Students and faculty will no longer need to complete tedious piles of paperwork to apply for University funding for academic projects, thanks to a new website launched by the Office of the Dean of the College.
UFunds, which went live in test form at the beginning of the semester, centralizes funding opportunities in one online location. Dean of the College Katherine Bergeron said that in the past, students would "cobble together" grants from different departments and would sometimes not be aware of available resources. UFunds provides an online hub for funding, resulting in "greater uniformity to requests," she said.
Currently, UFunds is only operative for the Office of the Dean of the College, which gives out research grants and funding for student projects and faculty curricular development programs.
Laurinda Custodio, executive assistant to the vice president of campus life and student services and the administrative contact for the Campus Life Fund, said she has heard from many student groups since the site's launch who had never previously contacted the fund.
UFunds is the latest measure undertaken by a joint committee of students and faculty to coordinate discretionary funding, Bergeron said.
In 2009-10, the University laid out goals to increase University Hall's efficiency, and a committee of students and faculty recommended reassessing the methods by which funding is dispersed after examining administrative structures.
Not only will UFunds reduce student paperwork, but it will also reduce the administrative time that goes into the process, Bergeron said.
The next goal is expanding UFunds to include other offices and sources of funding, said Barbara Sardy, special assistant to the dean of the College, who is working closely with developers of the site.
