necessary for proposals to meet requirements or to increase competitiveness.
    • SPAR supplies extensive support in the budget development process. We provide applicants with a budget template spreadsheet that performs all necessary calculations. Also, we can help faculty with their budget justification.
    • SPAR provides assistance for faculty in obtaining internal approvals for their proposal before the final proposal is submitted to the sponsor. Once all internal approvals are in place, we will make all required copies and submit the proposal for delivery by deadline.
    • For the National Science Foundation (NSF), we will electronically submit the proposals via its Fastlane service. For proposals that must be submitted electronically, SPAR can:
      • Set investigators up as users of the system.
      • Provide investigators with an orientation to the electronic submission system.
      • Help input various parts of the proposal into the system.

3.  Post-award Administration: (Zolicia Abotsi, Amrish Sugrim-Singh, and Alan Evelyn)

 

    • SPAR will handle all financial and administrative responsibilities in setting up new awards, including final budget negotiations. SPAR facilitates new project investigators (PIs) becoming acquainted with the Research Foundation's (RF) services whenever they receive notification of an award.
    • SPAR periodically, in special cases, also handles the invoicing on performance based projects.
    • PI's hiring an employee or using summer salary lines from RF accounts can obtain guidance and assistance from SPAR.
    • SPAR will coordinate with RFCUNY Human Resources to update PI's and employees of benefits changes and to resolve any payroll issues.
    • For general account transactions, the office has forms (i.e., payment requests, etc.) and helps to resolve any issue with the RF.
    • SPAR also administers the Eugene M Lang Junior faculty Research Program.  All post-award requirements of this award, i.e., questionnaires, and requests for extensions should be forwarded to SPAR.

      PSC CUNY Research Award Program
      annual deadline: January      (contact SPAR for exact dates)

      The Professional Staff Congress-City University of New York (PSC-CUNY) Research Award Program was established as a major vehicle for the University's encouragement and support of faculty research and to leverage external funding. It seeks to enhance the University's role as a research institution, to further the professional growth and development of its faculty, and to provide support for both the established and the younger scholar. Awards are distributed by the University Committee on Research Awards, a faculty committee, and administered by the Research Foundation of CUNY. Preference is given to junior faculty in the allocation of funds.

      To access the grant proposal system and to find more information on the PSC CUNY Research Award Program go to:

    • http://www.rfcuny.org/RFWebsite/research/content.aspx?catID=1190

      Staff 

      Alan Evelyn, Director, ext. 2208
      Melisa Mendez, Asst. Director, Pre-Award Admin., ext. 2207
      Zolicia Abotsi      , Asst. Director, Post-Award Admin., ext. 2205
      Amrish Sugrim-Singh, Faculty Liason/Webmaster, ext. 2204
      Daniel Hardecker Office Assistant, ext. 2209

      Website: http://www.baruch.cuny.edu/grants/