Attendees: Jerry Lin, Ken Young, Ana Christensen, Richard Gachot, Scott Crawford, Chunda
Chen, Xianchang Li
Not in attendance: Amy Smith
Jerry Lin called the meeting to order at 12:34pm
I. Review/Approval of November 2, 2020 Council meeting minutes
Motion to approve the November 2020 meeting made by Ana Christensen
Motion seconded by Ken Young
Motion passed
II. Discussion and approval on the policy for the role and responsibility of sponsored
programs administration
Jerry Lin: We discussed this at the November meeting. We spoke about the roles and
responsibilities of the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs. It is best for us to
come up with the guidance for research and grant administration. I would like to invite
the committee to have a final review of this policy so we can move forward with the roles
and responsibilities for sponsored programs administration.
Ana Christensen: It looks good. It looks like the document hits all the points. There are a
few typos that I can send to you or Beverly.
Richard Gachot: I’ve been out of it for a bit, but what is Cayuse Fund Manager?
Jerry Lin: Cayuse Fund Manager is a new module that will be made available to LU
research community for managing grant finance. We currently use Cayuse Sponsored
Projects and 424 to submit grants at Lamar. Fund Manager will extend the electronic
platform to post-award management of grants, particularly in finance side of
administration.
Motion made by Ana Christensen to approve the policy of the roles and responsibilities
of sponsored programs administration.
Motion seconded by Chunda Chen
Motion approved
III. Review on draft procedures of project close-out
Jerry Lin: We have a few grants that have not been closed out, leaving room for errors on
the grant finance. If the grant is not closed out properly there could be potential
consequences on our eligibility for receiving grants. For federal grants there is an
extensive and detailed close out process we must follow. It is important to clearly
communicate to our sponsors that we have completed the close out process as well as
taking care of the close out in a timely fashion. In the event of audits, project closeout
will help on multiple compliance issues.
I want to invite the Council members to review the draft policy. We can come back in
February to discuss any recommended revision.
Ken Young: Do we need to include anything about how it would be enforced and what
would take place? Are we developing a process for non-sponsored projects as well?
Jerry Lin: The enforcement process is something we should consider. This
implementation is a process. My thinking is to start the process with active
communication from the ORSPA to PIs about the closeout procedures and guide them to
work with post-award finance on the financial side of closeout. Regarding the nonsponsored projects, the compliance risk level is lower and we can use the best practices
from other institutions.
Let’s continue the discussion on the close out procedure in February meeting.
IV. Updates on LU’s electronic research administration suite: Cayuse Fund Managers to be
deployed in Summer 2021
With the help of Beverly Kemp and many other Lamar colleagues from Finance and IT,
we are moving forward with the implementation of Cayuse Fund Manager. Fund
Manager will provide grant fund management at the PI level. This module will also
provide the grant finance transparency to department admins, department chairs, and
deans for annual review of faculty members. This information will also be available for
reporting purposes to THECB and other entities as well.
V. Roundtable
i. Research performance evaluation for tenure and rank promotion.
Discussion takes place among the committee regrading research performance
evaluation for tenure and rank promotion for faculty members.
ii. Standards for peer-reviewed publications
Motion to adjourn the meeting at 1:19pm made by Ana Christensen
No objections to adjourn
Motion passed