Congratulations on winning a grant award! The Office of Grants and Sponsored Research (OGSR) and Finance and Business Services (FBS) guide faculty and staff through the external and internal regulations and policies governing grant awards. We have the expertise and resources necessary to help the Principal Investigator (PI) use the award wisely and in compliance with the terms of the proposal, contractual agreements, and all appropriate regulations.
Your journey will start with receipt of an award notice from the funder. OGSR will initiate award set-up in Oracle; the process will be completed by staff in Finance and Business Services. Once the award is set up in Oracle, we will schedule an “Award Fundamentals” meeting with you. This meeting will introduce you to the requirements of managing your award, and the resources you can use to assist you, including use of a shadow budget to help you confirm that all expended costs show up in the official Oracle budget.
Grant Related Policies
HR Recruitment and Hiring
https://careers.tcnj.edu/recruitment-and-hiring-information/
Please use this link for broader context on hiring processes and employment classifications referenced in the March 9, 2026 HR message to the community (concerning temporary employment vs. additional payment requests).
HR Pay Requests
Human Resources website: https://hr.tcnj.edu/
This is where the new Additional Pay Request Form and related information will be posted beginning March 11, 2026.
Other Resources
b) Campus wide financial forms (including GSALs)
c) P-Card Reconciliation Instructions for Grants
d) Reclass instructions for Travel or P-Card (General Accounting/COA Correction Form).
e) Additional post-award resources and guides (BookIt!, GSALs, Oracle, Payroll, iContracts, etc.)
f) Student worker job aids (requisitions, hiring, time-cards, etc.)
g) Concur instructions for travel – Entity = “Grant”, Fund = your project number, Category = your organization, Other Fields = “0000”. Please contact Devon Manfredo for assistance.
The College of New Jersey’s Grant Points of Contact
Managing your award may require outreach to various campus-wide offices, systems, and services. Depending on your project, you may need to interact with some of the offices and personnel listed below.
Pre-Award Contacts
- Amy Cuhel-Schuckers, x3120 – Director of the Office of Grants and Sponsored Research
- Signs subawards and contracts for Pre-Award
- Oversees Pre-Award and Post-Award operations
- Cathy Virecci, x3259 – Associate Director of Grant Development
- Identifies potential funding sources
- Develops funding resources
- Prepares proposals and applications
- Heather Mayen, x3251 – Assistant Director of Proposal, Award, and Compliance Administration
- Leads budget development and proposal review
- Prepares subaward agreements
- Transitions awards to Post-Award and enters awards into Oracle Cloud
Post-Award Contacts
- Tina Albertson, x3316 – Grant Accounting Specialist
- Completes award setup in Oracle
- Monitors expenditures
- Generates fiscal reports
- Manages grant receivables
- Verifies and approves post-award grant forms
- Prepares time and effort reporting
Other Related Campus Contacts
- Anup Kapur, x2859 or Kristine D’Apolito, x2504 – Procurement Team
- Monitors and approves all requisitions and purchase orders
- Nicole Powell, x3253 – Accounts Payable Team
- Processes all payments to vendors
- Frank Nardozza, x2834 – System Access Control Team
- Handles system access questions
- Devon Manfredo, x3017 – Manager of Expenses and Financial Systems Training
- Manages and processes all P-Card and Concur (travel) expenditures
- Shari Blumenthal, x2701 or Kristina Farr, x2623 – Conference Meeting and Services Team
- Handles BookIt questions and concerns
- Ensure users are trained to select the correct POETAF or COA for grant events
- IT Support Specialists, x2660
- Refer to IT Support Specialist contact list for your area
- Tracey Sullivan, x2730 or Brianna Apostolico, x2282 – Human Resources
- Handles hiring questions (full-time, part-time, student aid, supplemental hires)
- Contact Tracey for general hiring questions
- Contact Brianna for supplemental payment concerns
- Luisa Marrano, x2932 or Jill Sinay, x3469 – Payroll
- Before contacting payroll, confirm TALEO requisition is fully approved
- Check approval timestamp to determine payroll processing timeline
- If approved at least two weeks before the next pay ru
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I modify my budget?
Please contact OGSR if you need to amend your budget.
How do I know how much of my time and effort can be charged to my award?
If you hold multiple awards with overlapping project periods, we must ensure that you are not overcommitted according to institutional and funder policy. Standard summer commitment is no more than 20% across all awards.
My grant includes a subaward. What do I need to do to move it forward?
If the grant includes one or more subrecipients, OGSR will generate a subaward agreement. Please set up a requisition in Oracle’s procurement module against which the subrecipient costs will be paid, and upload the subaward agreement as your backup documentation. Follow these instructions for subawards under $25,000. If this award includes a subaward is over $25,000, please reach out to the Procurement office to set this up. Once the requisition is approved, it will become a PO. As invoices are received from your subrecipient(s), sign and send them to apinvoice@tcnj.edu with the PO# clearly indicated on the invoice.
