Grant Administration

The Dean’s office would like to help facilitate the writing process. Although the PI is responsible for providing the research specific part of these grant applications, most also require extensive information about the institution, training and educational support, diversity initiatives, and outcomes. Our office has compiled boilerplate text about the institution and resources below. As always, please provide ample turnaround time to ensure timely completion if you request letters. Please use the linked documents as is or in a modified form in your applications.

Letter of Support Request

When submitting proposals for grant funding or award nominations, most require including a letter of support from the institution. The Office of the Dean for the School of Medicine Basic Sciences recognizes this. To promptly provide these letters of support, please use the link below to complete a RedCap survey to ensure the forwarding of your request to the correct person. We ask that this survey be submitted four weeks before the submission deadline to provide ample time for revisions and proper forwarding. Requests for letters of support that ask for specific financial, space, or other material resource commitments from the institution should be submitted at least 30 days before the preferred grant submission date.

Please provide as much information about the funding mechanism or award as possible. Including your most recent CV is required, and a draft letter for use as a template is greatly encouraged.

School of Medicine Basic Sciences Letter of Support Request Survey

Templates and Style Guide:

Template documents are available for use in preparing your draft letter of support. They are offered as guidance, not rules. Also, VU and VUMC have adopted a Style Guide. It provides useful tips, such as language for how to refer to each entity (VU and VUMC) when writing drafts.

S10 Example Letter of Support (PDF)
Style Guide (PDF)

Grant Ready Text and Templates

Most grant applications require extensive information about the institution, training and educational support, and shared resources. The Dean’s office has compiled text and links to institutional resources, which are available below. Click on the links below to access text and supporting documents. Please use the linked documents as is or in a modified form in your applications.

Grant Studios

Studios are structured, dynamic sessions that combine relevant research experts in a particular methodology to focus on a specific research goal. Studios are intended to enhance research quality, improve funding success, increase publications, and generate new hypotheses.

Studio Types:

• Hypothesis Generation Studio (assist investigators with generating clear, concise, meaningful, and innovative research questions and hypotheses) 
• Design Studio (assist investigators with developing improved research protocols to address specific research hypotheses) 
• Specific Aims Studio (a critical review of the Specific Aims to provide a solid foundation for the investigator to develop a robust research proposal) 
• Grant Review Studio (a critical review of the research strategy and overall grantsmanship to enhance the chance of funding) 
• Manuscript Studio (a critical review of the draft manuscript to improve the chance for publication) 
• and more…

To request a Studio, submit a VICTR Resource Request; Click here for step-by-step guidance on completing the VRR. Please note that they typically need at least 3-4 weeks notice to schedule a Studio. You must log in to StarBRITE with your VUMC VUNET ID (Dual Identity).

For additional questions, please contact: Lesa Black, Studio Manager – lesa.black@vumc.org or 615-343-1899

Grant Closeout Guidance

Closeout of an award is the process by which NIH determines that the recipient and NIH have completed all applicable administrative actions and all required work of an award. It is the Principal Investigator’s (PI) ‘s, along with the grant administrator’s and the Sponsored Programs Administration (SPA) Office’s responsibility to complete the closeout of a grant, contract, or cooperative agreement. The guidelines established by the agency are specific to the award, and you must follow them as appropriate. It may be necessary to work with the Office of Contracts and Grants Accounting (OCGA) and the SPA Awards Management Team for verification and/or submission of required reports.

NIH Closeout Report Requirements:

• Final Federal Financial Report (except for Fellowships) * You must be logged in to eRA Commons with the appropriate role(s) to complete these activities.
• Final Research Performance Progress Report  (except for Fellowships for which the Termination Notice will continue to serve as the Final Progress Report)
• Final Invention Statement and Certification (except for Training grants, Fellowships, and specific other programs—e.g., activity codes C06, R13, R25, S10)

Preparation for closeout should begin three months before the award’s end date to forecast expenses accurately and to make any necessary adjustments to new entries. This time allowance also provides an opportunity to determine the necessity of a no cost extension. (See “No Cost Extension Guidelines” for further assistance.) If a no-cost extension is not needed, the award should be closed out per the sponsor’s guidelines, and you should submit all relevant closeout reports no later than 120 days after the project end date. The required items’ submission guidelines are in the Notice of Award Agreement. Failure to submit timely and accurate final reports may affect future funding to the organization and/or awards with the same PD/PI. Contact the SPA Award Management Team for additional assistance.

We welcome your feedback and suggestions. Please send any comments to Selene Colon in the Office of the Vice Dean.