College Policies Regarding Research
Required Approvals for Sponsored Projects
Sponsored projects are all projects receiving support from sources outside of the university. The only exception is a gift—money
for which there is no expected product—and gifts are typically handled by the development office.
According to university policy IAF-P04, "a
Proposal Internal Approval Form must be prepared for all University sponsored projects
and must accompany all proposals (or awards for when no proposal was submitted) sent to the Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP)
for University processing." All requests for external funding that require
completion of a Penn State
Proposal Internal Approval
Form
shall be submitted through the Academic Affairs Office at Penn State Altoona with a completed Penn State Altoona Approval Form.
(Adopted October 1998)
Return of Indirect
The current policy of the university's Vice President for Research is to return approximately 12% of the indirect (F&A) charged
against grants and contracts to the colleges or research unit generating these funds.
In order to foster further proposal development, Academic Affairs has determined that faculty at Penn State Altoona are entitled
to use 9% of the indirect funds generated by the grants and contracts they author. Legitimate uses include hiring research
assistants, travel, equipment, and summer salaries. All uses of these monies must meet the standards of any research audit.
The remaining 3% will be retained in a fund to cover the cost of college match
required by some proposals.
In the event of multiple authors (Co-Principal Investigators), access to these monies will be distributed in proportion to each
individual's participation in the project (usually reflected in FTE). If no indirect is to be returned to Penn State Altoona from a
project, faculty will not be entitled to the 9% share.
These funds will normally be available for use by faculty July 1st of the fiscal year following the funding of the project. For
multiple-year projects, only that indirect charged during the prior fiscal year will be available for use. In extraordinary
circumstances, faculty can request early access to these funds through a written appeal to the Associate Dean of Academic Affairs.
These policies will be subject to revision when the university changes its policies regarding the distribution of indirect monies.
(Revised August 2001)
Form for Requesting return of indirect to faculty member.
Salary Calculations
In estimating salary levels for faculty engaged in externally funded research on this campus, the following rates will be used:
- Summer salaries: calculated on the basis of 1/9th of a faculty member's salary for each month at 1.0 FTE.
- Fall and Spring Semester Salaries: a single course reduction for one semester is .20 of that semester's salary and benefits. The sole exception to this policy is when internal university funds are being used in which case a flat fee of $4000 per course is charged.
- Supplemental Pay for Externally Funded Projects: When a project needs to be undertaken as a supplemental activity, a faculty member's FTE may be raised to a maximum of 1.2 for the duration of the project. (Adopted September 1998)
Whenever a grant, contract, or stipend specifies that a faculty member must spend full time (including advising, service, and other campus obligations) on grant-funded activities, the cost to buy out the total workload of the faculty member will
be 100% of his/her salary and benefits for the grant period (semester or year).
Whenever an externally funded research activity (such as residing abroad) precludes a faculty member from meeting his/her advising and service obligation, the cost to buy out the total workload of the faculty member will be 100% of his/her salary and benefits for the grant period (semester of year).
