Academia has a plethora of abbreviations and terms and MSU is no different. Here are some of the terms that you might hear as you walk around campus. Email [email protected] if you have terms to add to this list!

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Term                                   Definition

AACUO Association for Affiliated College and University Offices
Academic Council The Academic Council will provide vision and leadership for the academic enterprise of the University.
ACE American Council on Education
Activity Insight Montana State University collects information for faculty annual reviews, annual reports, discipline-specific accreditation documents and other reports and publications through Activity Insight, a web-based product created and hosted by Digital Measures. The system will be able to produce faculty annual review documents, NSF and NIH Biographical Sketches, CVs, pre-defined custom reports, ad hoc reports, and documentation to support P&T dossiers in real time based on the information uploaded, entered, and curated in the database. 
ACYF Administration for Children, Youth and Families
Ad Astra All MSU rooms are scheduled on the Ad Astra room calendar. 
ADAMHA Administration on Drug Abuse, Mental Health and Alcoholism
AFDC Aid to Families with Dependent Children
AIE American Indian Education or Indian Education for All is a Montana law that says “Every Montanan … whether Indian or non-Indian, be encouraged to learn about the distinct and unique heritage of American Indians in a culturally responsive manner… All school personnel should have an understanding and awareness of Indian tribes to help them relate effectively with Indian students and parents. ... Every educational agency and all educational personnel will work cooperatively with Montana tribes … when providing instruction and implementing an educational goal.”
ASAP As soon as possible
ASMSU Associated Students of Montana State University: Student body government of MSU
AYCSS Allen Yarnell Center for Student Success: Center within the Division of Student Success promoting academic, professional, and financial success support for students
Banner An enterprise system that MSU uses to manage university business such as registering students for classes and paying faculty and staff.
BDM Banner Document Management (also called Electronic Document Management or EDM).
BIA Bureau of Indian Affairs
BPA Banner Payment Authorization: Used to pay invoices/vendors
BOM Business Operations Manager
Brightspace D2L Learning Management System: Brightspace Learning Environment is commonly known as Brightspace, Brightspace LE, or D2L.
Brightspace Learning Environment is a complete web-based suite of teaching and learning tools for course development, delivery, and management. Brightspace is accessed through a password, maintaining a secure environment for course content and instructor/learner information.
Budget Council To create, communicate and implement logical and easily understood fiscal processes that lead to fair budgetary guidance or resource allocations that directly support University strategic goals and priorities.
CAA College of Arts & Architecture
CASE Council for the Advancement and Support of Education
CatBooks CatBooks (AgBooks) was developed in-house to meet departmental needs for grant, project and program accounting. CatBooks is a secondary (or shadow) ledger that many departments on campus use in order to reconcile indices and provide customized encumbrances to stakeholders.
CFAC Computer Fee Funding Allocation committee
CFDA Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance
CFE Center for Faculty Excellence: The Center for Faculty Excellence develops and provides experiences, opportunities, and resources that support the growth of faculty in achieving excellence in teaching, research/scholarship, and service.  The Center supports all MSU faculty, across all career stages. 
CFR Code of Federal Regulations
Chromeriver

Chromeriver is the name of the expense management software that MSU uses for travel and other purchases.

