2015 Symposium Sessions | Research Compliance & Reporting

Morning Session: 8:45 a.m. – 11:45 a.m.

Keynote Address
Presenter: Jennifer Shambrook, Ph.D. Director of Research Programs and Services, University of Central Florida

Jennifer has expanded her earlier research on stress levels in research administration and will share her newest data, including stress levels and management strategies among different generations, as well as differences in stress management in pre-award, post-award, and compliance grant management personnel.
View: Presentation (pdf)

Federal Update
Presenter: Jim Luther, Associate Vice President

Attendees will gain insight into the federal perspective of regulatory changes in recent years and how these changes impact Duke.
View: Presentation (pdf)

Final Stretch to Clean Close
Presenters: Jim Luther, Nate Martinez-Wayman, Klugh Jordan

Presenters are provided with an update of the Closeout Project, including new tools, updated guidance, updated tasklist, ZF114, etc.
View: Presentation (pdf)

Tech Talk
Presenters: Beth Carter, Debbi Nixon, & Joseph Rusnak

This presentation provides attendees with an update of new reports and tools, as well as enhancements made to Duke systems, used for research administration management.
View: Presentation (pdf)

Break-out Sessions: 12:45 – 2:00 p.m.

Inside the Life of an Incoming Sub
Presenter: Jennifer McGinnis

Duke’s School of Medicine is a subrecipient on a wide variety of projects for numerous sponsors and pass-thru entities. Many individuals in research administration have to deal regularly with various aspects of getting these subagreements into place, but how does it all actually happen? In this session, we will illustrate how an incoming subagreement in ORA actually becomes a signed document. While the process for reviewing and processing an agreement may sound simple and to some can seem boring, there are many different pieces and steps. In order to make it interesting for participants, we are going to demonstrate this utilizing a game board designed just for this purpose, taking subs to the “Finish Line” of full execution. This will be an interactive session that encourages participants to learn more about the ins and outs of Duke as a subrecipient, finding out where the agreement is when it is mysteriously “in process.” Attendees will learn: how a subaward moves through the process; what information may be needed from them during the process; what other offices can become involved and why; and how to set-up the process on their end to best assure a smooth transition through the subrecipient process map.

What’s New Inside CoreResearch@Duke for Grant Managers?
Presenter: Joseph Rusnak and Moria Montalbano

CoreResearch@Duke is the institutional system for Shared Resources to manage the entire booking to billing process. The system is currently live with over a dozen Shared Resources and will become the main system for the vast majority of Duke’s Shared Resources in the near future. This session will feature a demonstration and discussion of the tools that are now available, including linking users to fund codes, setting end dates for users, being able to put projects on hold from having any future charges placed against them, being able to see current jobs outstanding against their codes, reporting features to see who is linked to what fund codes, spending on their codes and other items, and also how to retrieve invoices from the system. The learning objectives are: to understand the role that the Grant Manager has in the CoreResearch@Duke system; and to learn about the available features in the system that will allow Grant Managers more control over what expenses hit their fund code, who is allowed to charge them and the ability to stop future charges from occurring.
View: Presentation (pdf)

Duke Does What?!
Presenter: Michael Dickman

Earlier this year, I loaded my family in the truck and pulled a trailer across the country to pursue a career in research administration at Duke University. After working in central and department roles at a university out west, my emotions conflict on how to best navigate issues like organization structure, cost share, home-grown systems, technology (or lack of), etc. at Duke. In this session participants will walk through and discuss the emotions (characters: Joy, Disgust, Anger, Fear, and Sadness) of my experiences as I learn research administration at Duke University. Whether you are new to Duke and looking for answers, a seasoned Blue Devil and didn’t know there was an outside to the inside, or simply looking to discuss best practices on a variety of topics, this session is for you.
View: Presentation

What You Don’t Know Is Wasting Your Time
Presenter: Darrell Queen, Valerie Abbott, Zarrin Brooks, Laura Jensen, Blake Perrault, and Michelle Rigsbee

Each role on a study team has a different perspective when it comes to reading study documents. Both the clinical and the financial perspective are important when developing an internal cost assessment (ICA) and/or budget. This session will provide an overview of reading study documents from the financial perspective. The objectives for the session are to: describe the study documents to review to develop an internal cost assessment (ICA) and budget; describe what to look for in study documents that may have associated research-specific cost that need to be covered by the sponsor; and describe types of costs associated with performing a study.
View: Presentation (pdf) | Handouts (pdf)

Turning Stress in Research Administration Inside Out
Presenters: Jennifer Shambrook and David Mineo

In research administration and life in general, stress is a continuous occurrence. Meeting deadlines, working with challenging individuals, keeping up with sponsor demands for timely information, and working long hours all contribute to a workplace that can be extremely stressful. This session will explore the factors associated with stress, discuss the long term impact of stress in our lives and provide ideas to help you cope and even reduce the stress associated with our work and lives. (This is a revised and updated version of the popular session from the 2013 Symposium).

Ins and Outs of Reading Study Docs from a Financial Perspective
Presenters: Tracy Kerby and Lindsey Spangler

Break-out Sessions: 12:45 – 2:00 p.m.

