Santa Clara University

Updated July 9, 2009

Proposed Description for Principal Investigator Eligibility

For each sponsored project, one investigator is typically designated as the Principal Investigator. The Principal Investigator has absolute responsibility the overall conduct of the sponsored project including all financial, administrative and compliance aspects of the project. Other individuals with significant involvement may be listed as Co-Principal Investigator. Guidelines for Principal and Co-Principal Investigator eligibility are listed in the table below:

A non-tenure track faculty member with an academic year appointment and an administrative or academic staff member in a continuing position may be an eligible Principal Investigator with the approval of the appropriate Dean or Vice President and the Associate Provost for Research Initiatives. Approval may be granted for individual or multiple projects when the following conditions are met:

• the proposed project is consistent with current job responsibilities and competencies as well as available resources including time allocation; and
• the proposed project will make a critical contribution to the goals of the College, School or Division.

If there are multiple investigators, then a tenured or tenure-track faculty member or a staff member in a continuing position should serve as the Principal Investigator and other faculty or staff members should be Co-Principal Investigators.

Questions regarding Principal Investigator eligibility should be directed to the Associate Provost for Research Initiatives.

Current Description as stated in Sponsored Projects Office Handbook

Only members of the Faculty Senate, deans and university officers of higher rank are eligible to submit proposals to outside agencies. Faculty Senate members include all full-time members of the regular faculty (i.e., Assistant Professors, Associate Professors and Professors), senior lecturers and lecturers.

The Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs may grant exceptions to this policy only if the proposed project meets both of the following conditions:

• The project is critical to the research program of an academic department.
• No eligible faculty member is both qualified and available to serve as principal investigator.

A request for exception should focus on a single proposal, be initiated by the Department Chair, and be addressed to the Dean of the College or School with a full explanation of the reasons. If the Dean endorses the request for exception, it should be forwarded to the Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs for review and decision. A copy of the approval memorandum must be part of the final proposal package submitted to the Sponsored Projects Office.

Those ineligible for principal investigator status may be identified as Associate Investigators, but not as Co-PIs.

Rationale

Over the past year, there have been increasing requests for non-tenure track faculty to serve as Principal Investigators. The current description of Principal Investigator Eligibility requires greater clarification given the broad range of current non-tenure track faculty positions and increasing number of academic research staff positions. The proposed description includes a clear definition of those positions that are eligible and those that are not eligible to be Principal Investigators while also identifying areas that require greater consideration and formal approval. The proposed description also adds a consideration of current job responsibilities and competencies as well as available resources for guiding the approval of non-tenure track faculty or continuing staff members as a Principal Investigator.