Continuing Education

Introduction

Certain research administrator positions at Duke require employees to earn certification(s) and maintain those certifications through annual continuing education (CE). While certification requirements for each position vary, all persons in the following job classifications are required to maintain certification(s) in specific programs (RCC, RAA, AGM, FCC):

• Grants and Contracts Administrator (2647)
• Grants and Contracts Manager (2648)
• Senior Grants and Contracts Manager (2649)
• Research Administrator (2627)
• Research Administration Manager (2628)
• Associate Director, Research Administration (2629)

Employees must complete several requirements to maintain and renew existing certifications, including obtaining CE credits every fiscal year (July 1 - June 30). New certificate holders are not required to obtain CE in the fiscal year that they complete a program. The Office of Education for Research Administration and Finance (OERAF) will review each certified employee’s completed training to ensure the CE requirements were me for the certification period. Meeting the requirements renews RAA, AGM, FCC, and RCC for another fiscal year. However, failure to meet all requirements, including obtaining CE credits, invalidates all certificates.

Supervisors and employees should work together to select CE opportunities that are relevant to the employee’s job duties and professional goals. The employee is responsible for tracking their CE requirements and ensuring those CE requirements comply with all guidelines. OERAF has created a CE Tracking Tool to be completed by the employee to assist in tracking CE hours by category and can be used to discuss their progress with a supervisor. While CE requirements are met annually, OERAF strongly recommends that employees earn a portion of their total credits each quarter. Training sessions, meetings, and updates are designed to provide critical information promptly. Therefore staff and supervisors should prioritize attendance at relevant sessions throughout the year. OERAF strongly discourages employees from obtaining all or most of their CE in one quarter of the year. OERAF will provide quarterly updates to management center partners on CE status and will contact employees and their managers if an employee is not on track to meet the annual CE requirement.

Please note: Information on maintaining RAI and the RAI Leadership Services can be found here. 

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Continuing Education Requirements

General Requirements & Expectations

1. It is recommended that certificate holders obtain CE throughout the year and not wait until the end of the certification period to obtain the majority of the needed CE.
2. There are limitations on the amount of continuing education you can obtain from specific sources. See the Continuing Education Categories below for more information. 
   • Any CE obtained in excess of the limit in restricted categories will not count toward annual requirements.
3. New certificate holders who completed a program in the current fiscal year are not required to obtain CE until they need to renew their certificate the following fiscal year.
4. Enrollment in an additional certification will waive the CE requirement for the certification year you actively participate in the new program.
   • Additional RAA Learning Tracks do not count as a new certification. However, credits for completing the Track will count towards your annual CE requirement.
5. Classes cannot be repeated for CE within 3 years unless the content changes significantly.
   • Exceptions are available if supervisors require employees to return to a course for performance concerns. Submit a CE Request form in advance of repeating the class to have CE for the course apply to your annual requirements. 
6. The Duke LMS and RCC Training Tracker are meant to monitor Duke-specific certifications only. They are not intended as tools to maintain and monitor external certification or program requirements.
7. OERAF conducts random audits of CE to ensure compliance with these expectations, adherence to the Continuing Education Categories, and the stipulations outlined below.

End-of-Year Renewal Process

• Any CE must be obtained by June 30 to apply to the certification year.
• The renewal process for the previous certification year occurs between July and August of the following year.
• Please allow for two months for processing and auditing before requesting an update from OERAF on the status of your renewal. 

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Continuing Education Categories

* Attendance managed by OERAF. No action is required to receive CE for these types of sessions. 

Examples of CE Calculations

Certification year requiring 12 CE to maintain certification:

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Earning Continuing Education Credits

OERAF and other University Research Administration offices provide various opportunities throughout the year that provide CE credits. These will usually issue CE to your transcript automatically.

Requesting CE for Training Opportunities

Certificate holders can obtain CE beyond the offerings provided by OERAF and at Duke. We have remodeled our process of managing these requests to better reflect the increased availability of virtual CE opportunities available to certificate holders. 

OERAF will not process manual CE requests if your annual requirement has been met. This is by category limit or for the total credits you need to obtain per certification year. You will continue to receive CE for automated opportunities managed by OERAF (e.g. normal classes, Research Administration Town Halls) even if you have met your annual requirement.

Opportunities Covered by the CE Request Form

1. Opportunities Preapproved by OERAF
   • Approved events and their due date are on our Preapproved CE Opportunities page
   • Identified in advance by OERAF
   • Requires expedited request form to collect proof of attendance if submitted by due date
   • CE processed for all participants in bulk after the CE Request Form due date
2. Opportunities that are not Preapproved
   • Requires details of the session for OERAF to review its applicability and proof of attendance documentation
   • Use this method if you have missed the due date for a Preapproved event
   • CE loaded individually for each participant
3. Obtaining a Research Administrators Certification Council (RACC) national certification
   • Available for those who passed the exam
   • Not available for certification renewals or participating in exam preparation sessions
   • Able to apply it to the current or following certification year based on when you receive your results
4. Repeating a Class within 3 years as required by a supervisor
   • Repeating classes within 3 years is normally excluded from CE
   • Provides supervisors with a method to require employees to return to a class for performance reasons
   • Provides employees with the ability to benefit through CE for returning to the class that was mandated by a supervisor
   • Requires documentation from your supervisor describing the need to repeat the class based on performance reasons

How Requested CE is Reflected in the LMS & Training Tracker

All CE issued through the request process is issued based on the CE category and will not reference the name of the individual event. LMS entries for requested CE are named by fiscal year and category, for example, "FY24 CE Credit - Category C." You can retrieve information on your approved CE by accessing your Request Forms in the Kuali Build app.