A Look Inside Clinical Research Administration at Duke
Presenters: Lindsey Spangler and Laura Jensen

This session will provide attendees a high-level “how to” guide to manage a clinical research study from inception to closeout. The various activities involved in study start-up, study conduct and study closeout will be reviewed. Helpful tips, contact information, and flow charts will be provided. We also will discuss the various roles of department and Clinical Research Unit (CRU) personnel throughout the course of the study to ensure that each activity has an “owner” and that the study is able to operate as seamlessly as possible from a research administration perspective. The objectives of this session are: to understand structure of clinical research at Duke; describe which offices/contacts can assist with various stages of study; and understand research administrator’s roles in supporting clinical research.
View: Presentation (pdf) | Handouts (pdf)

Shout It Out: Methods to Achieving Clean Close
Presenters: Valerie Abbott, Windy Batten, Zarrin Brooks, Jenni Clark, Shannon Clarke, and Ali Saren

The goal of this session is to provide the research administration community with an overview of the current closeout best practices. Over the last year, numerous GAPs and technologies have been released as a result of the Closeout Project. The Symposium provides an opportunity to engage in a discussion on the available tools/ reports while highlighting best practices and methods to achieve a successful clean close. Although significant efforts have been made to communicate the changes, there have been limited opportunities for Grant Managers to participate in conversations focusing on the integration of these GAPs and tools. The presentation will provide a contextual application of the following reports: 1) Projects Approaching End Date; 2) Project Obligations; 3) Workflow Status. Additionally, the discussion will also address: closeout deadline planning and proactive management; how to use the Closeout Tasklist to prepare for an effective and efficient closeout; and the ZF114 process. After this session, Grant Managers will: be able to define clean close; know how to plan for upcoming project closeouts; have knowledge of closeout best practices and associated technologies to execute a clean close; understand how to document expenses on the ZF114 to ensure a timely and accurate final financial report/invoice.
View: Presentation (pdf) | Handouts (pdf)

Working Effectively with Faculty
Presenters: Joanna Downer, Brian Smith, Esther DeMarco, and Taylor Nguyen

Close collaboration between faculty and research administrators (RAs) during pre-award application development is essential to ensuring submission of a thorough, well-developed, and compliant proposal. During this process, RAs often need to effectively manage both pre-award timelines and faculty members. This session will provide concrete approaches to help RAs support the team’s shared goal—to produce and submit an outstanding application – while simultaneously enhancing satisfaction and reducing frustration. With a focus on achieving effective communication, we will share the following: strategies for maintaining and fostering a close RA/faculty partnership; a faculty member’s perspective on the pre-award process; and proven solutions and tools to help RAs successfully manage the pre-award process and work effectively with faculty to do so. Our overarching goal is to empower RAs to take a holistic approach to pre-award development by learning ways to effectively engage faculty members and others as partners. This session will be applicable to RAs across the entire University. The learning objectives are to: understand perspectives of faculty and RAs; identify keys to effective communications that can improve relationships with faculty; and identify tools and resources to reduce frustration and improve effectiveness.
View: Presentation (pdf) | Tracking Sheet (xls) | Grant Timeline (xls) | Complex Grant Timeline (ppt) | PI Budget (xls) | FTE Spreadsheet (xls) | Questionnaire (doc) | Parent R01 Template (doc) | SPS Checklist (pdf)

Getting to “Joy”
Presenter: Jennifer McGinnis

Across all aspects of research administration, one of the key components is communication. We all find ourselves in stressful situations and communications can slip into a negative space or get stalled out. What do we do to keep things cooperative and moving forward? Improv training is a secret weapon Fortune 500 companies use to teach their executives positive communication skills and creative problem solving, and we will use improv in this session to laugh and have fun while developing our research administration communication skills and learning some simple stress reduction techniques. Individual and group games will be taught in a quick, engaging, positive, and interactive method. All participants, those who volunteer and those who choose not to step forward, will be able to gain useful tools to take away with them while having fun together. In keeping with the theme of “Inside Out,” this session will help us work on becoming our own version of “Joy” by: developing positive forward-moving communication tools that can be used immediately in the workplace; and learning a few useful stress-reducing techniques that can be done in the workplace, either alone or with others.
View: Presentation (pdf)

Taking the Ugh Out of Uniform Guidance
Presenter: Julie Cole

The times they are a ‘changin’! For years we have relied on the OMB circulars A-12, A-110, and A-133, as well as Duke University GAPs to provide guidance on sponsored program management. What does the future hold, now that the new federal Uniform Guidance is in effect? This session will provide an abbreviated guide to the structure of the Uniform Guidance, as well as the new Duke GAPs and polices related to UG changes. Fast paced and interactive, this session will provide the background, resources and links to additional materials for managing sponsored activities in the new “UG world!”
View: Presentation (pdf)

Pushing Inside Duke, Out
Presenters: Bill Nicholson, Chris Tobias, Brendan Murphy, and Keith Hurka-Owen (Moderator)

Administering research projects in our domestic bubble can be challenging enough, but introduce an international component and the level of complexity goes up exponentially. Many issues that may have seemed straightforward and easy, may suddenly become convoluted and demanding. Other issues arise that administrators may not have had to account for on domestic projects. Who pays the wire transfer fee and is it allowable? How do you handle exchange rate fluctuations? Are there tax issues? How do you hire and pay people in country? How do I buy a vehicle in a foreign country? The panelists will address issues one must face in the international arena from three perspectives: the department, central finance, and legal counsel. Duke’s policies, systems, and people cannot be inwardly focused. This panel will continue some smaller conversations and start some broader conversations as the need to expand, improve, and share expertise and resources becomes more and more imperative.