Strategic Initiatives Process:
ARRA Competitive Awards
- Overview
- Criteria for award of competitive ARRA funds
- Review Panel
- List of submitted proposals
- Updates - Selections announced
Overview
From President Mason’s Budget Update, May 19:
Subject to final action by the Governor, the University’s general education appropriation for FY10 will be reduced by $34 million. Simultaneously, the state has awarded the University an equal amount of non-recurring federal stimulus dollars under ARRA (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act). This combination of losses in state appropriations and temporary gain in federal funds enables the University to plan its core education budget more thoughtfully and strategically over the course of the next year.
Our budgetary challenges are significant. However, because of ARRA funds, we have an unprecedented opportunity to plan strategically to preserve the quality of the University’s core missions and achieve our most critical educational priorities . . . . Beginning July 1 and over the next 12 months, we will allocate approximately $19 million of ARRA funds to colleges and other units as an operating budget supplement. This will partially and temporarily offset the $34 million in state appropriation reductions and will forestall any immediate furloughs or salary reductions in state-funded positions that we had considered over the last several months. We will award the remaining ARRA funds through a competitive process to fund the very best ideas in teaching and learning; in research, scholarship, and creative work; in public outreach and service; and in administrative innovations, with the central purpose of reducing recurring costs or increasing revenue streams next year and thereafter. This is an exciting opportunity for creative thinking and action. With Board of Regents support, we intend to take full advantage of the ARRA resources to strengthen the University in these difficult economic times.
Criteria for Award of Competitive ARRA Funds
See the UI Budget web site: Processes and Criteria for Award of Competitive ARRA Funds
ARRA Review Panel
The Office of the Provost and the Senior Vice President for Finance and Operations have invited a group of faculty and staff from across campus to help evaluate ARRA applications. Using the published criteria, the panel will sort the applications into one of three categories:
- Meets the stated criteria and warrants further review by the Provost and Senior Vice President
- Does not meet the stated criteria and/or does not warrant further review by the Provost and Senior Vice President
- An interesting proposal that the panel would need more information about before rendering a recommendation
After their review is complete, the panel will meet with the Provost and Senior Vice President to make a verbal report regarding their recommendations. The Provost and Senior Vice President will prioritize the proposals and present their recommendations to the President, who will make the final decision regarding the allocation of the ARRA funds.
Panel members include:
- Greg Carmichael, College of Engineering
- Jon Carlson, President’s Office and College of Law
- Michael Cohen, Carver College of Medicine
- Raul Curto, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
- David Drake, Faculty Senate and College of Dentistry
- Rita Frantz, College of Nursing
- Hazel Kerr, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
- Cheryl Reardon, Vice President for Research
- Vicki Sharp, Carver College of Medicine
- John Spitzer, Tippie College of Business
- Jim Torner, College of Public Health
- Ex-Officios (conveners): Susan Klatt (Finance and Operations) and Don Szeszycki (Office of the Provost)
Submitted Proposals
For the first round of ARRA competitive award applications faculty and staff (through their deans or vice presidents) submitted 201 proposals totaling about $98 million. After further prioritization by one college, 160 proposals totaling about $78 million are being forwarded to the review panel.
See the list of proposals, including titles and amounts requested.
The announcement of the awards will be made by early July.
Updates
Update on review of ARRA proposals - July 10, 2009
We realize that the campus is understandably eager to know the results of the ARRA competition, since so many people in academic and administrative units have invested so much time and effort in submitting so many strong proposals.
The faculty/staff committee—which includes one dean; the co-chairs of the charter Budget Committee; and faculty who are experienced in reviewing grant proposals—read and ranked the proposals, taking into account the announced ARRA criteria and the deans’ prioritization of proposals from their respective colleges. We met with the committee and discussed in some detail their individual rankings. In order to be as thorough and fair as possible, we asked them to review the proposals again and rank them anew after additional consultations within the committee. Some of the new rankings were the same as the earlier rankings, and some were changed. Supported by our respective staff, we’re now going over the proposals to reach our decisions, informed by the committee’s rankings and the priorities set by deans.
We plan to meet with deans and vice presidents to provide an accounting of the review process, since the proposals were submitted through their respective offices. Then, we will present our recommendations to the President for final action.
The University is awaiting further state guidance on the use of ARRA funds for capital projects. It’s certain that capital projects above a certain threshold must be approved by the Board of Regents and that all ARRA expenditures will be subject to close and public scrutiny.
--Wallace Loh (EVP and Provost) and Doug True (SVP and Treasurer)
ARRA proposal selections announced - August 14, 2009
Out of more than 200 proposals submitted by academic and administrative units, University leaders have selected 18, totaling $14 million, for funding with federal stimulus dollars under ARRA (the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act). Read Provost Loh and SVP True's announcement about the selected proposals (pdf, 68kb).