You can find instructions and step-by-step guides to use the LMS and Training Tracker to monitor requested and any other CE on our Training Management Systems page. 

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Examples of CE by Category

Below are examples of opportunities by category and are not meant to be an inclusive list.

Category A

• Classes offered and identified by OERAF as eligible for CE.
  • Includes classes that are part of RAA and AGM curriculums, SAP classes teaching research administration reports and tools, webinars offered by professional organizations and vetted by Duke, and operational/compliance/financial classes focused on or applicable to research administration. To receive credit for attendance, employees must complete pre and post-work, assessments, evaluations, or other participation guidelines as defined by the session facilitator(s).
• Bimonthly Office of Research & Innovation Research Administration Town Halls covering university-wide topics
• Classes offered by Research Administration Central Offices and identified by OERAF as eligible for CE. To receive certification, employees must complete pre and post-work, assessments, evaluations, or other participation guidelines as defined by the session facilitator(s). Central Offices include, but are not limited to, the following:
  • Office of Education for Research Administration and Finance (OERAF)
  • Office of Research Administration (ORA)
  • Office of Research Support (ORS)
  • Campus Award Management Teams (CAMT)
  • Duke Office of Clinical Research (DOCR)
  • Post Award Financial Management (PAFM)
  • Office of Post Award Administration (OPAA)

Category B

• Central Office Update Meetings: To receive certification, employees must complete pre and post-work, assessments, evaluations, or other participation guidelines as defined by the session facilitator(s). These meetings are open to research administrators across the institution and are not intended to include general group meetings held within and for central office staff.
  • Office of Research Administration Bi-monthly Meetings (ORA)
  • Campus Research Administration Meetings (CRAM)

Category C

• External Professional Organization Meetings: Attendance to external professional organization meetings can count as CE credit. Examples of professional organization include, but are not limited to the following:
  • North Carolina Society of Research Administrators (NCSRA)
  • Society of Research Administrators (SRA)
  • National Council of University Research Administrators (NCURA)
  • National Organization of Research Development Professionals (NORDP)
  • National Conference on College Cost Accounting (NACCA)
  • Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI)
  • Model Agreements & Guidelines International (MAGI)
• Sponsor or other Agency Meetings, Workshops or Conference covering topics in research administration
• Preapproved Events offered by professional organizations (NCURA, SRA, NORDP, etc.) or sponsoring agencies (NIH, NSF, Gates Foundation, etc.) that are vetted by OERAF in advance and advertised to the Duke research administration community
  • THESE EVENTS HAVE A SEPARATE ATTENDANCE CONFIRMATION PROCESS
  • Review the available events and the CE confirmation process on our Other Approved CE Opportunites page
• Purchased webinars from external organizations and accessed using the Duke LMS. 
  • A brief quiz may be required and passed with at least 80% to receive CE credit
• Hosting an external organization's webinar within your department
  • Continuing education credit amounts and approval will be assigned by OERAF prior to hosting the webinar session. Request approval to host a team webinar for continuing education credit before the event. Please complete and submit the Continuing Education Credit Request for Department Webinar Viewing form in advance. 

Category D

• Duke Symposium for Research Administrators: Registered attendees who participate in Duke’s annual research symposium will receive CE credit commensurate with their attendance time. 
  • NOTE: Total number of CE credits offered by this event may vary annually.
• Other Duke Events (not advertised as preapproved for CE by OERAF) where the topics are beneficial to research administration. Examples include:
  • Duke Research Week
  • Duke Office of Scientific Integrity training 

Category E

• Passing a RACC national certification exam and obtaining a CRA, CPRA, or CFRA 
  • NOTE: Credit is only provided to new certificates, not renewals of existing certifications

Category F

• Professional Skills Courses: Courses that develop professional skills relevant to research administration such as soft skills (e.g. communication, leadership, conflict resolution) and technical skills (e.g. Excel, project management), may count toward CE.
  • Supervisor approval is required. Such courses may be offered by Duke resources (i.e., Learning and Organizational Development (L&OD), Coursera, etc.) or other organizations and should be approved by the employee’s supervisor.
  • Submit an OERAF CE Request Form form with documentation of attendance and information on the topics covered. Additionally, OERAF will review professional skills courses available in LinkedIn Learning. Approved courses will be highlighted on the OERAF website and will require a short quiz to receive credit.

Category G

• Assist in designing, developing, and delivering training offerings at Duke or approved professional organizations: participate in designing and/or delivering a research administration training session or other research-related content development specific to Duke. Develop and deliver a session at a professional meeting or conference. Proof of delivery will be required. The number of CE hours will be defined and agreed upon in advance by OERAF.

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Continuing Education Waiver

Supervisors of RCC, RAA, AGM, and FCC certified employees may petition to waive the annual CE requirements for a particular certification due to extenuating circumstances (i.e., extended periods of approved leave). Workload and staffing concerns are not reasons a waiver will be granted. This form is required and should be submitted with as much notice as possible so that OERAF can work with the supervisor to provide appropriate accommodations. Supervisors should send completed forms to OERAF at ResearchFinanceEd@duke.edu. Requests for waivers will not be accepted after the fiscal year has ended.

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