GRANT WRITING POLICY FOR EXTERNAL GRANTS

McNeese encourages faculty to participate in grant writing to support the institution’s mission for educational and research activities. The following is designed to provide general, but not inclusive, guidelines and procedures for submitting grants for internal approval. This policy is effective for new grant proposals approved for funding after July 1, 2001.

1. Grant goals and objectives should support the McNeese State University mission.
    
2. Grant proposals shall first be submitted to the department head and college dean for approvals using the current forms provided in the Office of Research Services.
    
3. After review and approval by department head and dean, grant proposals are submitted to the Office of Research Services for review; proposals should be submitted on both hard copy and disc. The grants coordinator shall be responsible for securing University authorized signatures and for forwarding proposals to the granting agency.
    
4. Any special co-submission, e.g., letters of support, required documentation form the University, etc., shall be obtained by the Principal Investigator with assistance from the grants coordinator as appropriate.
    
5. In-kind institutional matches must be justified and approved by the department head, dean, vice president for academic affairs, and Office of Research Services. Cash matches must have approved institutional budget lines identified by the department, dean, and vice president for academic affairs to cover costs prior to submitting the grant proposal to the granting agency. For budgetary reasons indirect costs such as release time, visiting lecturer pay to cover courses, tuition waivers, etc., and cash matches are considered in determining distribution of monies generated by a grant.
   
   If overhead monies are received from the granting agency a portion (up to 50%) of these funds will be distributed to the principal investigator (non salary), department and college.  Funds shall be distributed according to the following:

• 25% to the principal investigator
• 15% to the department
• 10% to the college

Prior agreement and approval in writing by the principal investigator(s), department head, dean, vice president for academic affairs and vice president for business affairs detailing the proposed grant budget and distribution of funds is required.

6. Requests for release time must be justified by the dean and must receive prior approval by the Vice President of Academic Affairs. Release time may be limited to one-quarter regular load for an active external grant as deemed appropriate.
    
7. Grant proposals must adhere to all granting agency guidelines, as well as state and federal guidelines and laws. Once execution of the grant has begun, it is the joint responsibility of the P.I. and the Office of Research Services to ensure that all guidelines are met.
    
8. Salary paid by grants may be limited as follows: (a) Depending upon agency requirements, employees who earn salaries from grants during sabbatical leave may receive a reduced sabbatical salary. All salary payments to faculty must be approved by the Office of Research Services, vice president for academic affairs, and vice president for business affairs; (b) Graduate students, undergraduate researchers, and other non-McNeese faculty paid from grants may be paid at a rate that is competitive with MSU rates and those in the industry. Salaries paid to other such non-McNeese faculty as matching funds may also be competitive with standard rates. All salary rates must have prior approval from the Office of Research Services, vice president for academic affairs, and vice president for business affairs.
    
9. This policy is reviewed and updated as appropriate. Comments and suggestions on how to improve this policy are welcome and encouraged. Correspondence may be directed to the Office of Research Services.