Grants & Contracts Specialist

What You'll Do:

• Award Acceptance and Setup
  Sets up grant awards within the BlueSky Project module. In doing so, abstracts key information regarding the project and the award from multiple proposal and award documents to create an award profile; translates the award budget into DePaul’s budget categories, taking into account any cost sharing committed; identifies and enters project milestones for which DePaul will be responsible; and works with Restricted Accounting to finalize the grant award.
• Award Maintenance
  Provides a range of technical support and guidance to PIs during the implementation of the grant award. This includes working with PIs to: establish new positions included in award budgets; monitor spending rates and develop spending projections; address budget error reports from Restricted Accounting, processing salary reallocations/redistribution and cost transfer requests, as needed; prepare and process requests for budget modifications and for other award modifications, including no-cost extensions and changes in the scope of work.
• Award Closeout
  Works with PIs to help ensure well-managed grant closeouts. Monitors upcoming closeouts and sends periodic reminders to PIs. Reviews closeout procedures as well as roles & responsibilities with PIs. Works with PIs to reassign grant staff and redistribute salary costs; coordinate the closeout with vendors and subrecipients; identify and move or end recurring costs; monitor spending to achieve a full utilization of the grant funds.
• Personnel Management

1. For all externally funded grant awards, monitors and manages expenses associated with personnel assigned entirely or partially to the corresponding grant accounts. In doing so, maintains a comprehensive, up-to-date schedule of faculty distributions and course buyouts; reviews reallocation/redistribution paperwork to assign or de-assign salary payments to grant accounts; resolves grant-related salary budget issues identified by Restricted Accounting or other DePaul offices.
2. Coordinates the process for disbursing summer faculty compensation from all external grant awards.
3. For DePaul Centers funded by multiple external grant awards, collaborates with Principal Investigators and Budget Managers to promote the effective and compliant use of grant funds. This includes providing monitoring and support to help ensure that staff are appropriately funded; grant funds are utilized as proposed; residual balances under service agreements are satisfactorily assigned; budget modification requests are correctly prepared, as needed; and extensions are considered and solicited as needed.
4. For DePaul Centers funded by multiple external grant awards, promotes effective position management. Works with Principal Investigators and Budget Managers to establish new positions (or transfers positions, if appropriate) for new grant accounts that have a salary components; redistributes positions as required and monitors all personnel actions and expenses for compliance with project budgets and sponsor guidelines.

• This position is integral to the management of over 200 active grant awards totaling over $50 million and of approx. 200 internal grants totaling $2.6 million.