The Office of Sponsored Programs will be re-organized on Thursday, May 8, 2008 when we implement a new staffing plan. Other important changes are also happening.
Currently, we divide our staff among five teams. The reorganization will collapse the number of teams from five to three. The collapsing of teams will provide more consistent support for the colleges, schools and departments. In addition, we have delegated broad signature authority to OSP administrators and limited authority to the OSP grant and contract coordinators. By expanding authority we anticipate more efficiencies in OSP.
On June 21st, OSP is moving to the UW Towers and we will be providing you with transition information on processing proposals. We may have a few issues to deal with and we will keep you informed.
There are a number of reasons behind the staffing changes:
The new team configuration provides a more equitable distribution of work assignments among OSP staff. Each team will now have more readily available backup for staff members on leave. Promotions, new hires, and changes in delegated authority have altered internal lines of reporting and OSP will be able to be more nimble in our interactions with campus.
For most of campus, the team assignment changes will be invisible; you will retain your current OSP administrator, and proposals and awards will continue to be processed as they are at present. However, a limited number of campus units will be assigned a new OSP administrator.
A few points to keep in mind as we move forward with the reorganization:
Effective May 9, the contact info on the OSP website will be updated to reflect changes in assignments of campus units to OSP administrators. Beginning May 9, you can see if your campus unit is affected by the change at the following URL: http://www.washington.edu/research/osp/contact.html
Applications currently in SAGE will route to the currently assigned OSP administrator.
Applications submitted from May 8th onward will route according to the new plan.
We anticipate an uneventful transition. Staff from ORIS will be monitoring the changes, and will be on hand to resolve technical issues that might arise. OSP will also be on the lookout to make sure that applications route according to the new plan.