Who can sign my grant agreements or documentation?
Please review TCNJ’s Delegation of Authority and Signature Authority policy. Contract documents, modifications, no-cost extensions, and other funder actions and requests must flow through OGSR. Only approved signers have the authority to sign these documents.
How do I ensure that course release is charged properly?
If your award includes course release, a course buyout form should have been completed and approved via OneAegis prior to submission. If that step has not yet been completed, please contact OGSR.
I have a Federal research grant. Are there any considerations I need to be aware of?
Be aware of the Responsible and Ethical Conduct of Research Training Requirement. PIs are responsible for taking the training as well as ensuring the project team is trained. TCNJ offers RECR training through the CITI program module.
I have an NIH grant. What do I need to know?
Please note NIH’s Public Access Policy: Investigators must submit to the National Library of Medicine’s PubMed Central an electronic version of their final, peer-reviewed manuscripts upon acceptance for publication.
When are my reports due?
As PI/PD, you should confirm the accuracy of all reporting deadlines. It is the PI’s responsibility to ensure that reports are submitted on time. Your reporting deadlines should be listed in your contract/award documents. Please contact OGSR if you are unsure.
My grant requires cost sharing or matching. How do I ensure approvals are in place?
If the grant includes cost sharing/matching, all internal commitments must be confirmed via TCNJ’s cost-share approvals form. Matching costs must be tracked and reported. Contact OGSR with any questions.
How do I initiate summer salary or supplemental salary for myself or for other staff or faculty on the project?
If the budget includes funds for summer or supplemental salary to TCNJ faculty or staff OR compensation for an external hire, please be aware of TCNJ’s Compensation policy, and contact HR to request the initiation of a TALEO requisition. For new hires, HR will need a job description and an organizational chart. Once a candidate is selected, route an Authorization for Employment form through iContracts. Note: Summer months are July and August, as the Academic Year spans a 10-month period from September through June.
How do I initiate hiring a new grant-funded employee?
If the budget includes funds for an external hire, please be aware of TCNJ’s Compensation policy, and contact HR to request the initiation of a TALEO requisition. For new hires, HR will need a job description and an organizational chart. Once a candidate is selected, route an Authorization for Employment form through iContracts.
How do I hire student workers?
If you plan to hire student workers, please set up a requisition in TALEO. Review the Student Employment website for more information.
How do I handle participant support charges, including gift cards?
If your award includes Participant Support to students (including GAs), stipends and housing should be processed using GSAL forms (scroll down to Grants Post Award Forms). Instructions can be found at the same link. Gift cards can be purchased using a P-Card. Payments to external individuals under participant support should be processed via an ICR (and Professional Services contract if over $5,000) in iContracts. A requisition must then be created in Oracle and an invoice submitted to AP. Follow purchasing guidelines.
How do I pay vendors or consultants?
Payments to vendors or independent contractors must go through the procurement process. Professional services documentation must go through iContracts and the requisition process,whilepurchases for goods under $5,000 can be purchased with a p-card. Tech supplies such as laptops and computers must go through IT. Follow the Instructions for uploading to iContracts and processing/receiving requisitions. Questions should go through the purchasing office.
How do I link this grant to my departmental p-card?
If you plan to use a departmental p-card for any grant expenses, please be sure to read the p-card guidelines. Additionally, the grant Project must be added to the p-card and applied to the Project field during p-card reconciliation in order for the charge to process correctly.Note: P-Cards cannot be used for services. Contact Devon Manfredo for assistance, and be sure that the p-card reconciler is aware of which charges must be applied to the project.
What do I need to know and do before I travel domestically or internationally?
For any budgeted travel, please note that all travel (even mileage) needs to be entered via Concur. Additionally, federal per diem rates will apply even if your award is not federal. Per diem rates can be found on the U.S. General Services Administration Site. Flight seating upgrades are not allowable costs, with very limited exceptions.
When traveling or holding workshops or conferences, are there charges that are not allowed?
Per 2CFR200, Entertainment costs include amusement, diversion, and social activities and any associated costs. These costs are UNALLOWABLE unless they have a specific and direct programmatic purpose and have been approved by the funder. Alcohol is never allowable. Please ensure that your project does not include these costs unless direct funder approval has been received.
If I need to book space on campus at a cost, how do those charges get processed?
If you book space on campus for a fee, please be aware that the BookIt system is NOT integrated with Oracle. You must track these charges on your shadow budget and notify Tina Albertson that these have been charged.
What do I need to consider before purchasing equipment for this project?
For a single purchase of $5,000 or more for services, supplies, and/or equipment, you must obtain at least 3 quotes. If price competition is not feasible, please justify a sole vendor using the Sole Source Justification Form. Contact the Procurement Office with any questions.
What’s the best way to keep track of my grant expenditures?
OGSR highly recommends that you use a shadow budget to track expenditures. This will allow you and the grant management team to quickly identify any errors throughout the project. Contact Heather Mayen if you need assistance creating a shadow budget.