Suzette, we are also a small sponsored programs office of 2 1/2 people.
Florida Gulf Coast University is a very new predominantly undergraduate
university, so we have all the start-up activities of a new university
and of a new sponsored research office, as well as the normal daily
activities, to keep us super busy.  Grant program dissemination used to
take up at least two hours of my day, every day.  We have streamlined it
now so I spend only part of one day, every two weeks, in order to
distribute an electronic funding memo.  Here's how we do it:

Since the Board of Regents has designated certain Florida universities
as research institutions, we take advantage of their expertise.  The
University of Florida ORTGE sends us, via e-mail, their bi-weekly
funding memo, which is extremely comprehensive and contains web links to
most sponsors and programs.  I spend about 2 hours culling their memo,
selecting only the programs that are relevant to our university's
mission and our faculty's interests.  After I have selected the
pertinent entries, my student worker creates a rough Funding Memo (in
our preferred format), using UF's summary description of the program and
the web links.  (If a program does not have a web link, I order
supporting information from UF.)  I then polish the rough Funding Memo
and distribute it as an attachment to an e-mail to all faculty and
selected staff members.  Total time:  one day every two weeks (we each
spend part of one day).

Perhaps your state university system's structure would allow the same
kind of cooperative relationship.  If you are able to try this out and
want more details of how we put it together, you can contact me
directly.
Donna Stremke
Contracts & Grants
941-590-7020 (voice)
941-590-7034 (fax)
xxxxxx@fgcu.edu

> ----------
> From:         Suzette S. Mauney[SMTP:xxxxxx@APPSTATE.EDU]
> Reply To:     Research Administration Discussion List
> Sent:         Thursday, October 01, 1998 1:34 PM
> To:   xxxxxx@hrinet.org
> Subject:      Information Dissemination
>
> We are a small sponsored programs office of 2 3/4
> people. I have a question regarding the dissemination of
> funding opportunities. The previous listings have prompted
> me to inquire for more information.
> Currently, anything I receive in the way of
> funding opportunities that I believe would be of interest
> to our faculty I send via inter-campus mail. We have a
> graduate assistant that does the copying, memo, and
> mailing.  My question is: What other ways do research
> offices disseminate funding opps to faculty? We have things
> on line for faculty to access, but I haven't a clue as to
> how often they are used. We have thought about using our
> web page as a bulletin board for listings. We all know that
> there is a vast amount of information for faculty, and I am
> looking for a time conscious way to disseminate it as
> needed. What do all of you do with the hundreds of
> announcements you receive???
> Thanks for any input!
> Suzette
> ----------------------
> Suzette S. Mauney
> Appalachian State University
> Assistant Director, Sponsored Programs
> (704)262-2694*fax(704)262-2709
> xxxxxx@appstate.edu
>