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GRANTED: Tri-Alliance for Post Award Innovation – Lessons from Year 1

CONTINUING EDUCATION: Continuing Education Unit (CEU) transcripts will be added to your NCURA Dashboard by 9/26. CPE Credits for Certified Public Accountants: make note of the code provided in the Concurrent Sessions to add to the survey post-conference.

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GRANTED:

Tri-Alliance for Post Award Innovation

Lessons from Year 1

August 11, 2025

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Award Nos. 2415723, 2415724, and 2415725. Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

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Tri-Alliance Universities:��Mary-Ellen Fortini, Senior Director of Sponsored Projects, Santa Clara University (mfortini@scu.edu)��Camille Coley, Associate Vice Provost for Sponsored Programs and External Partnerships, �University of San Francisco (ccoley@usfca.edu)��Angie Rochat, Assistant Vice Provost for Research,

Loyola Marymount University (Angie.Rochat@lmu.edu)��Aida Shadfan, Vice President for Finance and Controller, Loyola Marymount University (Aida.Shadfan@lmu.edu)��

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Tri-Alliance Project Goals

Goal 1: Strengthen post-award administration

Goal 2: Expand resources, training, and education

Goal 3: Develop a sustainable research administration model

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Activities to Meet the Goal 1

Strengthen post-award administration

Develop shared resources for post award financial and non-financial

Develop infrastructure to support sponsored research activities and project management through cross divisional post award positions

Develop common metrics and methodology for internal and external data collection and reporting

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More Activities to Meet the Goal 1

Strengthen post-award administration

Identify & standardize internal expenditures for HERD data collection methodology

Enhance programming with ITS teams for effective grants management and reporting from financial systems

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Activities to Meet the Goal 2

Expand resources, training, and education

Increase professional development opportunities for post award staff

Implement Tri-Alliance Town Hall Education and Training Series

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Activities to Meet the Goal 3

Develop a sustainable

research administration model for ERI/PUI

Engage Peer Advisory services with professional societies

Evaluation of faculty/PI satisfaction and metrics

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Products

New/Revised Tools

Updated Policies and Procedures
Updated Checklists
Documented Standard Operating Procedures
Sponsored Research Operating Guides
Award Management Tools
ITS Business Plans

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Products

Shared Resources

Peer Advisory Services

Site Visits
Recommendations

Town Hall Meetings

Closeout 101
Audit Hot Topics
Time and Effort

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Outcomes

Personnel & Working Groups

New Positions
Research Advisory Board
Compliance Advisory Committee
IT Working Group
Post-Award Teams
AJCU Research Network

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Outcomes

Evaluation & Information

PI Survey

Metrics

Recommendations from Peer Advisories

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Lessons Learned – as the Tri-Alliance

Make the collaboration a priority and set up regular meetings

Hire a Program Manager

Select an evaluation team early

Opportunities arise that were not expected – consider them

Collaborations work better when you enjoy the people

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Lessons Learned – at SCU

Changes required in staff positions – expectations vs reality

What to do with IT role – in house or consultant

Keep everyone in the loop

Delegate and empower staff to take on activities and tasks

Innovation requires risk

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Lessons Learned – at USF

Hiring the IT Analyst

Shared duties for the Financial Analyst with School of Nursing and Health Profession

Training for Budget Managers

Continuously share information and metrics with faculty and leadership

Strengthened internal connections (HR, IT, Legal, Business & Finance, etc.)

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Lessons Learned – at LMU

More education and outreach needed to break down silos to counter ‘this is the way we have always done it mentality’ to enable innovation & growth

Observed that interdepartmental communication can sometimes lead to misunderstandings, highlighting the need for clearer and more structured information sharing & trainings

Engagement of internal stakeholders across campus are key to champion buy-in to implement change

ITS / Research Admin language translation takes time

Immense value to seeing the grant lifecycle process through the eyes of faculty by serving as a PI / Co-PI

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Questions or Comments?

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Contact Us:

Rita Barreiro

Tri-Alliance Project Coordinator

Office for Research and Sponsored Projects�Loyola Marymount University�1 LMU Drive�Los Angeles, CA 90045-2659

Rita.Barreiro@lmu.edu

https://academics.lmu.edu/orsp/tri-allianceforpostawardinnovation/

Thank You!