The Office of Sponsored Programs at Elon University promotes and facilitates research and scholarly activities for faculty and administrative staff by assisting them in securing external grant funding, administering awards, and ensuring compliance with internal and external regulations and policies. Sponsored Programs provides a central source of information on major governmental agencies, foundations and corporations that support research, and pedagogical and creative activities.

The Office of Sponsored Programs provides assistance, from conceptual development and planning of proposals through implementation and administration of funded projects. More specifically, it assists in identifying potential extramural funding sources, developing proposal narratives and budgets, completing standardized application forms, assuring compliance with applicable federal and state regulations, negotiating grant awards and contracts, and providing administrative assistance for funded projects.

Because external funding is awarded to Elon University on behalf of a faculty or staff member, the Office of Sponsored Programs functions as the primary liaison between the sponsor, university administrators, and the Principal Investigator in matters of policy, procedures, and regulations, and provides communication, education, and training on proposals, awards, and contracts to the Elon University research community. Some examples of communication between OSP and the sponsor include prior approval requests, administrative changes during the life of the award, requests for no-cost extensions, and reporting requirements. Additionally, the Director and Assistant Director serve as Authorized Organizational Representatives (AOR) to submit proposals and negotiate and accept sponsored research awards and service agreements.

To learn more, see our Guide to the Preparation Proposals to the preparation, review, approval, and submission of proposals for external funding.

Note: Please allow 7 business days for internal review and submission of a proposal to ensure adequate lead time. Multi-institutional or collaborative proposals may require additional time.

Updated NSF Templates

NSF has recently made enhancements to the biographical sketch and current and pending (other) support fillable PDF formats. The updated formats are consistent with the Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures Guide (PAPPG) and are available by clicking the above link.

NSF made the following enhancements in response to feedback received from the research community:

Current and Pending (Other) Support:

  •  Corrected the Status of Support radio button
  •  Corrected fonts and margins for compliance with NSF policy
  •  Included the revision date (rev. 01/19/2023) at the bottom of each page

Biographical Sketch:

  •  Corrected margins for compliance with NSF policy
  •  Included the revision date (rev. 01/19/2023) at the bottom of each page

NSF Proposal and Award Policies & Procedures Guide (NSF 23-1)

This guide is effective for proposals submitted or due on or after May 20, 2024. This version of the PAPPG becomes effective on May 20, 2024.

Overall changes include:

  • Editorial changes have been made throughout to either clarify or enhance the intended meaning of a sentence or section.
  • Website and document references have been updated to reflect current information.
  • Updates have been made to ensure consistency with data contained in NSF systems or guidance located and terminology used in other NSF or Federal policy documents.

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