Director of Research Administration (Grants & Contracts), Center for Nursing Research

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Requirements:

• Bachelor’s degree and six years of relevant experience, or an equivalent combination of education and experience
• Knowledge of Microsoft Office 365
• Experience with pre-award and post-award processes
• Experience with Grants.gov and Cayuse is desired
• Familiarity with a broad spectrum of granting agencies, foundations, and industry sponsors is desired
• Experience with SIMBA (Penn State’s System for Integrated Management, Budgeting and Accounting) and SIMS (Penn State’s Strategic Information Management System) is preferred

Responsibilities:

• Search, identify, and communicate relevant funding opportunities
• Read, interpret, and communicate sponsors’ guidelines to faculty
• Work closely with faculty to assist with proposals (e.g., creating proposal subsections, including budgets and non-technical components of applications, setting up mock reviews)
• Submit proposals to various federal, state, and local agencies, private companies, and foundations; secure University signature after a thorough review
• Contract negotiations and ensure compliance with sponsor and university policies
• Set up awards and support researchers with post-award management for gifts, grants, cooperative agreements, and contracts (e.g., conflict resolution issues, re-budgeting, processing external sponsor-required invoices, subaward management, etc.)
• Close out awards, assuring all requirements have been met
• Supervisory responsibilities of direct reports: hiring and onboarding, delegate tasks, follow progress and evaluate success, conflict mediation and resolution, conduct performance evaluations
• Train staff in activities related to grants and contracts
• Serve as liaison between senior management and direct reports
• Seek out and implement best practices for office management
• Document and disseminate CNR policies and procedures
• Implement forward-thinking improvements to ensure the growth of the college’s research enterprise
• Co-chair (with the ADR) research faculty meetings
• Work with staff to set up seminars and publish a monthly newsletter