Grants Administrator

Department: College of Education and Human Development

Classification: Financial Svcs Specialist 1

Job Category: Classified Staff

Job Type: Full-Time

Work Schedule: Full-time (1.0 FTE, 40 hrs/wk)

Location: Fairfax, VA

Workplace Type: Hybrid Eligible

Pay Band: 04

Salary: Salary commensurate with education and experience

Criminal Background Check: Yes

About the Department:

The College of Education and Human Development (CEHD) is an innovative, inclusive and cutting-edge college that successfully prepares professionals to promote learning and development across the life span while contributing meaningfully to research in human and organizational performance as well as in the learning and developmental sciences. The college, with nearly 130 full-time faculty members, more than 300 part-time faculty members and nine academic divisions offers 27 academic programs, at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, across its three schools, the School of Education, the School of Kinesiology and the School of Sport, Recreation and Tourism Management. In addition, faculty engage in an extensive portfolio of research and are fully engaged in the community. The CEHD is ranked among the top 100 College of Education in the world by the Shanghai ranking of world universities and is among the top tier in the rankings of the US News and World Report.

About the Position:

As a member of the CEHD Dean’s Office Research Administration team, the Grants Administrator position provides pre-award and post-award division level support to faculty and staff in an assigned portfolio of units. Duties include but are not limited to: assisting with the preparation of materials for proposal packages and post-award managements tasks, processing of financial and human resources transactions, preparation of monthly billing reports, the reconciliation of grant funds, support of internal SEED grants and other duties as assigned by the supervisor. The Grants Administrator assists with ensuring that all pre-award and post-award activities of the divisions, centers, institutes and college adhere to all federal, state, university and sponsor policies, procedures, guidelines and regulations. Grants and Contracts housed in Centers, Institutes and larger research intense divisions require more cross unit collaboration and coordination and inherently have more complex higher-level support needs due to the nature of their work.

Responsibilities:

• Works proactively to ensure all grant funded personnel transactions are handled in an accurate and timely manner and works closely with the CEHD ORA & HR teammates to ensure all approvals and paperwork are on share drive to support all transactions processed. Also assists with the preparation of Funding Change forms to update labor distributions, entry of summer salary transactions in the CEHD summer salary system, and with maintaining payroll reconciliation tracking worksheets and personnel action logs;
• Prepares required documentation, coordinates the collection of required information and processes requests for grant funded purchases, consultant agreements, hotel contracts, service agreements, travel requests, honorariums, participant support stipends, supplies and materials, catering/food & beverage, wire transfers, research subject payments, tuition waivers, fellowships, scholarships, journal vouchers, etc., for approval in systems such as eVA, Banner and the Mason Finance Gateway;
• Ensures all grant funded p-card transactions are reconciled and approved by university monthly deadline;
• Assists with maintaining electronic filing systems for awarded grants to include approved budgets, justifications and fully executed subcontractor agreements;
• Reconciles monthly expenditures for assigned grants to ensure all personnel and direct expenditure charges are correct and that all required source documentation and approvals are on file;
• Works with supervisor to forecast expenditures for internal budget reports, budget amendments and sponsor required financial reporting requests;
• Assists supervisor with keeping CEHD Senior Director of Research Administration apprised of all correspondence, expenditures, budget balances, potential compliance issues and all pre-award and post-award requests;
• Also assists with resolving a variety of grants issues and the preparation of other sponsor requests.
• Provides support for post-award management tasks:
  • Prepares VADoE monthly detailed billing reports with required cost codes, rebudget justifications and detailed expenditure descriptions in an accurate and timely manner for supervisor review/approval and submission to OSP Billing Specialist for OMEGA system billing to VADoE each month;
  • Works closely with supervisor to ensure all requests that require sponsor approval are submitted to the CEHD Senior Director of Research Administration for review and final approval in an accurate and timely manner so final requests can be submitted to the sponsor for consideration by preferred/required due dates;
  • Assists with additional sponsor required financial reporting requests for student support, cost share match, annual performance reports and financial updates required by other universities when GMU is in a subaward role;
  • Works closely with the supervisor to assist with the management of the subaward process for all awards, prepare subaward modifications and provide CEHD ORA teammates with the information and supplementary documentation needed to coordinate requests with OSP Contracts team, subaward partners and the prime agency when additional prior approvals are needed; and
  • Also assists supervisor with determining remaining expenditure commitments and funds available for Carryover and No Cost Extension requests and collects any other required documentation needed to process requests.
• Assists new and established Principal Investigators in understanding sponsored project requirements, university/agency fiscal policies and procedures; works with Principal Investigators, supervisor and teammates on the development of proposal budgets; collection of required proposal documentation such as commitment letters from partners and consultants; preparation of cost accounting exemption waiver documents and cost share requests and any other supplementary sponsor/agency specific proposal documentation needed for the accurate and timely submission of proposals;
• Attends new award meetings and monthly/quarterly/biannual grant meetings with PIs and research support team; monthly CEHD ORA team meetings, Division/Center meetings; FSCN meetings, and any other meetings as requested by the supervisor or the CEHD Senior Director of Research Administration;
• Also attends training provided by Mason and external organizations and contributes to CEHD Office of Research Administration website, and CEHD Research Administration policy, procedure and other resource development initiatives; and
• Backs up other teammates as needed and handles other duties as assigned by the supervisor and CEHD Senior Director of Research Administration in partnership with the assigned Divisions, Centers, Institutes and units.

Required Qualifications:

• High school diploma or equivalent;
• Demonstrated experience working in research or grants administration, accounting, finance, and/or business administration or an equivalent combination of education and experience;
• Demonstrated ability to research, investigate, analyze, and interpret proposal, award and fiscal compliance requirements;
• Applicable knowledge of generally accepted accounting principles and fiscal business practices, Office of Management and Budget (OMB) 2 CFR 200 Uniform Guidance, grant proposal preparation, agency/sponsor specific guidelines. In addition, a basic understanding of the type of the research, training, outreach and science being performed within our unit;
• Excellent organizational skills; clear and effective communication skills (verbal and non-verbal); strong analytical skills and high attention to detail; diplomacy; process improvement and desire to achieve high outcomes; problem-solving;
• Microsoft Excel, Word, Power Point, Adobe Acrobat, Internet skills and search tools;
• Effectively manage multiple priorities; work calmly under pressure with a sustained level of accuracy and productivity;
• Demonstrated teamwork and initiative;
• Desire to learn and excel;
• Ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships with peers and faculty and must be able to work independently and autonomously as well as collaboratively in a group or structured setting;
• Must be experienced and comfortable reviewing proposal and award guidelines, interpreting federal, state, university and sponsor specific guidelines, policies and procedures and working with multiple PIs;
• Must also possess effective time management skills and be a quick learner to a variety of electronic systems used in this position; and
• A strong focus on customer service, time management, teamwork, professionalism, accuracy and attention to detail is essential.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in related field; prefer a 4-year college degree, or equivalent combination of education and experience, with demonstrated experience working in a university setting to support externally funded research activities;
• Applicable knowledge of George Mason policies and procedures as it relates to fiscal services, purchasing, travel, human resources, sponsored programs and research administration;
• GMU applications such as Banner, Patriot Web, Workflow, Microstrategy, etc.; and
• CEHD Summer salary system, proposal and award databases and other systems as assigned.

Instructions to Applicants: 

For full consideration, applicants must apply for Grants Administrator at https://jobs.gmu.edu/. Complete and submit the online application to include three professional references with contact information, and provide a cover letter and resume.

Posting Open Date: April 22, 2024

For Full Consideration, Apply by: May 8, 2024

Open Until Filled?:  Yes