Dear Grant Administration Community,
I am writing to let you know that many ORS staff members will be working remotely as encouraged by Duke Leadership. We’re equipped with our Duke laptops and connectivity software like Webex, Jabber and VPN. Our goal is that all essential ORS activities will continue unabated, and I think we’ve proven this is possible during intervals when the severe weather policy has been implemented.
Most of our proposal submissions are electronic whether S2S, sponsor websites, or simply email attachments. If you have researchers who wish to submit proposals, we will be online to review and approve them as we normally are. I think we all need to understand that response times might suffer and that the further ahead we can plan, the better off we will all be.
We will continue to negotiate awards, to request WBSEs, and to issue new subawards and modifications. Again, there may be added delays, but we will strive to minimize them as best we can.
We ask that you continue to work with your assigned ADs. They should be your clearest line of communication, and they will continue to work with you to get the job done. If you receive an “out of office” message, please resend your request to ors-out@duke.edu. We will triage it from there.
Stay safe. Stay healthy. And most of all, stay at least six feet away from those other folks!
Keith Hurka-Owen