Sponsored Programs Administration Enhancements

Over the past several months, the Office of Research has focused on strengthening its operations to better support research faculty and streamline administrative processes.

This report outlines key improvements within Sponosored Programs Administation, including policy updates, technological advancements, personnel restructuring, and expanded training programs. These efforts are designed to enhance efficiency, ensure compliance, and create a more supportive environment for research. Additionally, the report highlights ongoing and future initiatives aimed at further optimizing our services.

spa improvements

We appreciate your collaboration and feedback as we continue working to strengthen research administration at the university. Please feel free to reach out with any questions or insights. 

Please contact researchdev@kennesaw.edu with any questions.

 

Engage with Us!

Faculty Feedback Survey

We are seeking your input to help us learn about the current state of the climate and culture of the Office of Research. Our research will help us understand what faculty and staff know about the OoR and what areas they would like to see improved. 

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KSU Research Town Hall

Kennesaw Campus:
Wednesday, October 1, 2025

Marietta Campus:
Monday, October 27, 2025

Hear from Office of Research leadership about various initiatives and provide your feedback to help shape the direction of research at KSU.

rsvp to kennesaw town hall

rsvp to marietta town hall

Trick-or-Treat 

Thursday, October 30, 2025

Drop by Kennesaw Hall to meet Office of Research staff, chat and enjoy snacks throughout the suite!

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Completed Initiatives

Recent Improvements

  • These initial internal trackers focus on providing SPA staff with automated updates/status for proposals and projects: COMMUNICATION, STREAMLINING
  • The ITS Process Improvement enhances automated communication with Researchers on status change and reminders to Researcher, ADR, and Deans as deadlines approach creating risk (e.g. Full vs. At Risk review): STREAMLINING, COMMUNICATION
  • Developed policies and procedures for internal SPA staff, STREAMLINING
  • The Research Hub is a communication portal & SPA FAQ resource: COMMUNICATION, STREAMLINING

  • Recent hires:

    • Lindsey Hornsby, Director of Sponsored Programs Administration
    • Syeda Feroza Haq, Contracts Manager, SERVICE
  • Updated Conflict of Interest Policy for research, COMPLIANCE, STREAMLINING
  • 1:1 assessment of challenges with ADRs, SERVICE, STREAMLINING
  • Developed centralized guide for hiring postdoctoral researchers, SERVICE, STREAMLINING

Data/Reports

  • Cleaning, and normalizing based on absence of quality assurance: COMPLIANCE
  • Project required 11 months of effort; involved UITS, Fiscal, HR, SPA; trained well over 100 research faculty and adoption increasing exponentially: COMMUNICATION, SERVICE
  • Initial project phase required 6 months of effort; involved UITS, Research Integrity, Innovation and Commercialization, SPA; undergoing testing currently, training internally for SPA begins in March 2025: SERVICE, COMMUNICATION, STREAMLINING
  • Multi-month effort across multiple units (Fiscal, ADRs, Business Manager, SPA) to update processes for tracking and measuring internal and external research expenditures: COMPLIANCE

Training/Team-building

  • Includes onboarding, working with SPA, Cayuse processes, KSU procedures, etc.: SERVICE
  • Onboarding training program with tracking and assessment tools to standardize onboarding creating consistency: SERVICE
  • Leverages a combination of micro-credentialing education based on industry accepted standards [SARI] and group training sessions on specific topics impacting research administration and grant management: SERVICE
  • Engaging training activities and interactive role-playing exercises: SERVICE

Other Activities

    • Brought in research administrators as speakers and attendees from across the state
    • Increased institutional profile for KSU as a key research university 

    NATIONAL PROMINENCE

  • Actively engaged with COGR activities and participated in ERI pilot survey development: NATIONAL PROMINENCE
  • Group reviews processes and procedures across the Office of Research and Fiscal Services to assess effectiveness and develop new approaches: SERVICE, STREAMLINING
  • Established deconfliction process for risk mitigation: SERVICE, STREAMLINING
  • E.g. data science/analytics and AI: SERVICE, STREAMLINING

Operations

  • Software leveraged for the effort certification process: COMPLIANCE
  • Set guidelines and services levels for proposal reviews: STREAMLINING PROCESS
  • Established new process for handling and distributing residual balances: COMPLIANCE
  • Overhauled process for consistency, efficiency, and to minimize risk: COMPLIANCE, STREAMLINING
  • Automated ADR and Researcher communication increasing transparency; improved internal processes and communications: STREAMLINING, COMMUNICATION
  • Staff and Faculty: STREAMLINING
  • Key step in process for proper and accurate award/project setup and reporting, involved SPA, Grants Accounting, Budget Office: STREAMLINING
  • In collaboration with legal, SPA reworked all or created missing templates to support all phases of sponsored research; Additionally, these efforts serviced process improvements, standardization, and risk reduction: STREAMLINING

 

Current Initiatives

  • Establish designated team for Project Setup upon award: PERSONNEL   
  • Revise current workflow for improvement and eliminate bottlenecks to expedite award set up times. Efforts include collaboration with Grants Accounting and Budget Office: STREAMLINING   
  • Rebuilding Contracts support team: SERVICE   
  • Internal mechanism to facilitate management with staff and method for ensuring status updates are available externally: COMMUNICATION, STREAMLINING, SERVICE   
  • Fully integrate Cayuse and NIST's iEdison: SERVICE, STREAMLINING
  • Upcoming training led by Executive Vice President for Research Karin Scarpinato focused on improving customer service, SERVICE

  • Research Liaisons are conducting faculty feeback survey, SERVICE

    provide feedback here
  • Launch required core training for entire team that focuses on processes, policies, compliance basics, and service standards, SERVICE

Upcoming Initiatives

Short-Term (2-4 Months)

  • Office of Research administration data model that connects SPA internal data/status to future reporting tools targeting Researchers, ADRs, and Deans: STREAMLINING, SERVICE
  • This version will provide modern web features that provide improved Integration, specialized reporting, form/input customizations: COMMUNICATION, STREAMLINING, SERVICE 
  • Sponsored program's staff shadows select faculty members to better under their needs, processes, etc.: SERVICE
  • Systems need measurements and monitors instrumented and installed across the SPA enterprise: STREAMLINING
    • Automated request tracker, COMMUNICATION, STREAMLINING

  • 1:1 assessment of challenges with ADRs, SERVICE, STREAMLINING

  • Improvement of internal budget spreadsheet for proposal and awards, STREAMLINING

Mid-Term (5-6 months)

  • Update purchase systems to accommodate College led support requests
  • Convert all PDFs and webforms, including approvals and DocuSign
  • Supporting development and establishment of processes and procedures: STREAMLINING

  • Transferring incoming faculty projects, STREAMLINING, SERVICE