The Africana Research Center encourages and supports research and scholarship that (a) enhances the lives of Africans across the Diaspora, and (b) serves as a catalyst for promoting an enabling environment where cultural production and discourse on diversity can be nurtured to advance the research, teaching, and outreach mission of Penn State.

Congratulations on being awarded a grant from the Africana Research Center. Please review the following grant award acceptance guidelines that provide information about accessing funds, providing evidence of your research outcome, submitting your final report, and acknowledging ARC sponsorship.

Use of Grant Funds

1. The Africana Research Center follows Penn State’s financial guidelines; therefore, all ARC grant awardees are required to follow Penn State regulations concerning the expenditure of any University funds. Contact the ARC office for answers or clarifications to any questions about the content contained in these guidelines.
2. The grant award agreement must be signed within 60 days of notification of an award but may not be signed until IRB certification is received. Once the grant award agreement has been signed, no changes to the approved, itemized grant budget will be permitted. Unauthorized expenses outside the approved, itemized budget will not be reimbursed. If the grant award agreement is not signed within 60 days, funds will be considered relinquished. Expenses accrued before signing the grant award agreement will not be reimbursed.
3. Travel information:
   1. Penn State requires that prior to postdocs/faculty/staff/students traveling to a foreign country, they complete the Foreign Travel Export Compliance Review Request Form (http://tsn.psu.edu/). If this form is not submitted, postdocs/faculty/staff/students may not travel using any University funds and, therefore, will not receive reimbursement.
   2. Penn State requires that prior to postdocs/faculty/staff/students traveling to a “restricted” destination (https://controller.psu.edu/countries-considered-dangerous), they complete the Travel Questionnaire for Restricted Destinations (http://controller.psu.edu/risk-management/travel-questionnaire-restricted-destinations). If this form is not submitted or if the trip is not approved by the University, postdocs/faculty/staff/students may not travel using any University funds and, therefore, will not receive reimbursement.
   3. Penn State requires that no less than 60 days prior to graduate students traveling to a “restricted” destination (http://controller.psu.edu/risk-management/countries-considered-dangerous), they complete the Request for Graduate Student Travel to Countries on the U.S. State Department Warnings List form (http://www.gradschool.psu.edu/current-students/student/travel/travelpolicy/). If this form is not submitted or if the trip is not approved by the University, students may not travel using any University funds and, therefore, will not receive reimbursement.
   4. Travel receipts should be submitted to the ARC after the completion of travel. The ARC will complete a travel reimbursement form and submit it, along with your receipts, to the Finance Office for reimbursement.
   5. Invoice Payments (Check Request) Information:
      1. All check requests must be for items on the approved grant budget.
      2. The ARC requires original invoices and documentation, along with specific instructions on payee name and remittance address, including SSN if within the USA. Wire transfers may be requested to pay non-US payees for a fee of $26 after providing the bank name, address, SWIFT code, account number, name on account, and type of account.
      3. Please allow up to three weeks for reimbursements to be processed.
      4. If funds are used to pay human subjects, each subject must sign a special acknowledgement receipt. The ARC will provide human subject payment forms at your request.
      5. Do not pay invoices for professional services. This would be considered a third-party payment. Instead, these expenses should be submitted as an invoice and paid for by check requests.
   6. Penn State Purchasing Card (PCard) information:
      1. The ARC does not supply grant awardees with PCards.
      2. Grant awardees who wish to use a PCard to pay for items on the approved grant budget may inquire about using their home department’s PCard. In this case, the ARC will then work with the awardee’s budget administrator to reimburse the home department for the expense.
   7. This grant will expire on the date listed on the grant award agreement, when funds are depleted, or when the awardee no longer has an official affiliation with the university. When one of these events occurs, the grant will be closed and the grant awardee(s) will no longer have access to any unused funds. No extensions will be permitted without approval from the ARC Director or Interim Director.
   8. No salaries, conference travel, tuition, books or equipment may be paid using grant funds, nor mayit be used solely to cover the cost of hiring a research assistant. Research grant funds may not be used to cover expenses that are covered by other university units.
   9. You must provide a final report in the form of an article, book, dissertation, etc., resulting from your work, and you must acknowledge the ARC on all oral and written projects emerging from your research grant funding. The ARC also requires either a presentation or a blog posting for our website discussing the results of your research.
4. Failure to abide by these guidelines and requirements of your signed Grant Award Acknowledgement Form may result in cancellation of ARC funds. By signing the agreement, you accept full responsibility for the research funds.