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CPH ORA Services Overview

College of Public Health (CPH) Office of Research Administration-  Brief Overview


The CPH Office of Research Administration (ORA) plays a vital role in advancing the College’s research mission by supporting all aspects of its sponsored projects portfolio. We partner closely with investigators to provide expert, high-quality pre- and post-award support. We do this by assisting faculty in the development and submission of competitive proposals and ensuring the effective management of externally funded awards. Through proactive guidance and support, ORA helps investigators successfully secure, manage, and steward external funding in compliance with sponsor and institutional requirements.


CORE VALUES

  • Principal Investigator (PI) support: We partner with our PIs to provide high-quality research administration for all sponsored projects. We strive to create consistency in how projects are managed while maintaining personalized service.
  • Compliance: Ensure proposal submissions and spending on grant awards is compliant with all applicable Federal, University and College policies. 
  • Service Excellence. Ensuring a positive experience for all who interact with ORA.
  • Integrity. Upholding the highest ethical standards for research compliance and transparency
  • Proactive, Collaborative Partnerships. Problem solving together.
  • Professional Development. Keeping individual expertise up-to-date through ongoing education in the field and ensuring CPH investigators are aware of all changes to University, College, Federal and Sponsor policies.


All proposals must go through review by all investigators, Chairs, and The Senior Associate Dean of Research and Strategic Initiatives, as well as a final administrative review by the Office of the Vice President for Research (OVPR).  OVPR is the only office that has authority to directly submit proposals and contracts on behalf of Temple University. The grants and contracts received for a specific purpose or program, under the direction of a Principal Investigator or Project Director, are awarded to the University. Financial stewardship of sponsored research funds is a shared responsibility with the PI/PD, CPH ORA, and OVPR.   


Overview of Services Provided by ORA:

Pre-award: (not all-inclusive)


  • Primary liaison between PI and OVPR pre-award
  • Review of Funding Opportunity Announcements and Sponsor policies
  • Proposal Development Support- Provide detailed submission checklist and responsibilities chart, Including deadlines for routing and submission 
  • Extensive support for budget development
  • Work with Subrecipient institutions and other collaborators at proposal stage
  • Support post-submission/pre-award requests from sponsor (eg JIT)
  • Process award Documents (contracts, incoming subawards, Federal NOAs, Award letters, etc)
  • Manage award process until a FOAP is created
  • Submit request to OVPR for all outgoing subawards
  • Progress Reports (will loop in post-award for financials)
  • Submit prior-approval requests and NCEs
  • Budget modifications requested by sponsor
  • Maintaining/updating  other support documents as needed


Post-award (not all inclusive)


  • Primary liaison between research faculty and the administrative and financial units within Temple University
  • Provide faculty with the information they need in order to make sound decisions about spending grant funds
  • Management/tracking  of Grant Funds and 14/16 accounts and ensure spending is in compliance with funding agency rules and regulations and College/University policies
  • Spending Projections (monthly/quarterly meetings)
  • Process invoices for payment on grants/14-16 accounts
  • Initiate vendor contracts, consultant contracts on grants/14-16 accounts
  • Staff Hiring (Liaison with HR) on grants/14-16 accounts
  • Graduate RA Hires (Tuition/Stipend) on grants/14-16 accounts
  • Postdoctoral Fellow appointments on grants/14-16 accounts
  • Hourly Student Worker Hires (Undergrad) on grants/14-16 accounts
  • Pre-review effort reports  and send to investigators for certification.


Academic Departments (DC/AD) provide support for the following

  • Timekeeping for research staff and student workers
  • Assistance with booking travel/travel reimbursements
  • Facilities needs
  • Grant / 14-16 account Purchases
    • TU Marketplace (including gift cards) orders (note: it is the PIs or Research staff responsibilities to keep a gift card log- this does not fall to department or ORA staff)
    • Department Amazon business account
    • Using department Pcard (if you plan to make many purchases, you may want to obtain your own Pcard)
    • Software, including pre-approval process, and other IT purchases



ORA Staff


MJ Arnold

Grants Administrator, Pre Award

mj.arnold@temple.edu

215-204-2124

Caroline Dunn

Senior Grants Administrator, Post award

Caroline.Dunn@temple.edu


Michael A. Lienhard

Senior Associate Director, Pre award

Michael.Lienhard@temple.edu

215-204-5211

Renee Reilly

Senior Grants Administrator, Post award

Renee.Reilly@temple.edu

215-204-5515 

David Sarwer

Senior Associate Dean for Research and Strategic Partnerships

dsarwer@temple.edu

215-707-8632

Ashley Skinner

Senior Grants Administrator, Pre award

Ashley.Skinner@temple.edu

215-204-5404

Carol Tashjian

Senior Associate Director, Post-Award

Carol.Tashjian@temple.edu

215-204-6524

Laura Vassallo

Director, Research Administration

laura.vassallo@temple.edu

215-204-5279


ORA’s Portfolio Assignments, FAQ,  Manual of Operations, as well as other templates, resources and announcements, are housed on the Office of Research Administration’s Wiki page:  please visit us here: https://cphwiki.temple.edu/books/office-of-research-administration