Provost area/campus schools guidance: Preparing a coversheet

The coversheet of a proposal summarizes key information for a sponsor and provides the required institutional signatures. It may, at the sponsor's request, also include the PI's, or his or her chair's signatures.

Many sponsors provide coversheets, either pre-printed or available in electronic format. Care should be taken to ensure that the most current version of the sponsor cover sheet is used.

The basic information for all coversheets for proposals from Duke should be entered as noted below:

  • The name of the applicant or the recipient is simply "Duke University", not the PI or any unit of the University. (The University, represented by the Office of Research Support, is the entity which will receive and accept responsibility for the award.)
  • The contact for the applicant, or award recipient, is the Executive Director of ORS, Keith Hurka-Owen
  • The applicant's address and phone number are those of the Office of Research Support: 2200 W. Main St., Ste. A-200, Durham, NC 27705; phone: 919/684-3030; fax: 919/684-2418; email: ors-grant@duke.edu.

If a coversheet is not provided by the sponsor, the PI will be asked to prepare a coversheet for the proposal. That coversheet can be generated by SPS by opening the SPS record, choosing Proposal Actions and then selecting Print Forms in the dropdown box. Choose Duke Generic for type of form and then Generate. Open the file as a PDF, save and print the first two pages of the document.

An investigator can create their own coversheet which should include the following information:

  • Sponsor's name
  • Applicant's name: Duke University
  • Applicant's address and contact information: Office of Research Support, 2200 W. Main St., Ste. A-200, Durham, NC 27708; phone: 919/684-3030; fax: 919/684-2418; ors-grant@duke.edu
  • Applicant's contact or award recipient: Keith Hurka-Owen, Executive Director, Office of Research Support
  • Title of proposed project
  • Name, title and contact information of the PI
  • Period of performance
  • Annual and cumulative budget totals
  • Signatures of the PI and the authorizing official

Application coversheets and forms often ask for a wide variety of ID, Code, and Assurance numbers. Find ORS facts for forms and applications here.

PIs, chairs, deans and others can not sign a proposal coversheet. Only authorized signing officials may sign a proposal for Duke. For more information access the Proposal review and submission page.

Access a Sample Proposal Coversheet.