Request
for External Funding (blue form)
When issuing a grant or contract award to the University, most
foundations, government agencies and companies expect that one
individual will serve as the designated program leader. This person
is most often referred to as a Project Director, Principal
Investigator or Program Coordinator. It is also generally expected
that this leader will come from the ranks of a university’s faculty
or administration. Co-Project Directors, Co-Principal Investigators
and Associate Coordinators may also be cited as key personnel on a
sponsored project; however, it is common practice and almost
universal policy to require the selection of one individual to
serve as the key program contact person. Hereinafter, this
individual will be referred to as the University’s Project
Director.
A primary responsibility of the Project Director is to assure
the University and the external sponsor that a program or project
is carried out as proposed and in keeping with all applicable
University policies, sponsor policies, government regulations, and
current professional practices.
For practical purposes, the person selected to assume this
leadership role is expected to possess significant expertise in the
program field and a position of relative permanency at St. John’s
University, including necessary office or laboratory space, and a
voice in a Department’s academic proceedings (such as "voting
privileges" within the Department’s faculty). Therefore, it is the
University’s normal practice that Project Directors will be
selected from among the University’s full-time personnel.
From time-to-time, the University may wish to identify a Project
Director from among its roster of Adjunct faculty, Emeritus faculty
and Visiting faculty. Such decisions can only be made after careful
analysis by a host Department Chair (or Division Head), a College
Dean and the University’s Central Administration. Specifically,
such appointments will be subject to approval by the Vice President
and Secretary of the University. Approval of such special
arrangements should not be construed to mean that the individual
has received permanent employment or any other form of permanent
affiliation with the University outside the bounds of the proposed
project.
Adjunct, Emeritus and Visiting faculty who wish to serve as Project
Director on a sponsored project should initiate the approval
process before expending extensive effort on preparation of a grant
proposal. Indeed, such persons should first investigate whether a
potential sponsor will permit submission of proposals by other than
permanent employees of an institution. Faculty who wish to receive
this approval should prepare a brief memo explaining the nature of
the proposed project; the agency or agencies to whom the grant
proposal will be submitted; and special needs, such as university
resources, of this proposed sponsored project.
Full time administrators may serve as Project Director on a
grant or contract with the prior approval of their immediate
supervisor, their respective Vice President, and the Vice President
and Secretary of the University.
In all cases, applications and proposals for external support
must be reviewed and approved by the Office of Grants and Sponsored
Research and must be accompanied by the University's proposal
approval form, the "blue form."