蜜桃影像

蜜桃影像, classified as a Carnegie 鈥淩2鈥� institution, stands at a unique crossroads in higher education. As a growing research university, 蜜桃影像 has ambitious goals for expanding research while maintaining its unwavering commitment to excellence in teaching. Externally funded research plays a pivotal role in advancing 蜜桃影像鈥檚 mission to serve students and contribute to knowledge. However, the rapid growth in successful grantsmanship has outpaced the institution鈥檚 capacity to effectively manage and support the post-award process, placing a strain on resources and administrative systems. 

The MU POST initiative was born out of the need to build more effective and efficient post-award services. As 蜜桃影像 has seen an increase in externally funded research and sponsored projects, the complexity of managing these awards has grown exponentially. 

The initial work done to explore post-award challenges, such as faculty surveys and leadership discussions, was born out of NSF ADVANCE grant (1936148) and highlighted several key pain points in managing post-award activities. These insights have directly informed the design of MU POST and its solutions, ensuring that the project is targeted and responsive to the specific needs of our faculty, staff, and research community. 

The goal of this project is to develop strategies, processes and models that could be utilized by small to mid-size institutions to grow capacity, access and visibility within the post-award process.

Objectives 

To achieve this goal, MU POST has set the following key objectives: 

1. Establish an Advocate Position

We will introduce a dedicated Advocate position to work directly with Principal Investigators (PIs) and departmental staff, bridging the gap between the central office and departments. This role will provide personalized support, ensuring smoother post-award processes, resolving issues in a timely manner, and improving communication across all units involved in sponsored activities. 

2. Develop Scalable, Efficient, and Transparent Processes 

Our objective is to create and implement post-award processes that are efficient, scalable, and adaptable to sponsored activities. By focusing on automation, efficiency, scalability, and transparency, we will establish systems that support the continued growth of 蜜桃影像鈥檚 sponsored initiatives and provide clear, consistent guidance for faculty, staff, and other stakeholders.  

蜜桃影像鈥檚 commitment to advancing post-award support is deeply embedded in its broader institutional goals. The university鈥檚 strategic plan, Guided by Mission, Inspired to Change, which was approved by the Board of Trustees in December 2023, underscores the importance of post-award improvements. This aligns with the university鈥檚 overarching objective to strengthen research infrastructure and support cross-disciplinary collaboration. Specifically: 

• Objective 3: Enhance campus research infrastructure to support growth in research and participation in cross-disciplinary opportunities.
• This objective recognizes the critical need to support research growth through improved infrastructure and processes that remove barriers to collaboration and partnership development, essential for fostering interdisciplinary research and attracting external funding. 

The priorities outlined in the plan include: 

• Building a structure to facilitate cross-campus collaboration among faculty and staff to promote continuous improvement and support an increase in funded research activities.
• Developing cross-functional support that strengthens externally funded research, especially in areas that engage faculty and students in emerging or underfunded disciplines. This approach ensures that less-active research areas have the resources and support needed to secure external funding. 

The MU POST initiative is fully aligned with these strategic priorities, ensuring that post-award support is not only sustainable but also integrated into 蜜桃影像鈥檚 long-term vision for growth. As the project progresses, it will continue to receive institutional backing and evolve as part of the university鈥檚 ongoing efforts to create a more efficient, collaborative, and supportive research environment. 

Through this commitment, MU POST will remain a foundational part of 蜜桃影像鈥檚 efforts to enhance its research capacity, improve processes, and contribute to the university鈥檚 mission of excellence in serving students and advancing knowledge. 

Below are products developed through MU POST, additional documents will be added as they are available. Please see our Products, Training Materials, and Resources webpage for a full list.

 Click here for a printable PDF of the MU POST Timeline

YEAR 1
Core Project Team and Steering Committee meet regularly; holds kick-off meeting and virtual process improvement event with a consultant. Evaluation Team finalizes evaluation plan; develops practice map, collects and analyzes current data and identifies additional data to collect.
Advocates	Core Project Team and Steering Committee meet regularly; holds kick-off meeting and virtual process improvement event with a consultant. Evaluation Team finalizes evaluation plan; develops practice map, collects and analyzes current data and identifies additional data to collect.
Process	Core Project Team and Steering Committee meet regularly; holds kick-off meeting and virtual process improvement event with a consultant. Evaluation Team finalizes evaluation plan; develops practice map, collects and analyzes current data and identifies additional data to collect.

YEAR 2
Core Project Team and Steering Committee continue to meet regularly; engage consultant for additional training or to resolve roadblocks. External evaluators will prepare to begin a mid-term assessment to gauge progress against initial benchmarks.
Advocates	Work on assigned projects (understanding it takes a full year to see an entire cycle of an award/university processes). Build out additional training materials to use across campus. Identify additional needs/barriers that they see or that are raised by the PIs with whom they are working.
Process	Process map the award closeout process and implement changes (Budget Review, Reporting/Closeout). Process map the subawardee invoicing process and implement changes; review grant-related purchasing process and implement changes (Purchasing). Provide documentation of efforts.

YEAR 3
Core Project Team and Steering Committee continue to meet regularly; lean into consultants for any additional training needs and also to get advice on how to communicate process change to university leadership. External evaluators finish mid-term assessment and look toward final summative and formative evaluations.
Advocates	Enter year of more independent work. Monitor and evaluate workload; adjust/right size as needed. Review value added and draft sustainability plans. Build out additional training materials to use across campus. Identify additional needs/barriers that they see or that that are raised by the PIs with whom they are working.
Process	Determine process to create subawards in Kuali and pilot (Subaward Management). Review invoicing process in Kuali, process map invoicing process and implement changes (Budget Review). Provide documentation of efforts.

YEAR 4
Core Project Team and Steering Committee continue to meet regularly. Sustainability plan developed and ready for implementation. Engage consultants on maintaining change and keeping momentum. External evaluator to deliver final formative and summative report to include, but not be limited to efficiency, stakeholder satisfaction, transparency and scalability of efforts.
Advocates	Prepare best practices document on determination of workload, including mix of projects, number of projects, etc. Finalize training materials. Document further process needs.
Process	Process map the payroll process and implement changes (Budget Review, Hiring). Review any other process identified throughout the project and address. Provide documentation of efforts.