Proposals signed by an authorized individual at Kutztown University are considered university proposals and the grant is awarded to the university. While you may be specified as the project director or principal investigator, you are not legally responsible for the grant or the money awarded. Therefore, university policies and procedures must be followed.

Authorized signature - Only the President, Vice President and Assistant Vice President for Administration and Finance, and the Comptroller are authorized to sign for the university. Therefore, it is necessary that you plan ahead to get the required signatures. The Grants Office can help in this aspect. In order to assure that the appropriate department chair, dean and Grants Office know about the proposal to be submitted, you must complete the University Grants and Sponsored Projects Application Approval Form which is available in the Grants Office. (This is required for all external grants and contracts.) It would also be good to informally discuss the proposal with your department chair and dean prior to putting in too much time on its preparation.

Personnel - Hiring personnel for work on grants is very possible. You can hire someone full time, part time, for overload, for summer work, etc. Because of union contracts, you need to be aware of the requirements when doing the budget. Seek assistance from the Grants Office when you are figuring personnel costs as well as other budget line items. Additionally, fringe benefits must be included as a direct cost if allowable. Fringe benefits are real costs which must be covered. (SSHE grants do not permit fringe benefits to be included in the budgets.) If there is student payroll involved in a grant, the Grants Office needs to be informed before any charges are made to student payroll.

Indirect Costs - Kutztown University has a negotiated indirect cost rate of 44% for on-campus and 22% for off-campus. Therefore, any proposal which allows indirect costs must include these figures. Certain agencies such as Education will allow an 8% indirect cost on total direct costs. This is also acceptable. Indirect costs cover those expenditures which cannot be calculated for each grant such as heat, lights, library, office space, etc. Kutztown University has adopted a policy of sharing the indirect costs in order to encourage grants. The sharing of indirect costs is done on the following formula: Department where grant originated - 35%; Dean of Department where grant originated - 20%; Grants Office - 25%; and Kutztown University - 20%.

Implementing the grant - Once a grant has been awarded, University policies are in effect. This applies to hiring personnel, purchasing, etc. The Grants Director will work with the project director to have a cost center number assigned. The cost center number is added to the purchasing release authorization by Sytec in Harrisburg and cannot be used until it is released by Sytec. The revenue receipt process follows the ordinary receipt process for the University. The receipt of revenue can vary from grant to grant – funds up front, in payments during the grant life, or after funds have been expended. All expenditures under the grant must be approved by the Grants Director and charged against the grant cost center number. The purchaser uses the same purchasing and accounts payable system used for normal University expenditures.

Please read Kutztown University's Overview of the Grant Proposal Process.

PASSHE Technology Transfer Guidelines

Kutztown University offers Technology Transfer and Commercialization services for faculty, students and staff of the University through a cooperative effort with the State System office and the Penn State Research Foundation.

Technology transfer is the process of transferring scientific findings from one organization to another for the purpose of further development and commercialization. The process typically includes:

• Identifying new technologies
• Protecting technologies through patents and copyrights
• Forming development and commercialization strategies such as marketing and licensing to existing private sector companies

Guidance and resources for Student Intellectual Property, both academic and work-related, are also available, including helpful guidance for student-business projects. See the Technology Transfer and Commercialization website for more information.

PASSHE Intellectual Property Training

PASSHE Tech Transfer Updates, December 2011(PDF)