STEP Proposal Process

STEP Deadlines are July 15 for the Fall cycle and January 15 for the Spring cycle at 5:00 PM.  If either deadline falls on a holiday or weekend, proposals will be due the next business day by 5:00 PM. No late submissions will be accepted. All proposals should be emailed in electronic format (Adobe Acrobat or Microsoft Word) to stepproposal@louisiana.edu.  Due to the current requirement that each proposal include the Dean's signature, the primary investigator's (PI) Dean or Division Head should be copied on the email.

STEP Council 
The STEP Council consists of the University Chief Information Officer, SGA Vice President, all SGA College Presidents, the University Provost or his/her designee, the University Vice President of Student Affairs or his/her designee, and the Director of Disability Services or his/her designee. In the absence of a college president, that president may send a senator from his/her college for that college’s representation.  The composition of the STEP Council was changed in April, 2010 by the SGA to insure that all students were represented fairly and equally and that there would be more stability and continuity in proposal prioritization and project selection over time.

Dean/Division Head Review
Each Dean and/or Division Head should send a proposal priority list to stepproposal@louisiana.edu indicating the college/division ranked priorities associated with the submitted proposals faculty/staff from that college/division.  In addition to the priority list, Deans/Division Heads can also indicate if any of the proposals submitted by their faculty/staff should be removed from the proposal list.

Proposal Grading
Each STEP Council member will read and then grade ALL proposals using an eight-point grading scale (1-8) where 8 is the highest rank/grade and 1 the lowest rank/grade.  Grades will be recorded in a spreadsheet provided by the STEP manager.  STEP manager will compile and build an overall composite grade/rank sheet (based on submitted grades) and indicate which proposals will be funded (based on ranked order/grade and available budget).  When grading and evaluating proposals, members of the STEP Council use the STEP Plan goals and objectives, the University Strategic goals and objectives, proposal impact on students, and proposal total cost of ownership to prioritize and weight the relative merits and contributions of each proposal.

Award Letters
Award letters for all funded proposals are sent to each PI at the conclusion of the process.  This letter will include the proposal name, total amount of the award, award budget by object, account number, and conditions upon which the award was made.  Beginning in Spring 2011, all award letters will be sent via email.  In addition, all awarded projects and associated proposals will be posted on this site.

Tentative STEP Timelines

Questions 

Questions concerning the STEP process can be sent to stepproposal@louisiana.edu.  In addition, faculty and staff can discuss proposal ideas and obtain grant advice from the STEP Manager.  Students are welcome to make suggestions and interact directly with the STEP Manager concerning sustainable resources.