Grants Officers

Grants officers provide numerous services, from discovering grant opportunities to helping write, edit, and submit grants as your authorized organizational representative.

For Faculty Research Grants, contact Pollyanne Frantz (x1395) for more information or stop by her office on the third floor of Walsh-Ellett Hall.

For institutional grants, contact Tom Sanders (x1821) for more information.

Steps in the Process

Register your interest

We work hard to make connections between collaborators both on and off campus and to understand grant opportunities. Let us know your research interests, and we can be your partners in seeking grant funding. To do that:

  •     Make an appointment by email or phone: Pollyanne, x1395 or Tom, x1821
  •     Stop by anytime to discuss your research interests in person: Pollyanne's office is on the third floor of Walsh-Ellett Hall; Tom's office is in Thompson Union.
  •     AND/OR fill out our Research Interests Form online. The form may also be used to upload your CV.
Register your project

This is a key step. As soon as you have identified a specific grant opportunity and firm deadline, register your project through the Institutional Approval Form. This must be completed two weeks in advance of the deadline. The form gives you a place to describe the project and any potential positive and negative institutional impacts as well as explain how the project will benefit you and the University.  The Provost’s Office and Dean must approve all proposals, and the grants officers will review the information you provide to determine any regulatory or budgetary constraints, streamline the approval process, and help you present your project to administrators.

Prepare your proposal

We are ready to help you with any part of the proposal preparation, from editing, to guideline compliance. The earlier you include us in the process the more we can help you. Email us a first draft as a Word or Google document, no later than two weeks before the due date. If your proposal includes elaborate figures, charts, and so forth, we can set up your document in InDesign, a page layout program.

Submit your proposal

The grants officers are organizational representatives authorized to submit your completed proposals. In order to submit the proposal, we will need to have approval from the Provost and Dean (see above, Register your project) and evidence that the work you will perform complies with all federal regulations—live vertebrate animals, human subjects, safety, responsible conduct of research, and so forth. We can help you navigate the regulatory aspects of federal grants if given enough time.

Managing your award

Spending a grant is an even more complicated process than preparing a grant proposal, but we work with you to assure compliance with federal regulations and funds disbursement. The grants officers are fund managers for all grants, and we ask that all award notifications, checks, contracts, and so forth be sent to us. We will set up an orientation meeting with you to go over the accounting system, schedules for reports, and other procedures.  A quick guide to grants management can be found here.