Office of Research
Office of Research
2001 Harper Street
Columbia, SC 29204
The Office of Research at Benedict College provides opportunities for faculty and staff to engage in scholarship and research activities necessary to maintaining academic vitality in their profession and for sustained excellence in instruction and student learning. The primary objective of the Office of Research is to work with faculty and staff in seeking external support to strengthen research activities, enhance research and teaching infrastructure, and to provide public service consistent with the College’s mission. The office provides guidance to faculty and staff, to assist them with proposal development and submission. Research programs may vary according to funding sources and types of projects, but all are usually awarded from external sources for specific or broad range of activities. Generally, their application, award, and implementation require the coordinated efforts of the Research Office, and other campus offices for fiscal management and/or programmatic reporting.
Mission Statement
The mission of the Office of Research at Benedict College is to promote and facilitate research, education, and outreach programs through acquisition of external grants.
To encourage faculty, staff, and students to engage in research and scholarly activities, to strengthen their knowledge in their respective disciplines
To provide leadership and assistance in all areas of external grant funding and research support, by working with faculty and staff in the acquisition and administration of grant activities from pre-award planning and submission phase, through post-award processing and reporting stages.
To provide institutional oversight and compliance for all research programs, management of internal and external awards, faculty and student research within the core disciplines and across disciplinary teams.
General functions of the Office of Research include:
- Coordination of proposal development, submission and pre-award activities
- Providing oversight on regulatory and compliance issues related to research program activity
- Providing faculty development in grantsmanship and research capacity building
- Liaison with funding agencies, institutional Accounting Office or other offices to support research and related program activities
- Build collaboration with other academic institutions, governmental and non-governmental agencies to strengthen faculty research.
Specifically, the Office of Research:
- Review proposals for consistency with the college’s mission and policies
- Ensure that all special arrangements as specified in the proposal are met, i.e., additional space, facilities and/or services
- Developing budgets within agency and institutional guidelines
- Grant reporting and documentation for Grants Accounting
- Work with faculty on implementation of grants and contracts consistent with the stated objectives and institutional mission.
Pre-Award Planning Includes:
- Identifying and locating funding sources
- Assisting faculty and staff maintain compliance with institutional and agency policies and procedures
- Assisting proposer(s) in reviewing proposal for formatting, accuracy, and adherence to sponsor agency requirements and guidelines as required in the Request For Proposals (RFP)
- Assistance with online proposal application and electronic submission to various funding sources
- Conducting grant writing workshops and training activities on proposal development for faculty and staff
- Meetings with project staff to discuss funding strategy and proposal development
Post-Award Planning Includes:
- Collaboration with Institutional Committees to assist in oversight and monitoring of research compliance including animal and human subjects, biohazard safety, conflict of interest issues, and research misconduct.
- Assisting Grant Accounting Office with revisions of grant award budgets and continuing awards in accordance with agency guidelines.
- Assistance with compliance of sponsor agency reporting schedule.
- Serve as liaison between research faculty and staff and administration to ensure success of research and sponsored projects.
- Evaluation of post-award management of fiscal and non-fiscal activates with faculty, staff, and administration
