Training Opportunities

Mandatory Training for PIs and Research Administrative Staff - The Office of  Research, with the support of VCU's senior administration, has developed a mandatory training program in sponsored project compliance to increase awareness and accountability of proper grant accounting standards and practices and to reduce risk to the University.  All Principal Investigators (PIs) and VCU staff who manage funds in sponsored programs accounts are required to complete this training program.  Current PIs and research administration staff must complete the training program prior to September 30, 2008.   New PIs will be required to take the training before an award will be processed by the Office of Research.  Proposals will continue to be processed without delay.  The training program is available on Blackboard and should take approximately one (1) hour to complete.  To access the program, go to the VCU home page, click on Blackboard and log-in using your VCU eID.  Once in Blackboard, click on the Courses tab and select “Required Course – Sponsored Projects Training.”  All individuals must score a minimum of 70% on the examination that follows the training program.  Effective October 1, 2008, all Principal Investigators who have not taken and passed the course will not be permitted to continue expending on their existing accounts.  Accounts will be released following successful completion of the course.  The Office of Research has granted permission to the course to individuals they could identify as participants in research administration at VCU.   If you have any questions or if you are unable to access the training program on Blackboard, send an e-mail to erahelp@vcu.edu.

---

Join the Research Administration Listserve to be kept up-to-date on new policies and regulations and learn of new training opportunities as they arise. For instructions on how to join, please click here.

---

Sponsored Projects Administration Certification Program – Sixteen (16) individual seminars will be presented throughout the academic year covering topics relevant to sponsored project administration. Presentations are intended for those with three to five years of experience; however, anyone is welcome to enroll. Enrollment is limited to 50 per year. Information on the upcoming 2008-2009 program will be available in the Fall '08 semester.

---

Registration Form for all training sessions listed below available here

InfoEd Training - This class is a demonstration of how to use the information recorded in InfoEd to manage proposals and awards within a school and/or department. The class is designed for anyone assisting faculty in proposal preparation and anyone involved in the fiscal management of awards. This is a one and one-half hour class.

Introduction to Research Administration - This class is designed for individuals with less than three (3) years experience in research administration. The class will meet for one (1) hour for six (6) consecutive weeks.

Budgeting Class - Instruction on how to help faculty prepare a good proposal budget and information to help manage award budgets. This class meets for one and one-half hours for two (2) consecutive weeks.

NIH Workshop - This class is designed for those individuals who assist faculty in writing NIH grants proposals and those individuals who are responsible for the financial management of NIH awards. We will use the NIH Grants Policy Statement as our guide. This class meets for one (1) hour for four (4) weeks.

Certificate Recipients – Our inaugural class received their Sponsored Project Administration Certificates in August 2007