Mission Statement and Goals

The Office of Sponsored Projects serves as a central resource to support the research enterprise by providing guidance and stewardship for the research community and the College.

The Office of Sponsored Projects directly contributes to the academic mission of Dartmouth College by providing support for obtaining sponsored research funds and managing sponsored research activity. Sponsored research enriches the Dartmouth community by providing revenue to establish new programs, conduct faculty research, and provide instructional and other services. In addition, sponsored funds support professional growth for faculty, postdoctoral fellows, graduate and undergraduate students, and staff.

The Office of Sponsored Projects is comprehensive in its scope and mission, handling both pre-award and post-award services. The Office has primary responsibility for assuring Dartmouth's compliance with the regulations of a range of funding agencies, for negotiating Dartmouth's indirect cost rate, and monitoring college-wide implications of these negotiations on a regular basis.

In 1992, the Office of Sponsored Projects assumed administrative responsibility for the Dartmouth Medical School's sponsored research activities. At that time administrative support for the Committee for Protection of Human Subjects (also known as the Institutional Review Board, or IRB) also came under the purview of the Office of Sponsored Projects.

Sponsored projects fall within several general functional categories. Examples of those categories are: research, training, curriculum development, public services, fellowships, art exhibitions, and equipment awards. This support extends from a proposal's conception through to the completion of a sponsored research project. The Office of Sponsored Projects has identified the following goals in support of its mission:

• Provides individual and/or small group assistance to encourage effective use of sponsored research services.
• Organizes and participates in workshops and presentations related to grant activities.
• Serves as contact point for information and interaction with faculty, deans, administrators and sponsor representatives on sponsored research matters.
• Develops, organizes, and oversees various current awareness services providing grants-related information to faculty and administrators.
• Monitors trends in sponsored research and responds to changes in the field.

The Office of Sponsored Projects has institutional responsibility for protecting the College's interests as those interests relate to the seeking and management of sponsored research opportunities. The Office is empowered by the Trustees to make commitments on behalf of the institution, and in doing so must be aware of and comply with all current College and sponsor policies. To insure both protection of the College's interests, and continued and varied sponsor support, the Office of Sponsored Projects routinely engages in the following activities:

• Serves as the College's focal point for sponsored activities from federal, international, state, and private sources.
• Initiates policies and procedures and certifies compliance with federally mandated regulations that impact many areas of the institution.
• Reviews College and DHMC grant and contract proposals and responds as institutional officials authorized to commit the institution to external agreements.
• Negotiates agreements with regard to budget, terms and conditions, while coordinating with the PI that the scope of research is in line with the funds available.
• Maintains the College's official database for proposals and awards, in order to project future funding trends, provide data for tenure decisions and analyze financial impacts on the institution.
• Acts as a permanent member of the Council on Sponsored Activities, the institutional committee responsible for research policy, and coordinates the agenda for the Council.
• Represents Dartmouth College at national and regional meetings concerned with improving the research environment locally and nationally.

Federal Demonstration Partnership:

• Dartmouth College's Participation in FDP IV
• FDP Homepage
• Participants in the Federal Demonstration Project