Published September 16, 2025, via Research News
Dear Faculty and Research Administrators,
Our Sponsored Projects Accounting (SPA) team is experiencing some delays in award setup, and I want to acknowledge this openly. We recognize how critical timely award activation is to your research programs, and we regret the inconvenience these delays may cause.
We are currently down one FTE in our award setup team and are working quickly to fill this position so that we can reduce the turnaround times. In the interim, we are utilizing resources from other teams within SPA to help us work through the backlog.
To increase transparency, we will begin including Principal Investigators on the email communication we send when the Notice of Award (NOA) is received. This email also includes a reminder of the items required for a smooth and timely setup, so that departments and SPA can work together to move forward as quickly as possible. An example copy of that communication may be found here. Please note that this email correspondence goes out within 1 business day of SPA receiving the NOA. Going forward, if you are aware that an NOA has been issued and you have not received this communication from SPA within the 1 business day timeframe, please forward a copy to sponsoredprojectsforms@wustl.edu to ensure that it gets properly logged in our queue.
We do have a significant volume of awards that are in the “pending department” status which means that SPA can’t move forward with setting up the award. I encourage research administrators to check the status of their awards and ensure that all necessary items are completed.
You can track your award set up on SPA’s Monday.com Award Setup Tracking Board.
Med School Only: SPA will require the region worktag going forward before an award can be set up. Please be sure this information is provided and accurate.
Thank you for your patience and partnership as we work through this temporary backlog. Your understanding and collaboration are greatly appreciated.
Thank you,
Krystina Gross, Associate Vice Chancellor for Finance & Sponsored Projects