Pre-Award Administrator

Overview

The Pre-Award Administrator is expected to:
Assist faculty and staff seeking external resources including development and dissemination of useful funding-related information through email, publications, and website; providing guidance to investigators, collaborators, subcontractors, and others regarding proposal requirements. Consult with faculty and staff about strategies on programs and projects that improve their competitive research capacity. Assist CSU faculty seeking external funding, singly or in collaboration which include but are not limited to: consulting with faculty about strategies on programs and projects that improve their competitive research capacity to obtain funding; partnership building and team formation; analyzing funding announcements; contributing to communications regarding collaborative research funding opportunities and research services/resources, including development and dissemination of useful USDA funding-related information to the Central State research community. As the university’s grant activities increase, the pre-award infrastructure in the Office of Sponsored Programs and Research must be enhanced to generate competitive applications to NIFA, NIH, FDA, NSF & other agencies.

The Office of Sponsored Programs and Research (OSP&R) at Central State University is seeking candidates for a Pre-Award Specialist. OSP&R is the central administrative unit charged with providing support to the CSU community in the solicitation, acquisition, and administration of externally funded projects for research, teaching, and service. This position is responsible for assisting with the development, review, and submission of proposals on behalf of the University to federal, state, or private funding agencies. In order to be successful in this position, the ideal candidate will:

• Build and maintain positive business relationships with internal and external customers, including college, department, and land grant administration.
• Work with faculty and staff to assist in resource development.
• Maintain knowledge of sponsor guidelines and procedures by reviewing requests for proposals and preparing them for submission in a meticulous manner.
• Identify and recommend actions to resolve proposal content incongruent with CSU policies and procedures prior to submission.
• Communicate regularly with sponsor contacts to ensure any post-submission correspondence is addressed.
• Develop and maintain pre-award sub-recipient monitoring materials, including sub recipient commitment forms and other resources for vetting sub award institutions at 2 the pre-award stage.
• Assist the Land Grant researchers and specialists from CSU Extension with needed certifications, institutional and other support letters, preparation of budgets for proposals and coordination with program managers at sponsoring agencies.
• Manage electronic research administration software.
• Have intermediate to advanced knowledge and understanding of various grant application and submission processes including sponsor electronic submission portals and institutional System to Systems solutions (S2S). Knowledge and experience with electronic Research Administration systems with S2S capability a plus.
• Have experience with the development, preparation, review and submission of budgets and grant proposal applications or comparable documents, in a fast-paced, deadline- oriented environment.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or an equivalent combination of education and directly related experience will also be considered.
• Experience with daily pre-award activities.
• Excellent time management skills.
• Excellent interpersonal skills to interact with various customers throughout CSU.
• Demonstrated commitment to customer and team-oriented management.
• Demonstrated ability to work independently and appropriately apply discretion.
• Demonstrated ability to develop training activities.
• Demonstrated problem solving skills.
• Strong computer skills to include word processing, web searching, downloading, and reporting, database manipulation, and spreadsheets.
• Solid and proven analytical, verbal, and written communication skills and the ability to effectively interact with all levels of faculty, staff, and leadership within the organization.
• Demonstrated ability to manage several projects simultaneously, and provide a high level of customer service, while serving as a resource for internal and external clients.
• Demonstrated ability to understand and appropriately apply Federal, State, and University policies and procedures, and interpret cost principles.
• Demonstrated ability to work in a deadline-oriented environment.
• Demonstrated ability in electronic submission of grant proposals following meticulously all requirements of the sponsoring agency.

Preferred Qualifications

• Certified Research Administrator/Certified Pre-Award Research Administrator preferred. Experience in research administration at an institution of higher education, including application of 2 CFR 200.
• Experience in Cayuse preferred.
• Experience in Banner preferred.