Dear General Campus, Health Sciences and Marine Sciences Research Communities
The Office of Contract and Grant Administration (OCGA) and the Division of Graduate Education and Postdoctoral Affairs (GEPA) are partnering to change and improve the way Graduate Student Extramural Funding activities are handled at UC San Diego. The aim is to deliver the best customer service to graduate students, researchers, business officers, and administrative staff by reorganizing the services provided by our offices.
As of June 1, 2022, OCGA began processing all proposal and award activities for fellowships and non-fellowship extramural funding for graduate students. Previously, GEPA handled these activities.
This new model leverages OCGA’s expertise and will provide our graduate students with dedicated research administration support.
Graduate student home departments will play a critical role in the success of this model. They are expected to provide the administrative support that they currently provide their researchers funded by extramural sponsors, including the creation and routing of proposals in Kuali Research to OCGA.
We recognize that not all departments are structured the same way. As such, GEPA will serve in a liaison role to direct graduate students to appropriate departmental resources in the proposal and award process.
OCGA is working with GEPA to transition web resources on Blink and the Services & Support Knowledge Base. Additionally, OCGA will provide opportunities for both graduate students and departmental staff to learn about its services through office hours and training opportunities.
Third-party student billing (transacted exclusively in ISIS) will remain with Student Financial Services (Submit a Ticket).
Contract setup (including PTAF assignment), billing, and post-award financial services will remain with Sponsored Project Finance.
We believe that this new structure will better serve our graduate students and help them as they learn how to be successful applicants and recipients of extramural funding in their own academic careers, and in the long run, help reduce administrative bureaucracy.
