This Business Officer document is blurbed, "Stimulus funds for university research can be a mixed blessing, causing an institution’s facilities and administration rate to shrink. A case study presents strategies to keep rates in check."

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The American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA) presented higher education institutions with an unprecedented level of funding to expand and improve their research opportunities. Since ARRA's creation in February 2009, however, the government and academic community have debated the best approach to accounting for the additional funding and capturing its effect on facilities and administration (F&A) rates—the amount of overhead, or indirect costs, associated with federally funded research that universities can recoup.

The government, understandably, wants justification of every ARRA dollar awarded; ARRA grants come with a host of documentation and reporting requirements. Equally understandably, universities with increasingly tight budgets seek to recover from the government a significant percentage of their overhead costs. These costs have escalated with ARRA's administrative requirements, as universities must devote more staff time to gathering and submitting the required data. Given the government's regulations and stance in F&A rate negotiations, university leaders now question whether they'll be picking up more of the research tab—and, if so, just how much it could cost them.

Oh, no! You won't be getting a printed SCUP–45 Preliminary Program in the mail this year. Instead, SCUP is going green and regularly updating this digital version (PDF), which you can download at any time.

Check it out! You don't want to miss higher education's premier planning conference, and your one chance this year to assemble with nearly 1,500 of your peers and colleagues: July 10–14, Minneapolis.

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SCUP's Planning Institute: Enjoy the F2F company of your colleagues and peers while you engage in one of the three SCUP Planning Institute Steps. In addition to being offered on demand, on campuses to teams of campus leaders, the institute steps are also offered to all professionals at varying times and venues. Currently scheduled are:

• May 22–23, Ann Arbor, MI - Step I
• July 10, Minneapolis, MN - Step I (in conjunction with SCUP–45)
• October 2, Ann Arbor, MI - Step I
• January 21–22, Tuscon, AZ - Step II and Step III

From the Carnegie Foundation, an archived (a month old, but free) webcast on the "stimulus package" as it relates to education: "Carnegie President Anthony S. Bryk and Teachscape President Mark Atkinson recently interviewed Joseph Conaty, acting assistant secretary for elementary and secondary education of the U.S. Department of Education. During the informative web conference, Conaty reviewed elements of the new federal stimulus package and discussed how to maximize its instructional impact."