The College of New Jersey is dedicated to free inquiry and open exchange, to excellence in teaching, creativity, scholarship, and citizenship, and to the transformative power of education in a highly competitive institution. The College prepares students to excel in their chosen fields and to create, preserve, and transmit knowledge, arts, and wisdom.
In support of this mission, The College of New Jersey encourages research and creative activity across the full range of academic disciplines and student support operations and services. The College’s commitment stems from its public service mandate to educate leaders in New Jersey and the nation who seek to sustain and advance the communities in which they live.
In furtherance of its mission and public mandate, the College’s faculty and staff may submit proposals to sponsors for support. Sponsors are external organizations, including federal, state, local, and other government entities, private industry, non-profit organizations, educational institutions, and other organizations.
Principles Guiding Sponsored Programs at TCNJ
The College of New Jersey is guided by, and adheres to, the following principles:
- External funds are awarded to the institution (either TCNJ or the TCNJ Foundation) and not to individuals. Only the Board of Trustees and the TCNJ Foundation Board have the legal authority to apply for and accept grants, contracts, and agreements on behalf of the College. This authority is delegated to the President, who may further delegate that authority to the Provost, the Vice Provost, the Vice President for Advancement, and the Treasurer. The individuals serving in those roles may sign grants and grant-related contracts as officially designated institutional signatories. The TCNJ President may, at his/her discretion, delegate signatory authority to other officials on a temporary or permanent basis. Official signatures may be secured only after the documents have been approved through the College’s official external funding proposal approval system, eGrants.
o The TCNJ Foundation is a single-purpose entity, the sole mission of which is to support the College by accepting monies from non-public funding agencies on behalf of TCNJ because it is the 501(c)(3) (charitable according to IRS definition) arm of TCNJ. The role of the Foundation is simply for fiscal agent designation and in no way affects any other aspect of the research or scholarly work, or other work being conducted by the project.
o The TCNJ Development office, within the Division of College Relations & Advancement, must be notified in advance of all planned funds seeking activity involving private foundations.
- As an official recipient of awards, The College of New Jersey is obligated to, and shall, comply with all applicable state and federal laws, rules and regulations governing institutions of higher education and recipients of public support.
- The Principal Investigator (PI) or Project Director (or the lead PI, where there is more than one) on a sponsored program is solely responsible for every aspect of the project. Therefore, the PI is expected to know or become knowledgeable about all regulations guiding the project and for ensuring that the commitments made to the funding source are fully met and comply with all applicable regulations.
- Grants are prepared and administered with the concern for accountability to the funding agency in mind. Therefore, from the earliest proposal planning stages to the close of the funded project, careful records are maintained to document meticulous compliance with the specifications of the funding source and all applicable regulations.
- TCNJ is generally guided by federal regulations for all grants, regardless of funding source, except where the funding source or College regulations are more stringent, in which case the more restrictive regulation is followed.
The Grantsmanship Partnership
Grantsmanship at The College of New Jersey (TCNJ) is a partnership among the faculty, staff, administrators, and the Office of Academic Grants and Sponsored Research (OAGSR). Each party makes unique, important contributions to a partnership that strives to foster an intellectually vibrant environment by seeking external resources from public and private agencies and foundations in support of academic and scholarly endeavors.
Faculty and staff bring a vast store of knowledge and skill pertaining to their discipline and the particular academic or research project they seek to advance. This expertise goes beyond scholarly knowledge of the area to include related information about professional organizations, leaders in the field, networking opportunities, and the like. Deans, chairs, directors, and other administrators offer leadership, expertise and resources.
The Office of Academic Grants and Sponsored Research (OAGSR) provides the infrastructure to promote scholarship at TCNJ. The dual purpose of this office is to (a) inspire and sustain high standards within the campus community regarding funding proposals for external grants; and (b) provide direct support of fund-seeking and funded activities to enhance research and learning.
In this capacity, OAGSR administers TCNJ’s pre-award grants process, which covers all aspects of proposal preparation to proposal submission and proposal amendment (where applicable). OAGSR also provides focused guidance for collaborative projects through the initiation of Project Concept Development meetings. These meetings are designed to help focus the research goals and project implementation details of larger grant opportunities.
As part of the post-award process, OAGSR reviews and accepts awards on behalf of the institution; the Office of Budget and Finance sets up accounts for awarded proposals, reviews and approves grant expenditures, monitors program implementation timeline and prepares required fiscal reports, officially closes out accounts or awards at the end of the project period, and ensures TCNJ’s compliance with a variety of federal and state regulations. In addition, OAGSR develops and refines college policies that affect sponsored projects. OAGSR also maintains an active and informative website.