Taft provides departments with research support funds to enable faculty research on small-dollar (below $2,000 per) projects. Where a specific project requires $2,000 or more in financial support, faculty may apply for research support. Where the research support required is less than $2,000, faculty must use department allocated research support (DARS) funds.
The following guidelines should be used in seeking funding for projects:
- Each funding request must be accompanied by a project name and short description;
- DARS funds may only be used to either directly support a faculty research project, exclusive of other funding opportunities, or to improving the research infrastructure of the department. Eligible expenses include but are not limited to the following:
- Purchase of books, videos or other research materials not held by UC libraries or available through OhioLINK;
- Purchase of software or data sets;
- Payment for technical or consulting services such as video-taping, laboratory analysis, etc.;
- Expenses involved in conducting interviews or distributing surveys;
- Professional memberships or conference costs, where these support a specific research project;
- Purchasing a small research collection, not supported by UC libraries or services through UC libraries;
- Material purchases (books, data sets, software) must be purchased and held in a manner that allows the widest possible use. Whenever possible, such materials should be purchased through the University Libraries, to be held in circulating collections.
Full disclosure of non-Taft funds received, both inside and outside the university, is required. The Taft grant may not duplicate other funds granted for the same purpose, except when a deficit in the project budget is anticipated even with such non-Taft funds.
Other rules guiding the expenditure of monies under the DARS program include:
- Items that support faculty research only obliquely, e.g. computers, are not an eligible expense under DARS.
- Expenses eligible under other Taft programs, irrespective of support limits for these programs, are not eligible expenses under DARS.
- DARS funds may not be used to support Departmental Operating Expenses.
- All grant funds must be expended exclusively in furtherance of the grant and all expenditures of grant funds must comply with university policies relating to financial transactions, including the Code of Conduct and, as discussed in the Code of Conduct, the ethics laws of the state of Ohio which prohibit certain private financial interests in university matters.(University Rule 3361:10-17-03(D); http://www.uc.edu/content/dam/uc/trustees/docs/rules_10/10-17-03.pdf
- Independent student projects are not eligible expenses under DARS, except where these projects directly support a specific faculty research project.
- Each department shall, in a democratic fashion, determine the procedure and distribution of Departmental Allocated Research Support funds.
- Publications and creative work generated with the help of Taft grants should acknowledge the Charles Phelps Research Center. Copies of such publications should be sent to the Chair of the Taft Executive Board.
DARS balances will be sent to each department at the start of the fiscal year. It is incumbent upon the departments and faculty to track their DARS balances and expenditures. Purchases are to be made by Taft faculty and will be reimbursed by Taft, following the submission of the following:
- A project name, a short description of the project, and how this purchase relates to said project;
- Original, itemized receipts and proof of payment
- Documented approval of the expense by the department and/or reimbursement authorization from the appropriate supervising agent (typically the department head);
Failure to meet the above requirements will result in a reimbursement delay as materials are sent back to departments for additional processing.
Department Chairs are responsible for reporting the intended distribution of DARS funding for the forthcoming fiscal year by including this information in the Department Head Annual Report submitted to Taft at the beginning of each year.
In the spring of 2015, the Taft Faculty executive board voted to allow the carryover of DARS funds into a second year, and by special permission a third year. Implementing this policy requires that we observe the following rule, stated on a yearly basis to make it clear:
- Year 1: The department is provided with monies from the DARS program.
- Year 2: The department is provided with monies from the DARS program and the previous year's unexpended DARS monies are rolled over to be used within this fiscal year.
- Year 3: The department is provided with monies from the DARS program, the previous year's unexpended DARS monies are rolled over to be used within this fiscal year, and by special permission Year 1 DARS funds may be carried over.
- Year 4: The department is provided with monies from the DARS program, the previous year's unexpended DARS monies are rolled over to be used within this year, and by special permission Year 2 DARS funds may be carried over, though unexpended DARS funds from Year 1 are reallocated and no longer available to the department.