The Sinclair NSF Grants Network S G N September, 2003

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The Sinclair NSF Grants NetworkS G N
September,
2003

• Neil Herbkersman
• George Sehi, Ph.D.
• Dave Siefert
• Sinclair Community College
• Dayton, Ohio

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NSF Support of Sinclair

• 28 proposals funded since 1989
• 13.1 Million in total
• 3 SCC divisions, 8 departments involved
• SCC is 1 among Community Colleges to receive NSF
  funding.
• Estimated 40 SCC faculty involved in NSF grants
  (PDs, PIs, Senior personnel).
  

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Background

• Organizational Grant(s) Awareness
• Grant Projects Awareness and Synergy
• Independence
• Redundancy and Duplication
• Learning from Grant Experiences
• Sharing/Leverage Lessons Learned and Best
  Practices
• Effective/Efficient Leverage of Institutional
  Resources
• Alignment and Impact
• Dont you folks talk
• Dr. Gerhard Salinger, NSF

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Lack of synergy is very costly
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Background

• Sinclair is the community college leader in NSF
  funding
• Sinclair Community College has received
  criticisms from NSF
• NSF project teams need help
• No mechanism in place for synergy, leverage,
  adoption/adaption

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Answer?

• The Sinclair Grant Network is a focal point for
  NSF grant related activities.

Ideas
Pre-Grant
Grant Related
Post Grant
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Goal of SNGN

• Create a focal point and community of expertise
  for all NSF grant related activities. Promote
  and achieve such outcomes as
• Organizational awareness
• Team-based Grant Management
• Knowledge transfer
• Institutionalization and sustainability
• Integrated framework for grant activities
• Knowledge management, continuous learning and
  improvement
• Pool of skilled and knowledgeable resources
• Leveraging best practices and institutional
  resources
• Support/Help/Assistance
• Alignment to the institutions strategic
  direction
• Use of commons processes and practices
• Measurable impact

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Plan?

• Establish Sinclair NSF Grant Network (SNGN)
  begin with NSF grants
• Conduct Grant Sharing Event (August, 2003)
• Brief President and VPI (August)
• PWG Approval (September)
• Establish SGN Oversight Team (further discussion
  later as to how this works)
• Next step Formal Kick-off (October)
• Align grants to College Related Strategies
• Create and Communicate SGN Web Portal (Create
  College-Wide Branded Focal Point)
• Establish Quarterly Update
• Conduct a College-Wide SGN Showcase

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From August NSF Grant Sharing Event (August,
2003)
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Network Accomplishments?

• Look for/leverage commonalities among the grants
• There are several major categories of activities
  (1) improving project management, (2) strategic
  management and advocacy, (3) grants office to-do
  list, (4) ways to improve communication

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Network Accomplishments?1. Improving Project
Management

• Share process for FastLane reporting
• Share project reports
• Share grant management strategies
• How to create and manage National Visiting
  Committees
• How to obtain and manage External Evaluators
• Create an evaluation template
• Develop assessment methods and tools to show
  learning gains and college impacts
• Share dissemination methods
•  Conduct workshops for new comers to grants
  development

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Network Accomplishments?2. Strategic Management
and Advocacy

•  1.   Research other colleges and network for
  future partnerships
•  2.   Market Sinclairs NSF expertise to other
  colleges
•  3.   Project teams should understand each other
  to become better ambassadors for each other
•  4.   Make the network process a best practice
•  5.  Broaden funding to include other agencies

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Network Accomplishments?3. Grants Office To-do
List

• Create a list of all NSF Sinclair grants and post
  on our web site
• Obtain a list of grants awarded to other
  community colleges
• Plan for quarterly sessions for the larger group
  communicate electronically between sessions

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Network Accomplishments? 4. Ways to Improve
Communication

• 1.     Use Sinclairs portal to set up a
  community of practice for sharing ideas and
  seeking help
• 2.     Create an internal listserv for project
  directors
• 3.    Create an Outlook distribution list to
  share
• 4.     Share NSF grant activities with all
  faculty
• Poster sessions at the October 31 CIL open house
  (contact Keith Knox)
• Poster sessions at the October 13 college
  learning day
• Poster sessions at the 2004 Fall Conference

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Who is the SNGN for?

• Those involved in an NSF grant
• Those interested in an NSF grant
• Those who have been involved in an NSF grant
• Sinclairs Grant Office

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Governance Structure?

• Create a steering group of eight people
•   Deans of Business Technology, Engineering and
  Industrial Technologies,
  Liberal Arts and Sciences
• One faculty member from each division membership
  rotates annually Business Technology,
  Engineering and Industrial
  Technologies, Liberal Arts and Sciences
• David Siefert
• Sinclair Grants Office
• The steering group reports activities to the Vice
  President for Instruction
• Report to Provost Work Groupvia Vice President
  for Instruction
• Inform NSF staff

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Benefits of SNGN

• Institutional Grant(s) Awareness
• Grant Projects Synergy
• Reduction of Redundancy and Duplication
• Learning from Grant Experiences
• Sharing/Leverage Lessons Learned and Best
  Practices
• HELP!
• Effective/Efficient Leverage of Institutional
  Resources
• Alignment and Impact

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