https://www.montana.edu/chromeriver/ 
CLS College of Letters & Science
COA Cost of Attendance or Conflict and Other Affiliations (Grants) or College of Agriculture
CON College of Nursing
Conflict of Interest training The Conflict of Interest (COI) policy is intended to enable employees to recognize potential conflicting interests and, thus, to protect themselves and the University from inappropriate influence or bias through disclosure, evaluation, and, if required, management or elimination of conflicts of interest. 
Cost Share/Matching Funds A portion of the project or program costs not borne by the federal government, and therefore covered by some other source. These can be faculty time, consultant time, instrument time, or other sources of funds from non-federal agencies.
Cost Transfer (or finance/payroll corrections)  Cost transfers occur when expenditures are moved from one externally sponsored project fund to another.  The administration of cost transfers is very important whenever federal or state funding is involved because expenditures may only be charged to a particular grant or contract if they can be specifically identified with the funded activity they benefit. 
CPS Counseling and Psychological Services: Counseling services at MSU for students, faculty and staff.
CSWT Campus Safety & Welfare Team: Run through Dean of Students’ Office, team dedicated to supporting students with safety and welfare issues, assessing risk
CWS College Work Study
DA Departmental Administration
DC Direct Costs
DEA Drug Enforcement Administration
Degreeworks DegreeWorks is a web-based degree planning and audit system designed to help students and academic advisors monitor progress toward degree completion. 
Department Accountant Department staff member who is responsible for estimates and projections for fiscal planning, insures proper appointment and timely compensation to all employees, and initiates payment to vendors for goods and services received by the department.
DocuSign DocuSign is an electronic signature (e-signature) platform for sending, signing, and managing documents securely in the cloud. 
DOD Department of Defense
DOE Department of Energy
DOEd Department of Education
DOS Dean of Students Office: Conduct, student safety and welfare, other student support services, lives within Division of Student Success.
DOT Department of Transportation
DSS Division of Student Success: Student Affairs/Services Division within MSU 
EDI Electronic Data Interchange
EDM Electronic Document Management (also called Banner Document Management or BDM).
EEO Equal Employment Opportunity
EFAC Electronic Fee Funding Allocation committee
EFT Electronic Funds Transfer
EHHD College of Education, Health & Human Development
Encumbering A portion of funds which are reserved to cover specific budget items and will not be available for any other expense (i.e. salaries).
EPA Environmental Protection Agency
EPAF Electronic Personal Action Form: Form that starts the hiring process/starts a new employee getting on payroll
F & A Facilities and Administrative Costs (formerly Indirect Costs)
FAFSA Free Application for Federal Student Aid
FERPA Family and Education Right to Privacy Act: Right to Information act stating that MSU cannot share personal student information unless a Release of Information has been signed by the student. Different departments have different processes for this (whether a release if valid, how long a release is good for, type of release accepted, etc)
FIPSE Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education
Fiscal Manager (FM) FMs are part of the Office of Sponsored Program staff and assist in the financial, reporting, compliance, auditing and related tasks for grants management.
FOIA Freedom of Information Act
FSA ID Federal Student Aid identification
FSR Financial Status Report
FY Fiscal Year: July 1 – June 30
FYI For your information
GA General Administration
GAO Goverment Accounting Office
GID Student/employee ID#: 8 Digit # starting with "-" (Usually pronounced “GID”, not “G-I-D”)
GRA Graduate Research Assistant: graduate student who conducts research in a relevant area of their major course of study under the direction of a faculty member.  The research often forms the basis for a thesis or dissertation.
GSA General Services Administration
GSL Guaranteed Student Loan
GTA Graduate Teaching Assistant: graduate student who is involved in instruction, usually of undergraduates.  MSU faculty members oversee all GTA teaching duties.
HEA Higher Education Amendment
HEARS Higher Education Administrative Resource Service
HED Higher Education Daily
HENA Higher Education and National Affairs
HHS Department of Health and Human Services
IACP Institutional Animal Care Program
IACUC Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee
IDC Indirect Costs (now called Facilities and Administrative Costs)
IEFA Indian Education for All is a Montana law that says “Every Montanan … whether Indian or non-Indian, be encouraged to learn about the distinct and unique heritage of American Indians in a culturally responsive manner… All school personnel should have an understanding and awareness of Indian tribes to help them relate effectively with Indian students and parents. ... Every educational agency and all educational personnel will work cooperatively with Montana tribes … when providing instruction and implementing an educational goal.”
IHE Institution of Higher Education
IM Intramurals: Short-term sports activities offered through Recreational Sports and Fitness
Inception-to-date report A cumulative budget report approved by the awarding sponsor of expenditures as the project progresses (the report includes encumbrances).
Index numbers These are your account numbers in Banner. Grants generally start with a number followed by a letter and then 4 numbers. Thes numbers can be used when charging allowable MSU services to the grant.
Indirect Costs or Facilities & Administration Costs Indirect costs represent the expenses of doing business that are not readily identified with a particular grant, contract, project function or activity, but are necessary for the general operation of the organization and the conduct of activities it performs. In theory, costs like heat, light, accounting and personnel might be charged directly if little meters could record minutes in a cross-cutting manner. (US Education Office) The rate is negotiated with the federal government and is calculated by dividing the cost of doing business (infrastructure costs) by the research expenditures. The amount is calculated by multiplying the direct costs of the grant times the percentage.
Invoicing Invoices are received from vendors and subawardees in order to receive payments from MSU.
IPATNT Intellectual Property Administration and Technology Transfer (at MSU only)
IR&D Independent Research and Development
IRB Institutional Review Board
IREX International Research and Exchanges Board
IT Community Information Exchange The purpose of the Information Exchange is to build a unified IT Community at MSU by bringing together individual IT expertise (individuals) and resources on campus to accomplish work in support of the MSU mission. 
JJCBE Jake Jabs College of Business & Entrepreneurship
Knox Knox is an UIT-managed secure file server that utilizes encryption to safeguard student data and other information that MSU has a legal obligation to protect. 
LAR Laboratory Animal Resources
LGBTQ Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer
LMSU Leadership Montana State University: Staff Development Program
MAS Montana Associated Students: Statewide student body leaders
MIP Minor in Possession of Alcohol: Conduct charge for drinking/drugs
MPN Master Promissory Note
MTA Material Transfer Agreement
MTDC Modified Total Direct Costs
MSUBot A course availability notification system for Montana State University courses.
MUS Montana University System: 16 universities and colleges in Montana, including Montana State University campuses, University of Montana campuses, and community colleges
NA Not applicable
NACOE Norm Asbjornson College of Engineering
NASA National Aeronautics and Space Administration
NEA National Education Association
NEA National Endowment for the Arts
NEH National Endowment for the Humanities
NFAH National Foundation on the Arts and Humanities
NIA National Institute on Aging
NIAAA National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism
NIDA National Institute on Drug Abuse
NIE National Institute on Education
NIH National Institutes of Health
NIHR National Institute for Handicapped Research
NRA National Rehabilitation Association
NRSA National Research Service Award
NSF National Science Foundation
NSLDS National Student Loan Data System
OCHE Office of the Commissioner for Higher Education: Central administrative unit of the Montana University System and the Board of Regents (poronounced "O-CHEE")
Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP) OSP manages all functions related to sponsored programs at Montana State University or any activity, research or otherwise, that is funded by an external source such as federal, state, or private organization.
OMB Office of Management and Budget
ONR Office of Naval Research
OPA Office of Planning & Analysis
Open, Close or Change Memo Memo that is sent from OSP to the PIs and co-PIs when a grant is awarded, amended or closed. It outlines the key information around the grant and any requirements (i.e. training) or changes to the grant.
Organizational Prior Approval Systems (OPAS) System used to request budget changes from OSP, no cost extensions and establishing pre-award fund/index numbers.
ORP Outdoor Recreation Program: Program run through Recreational Sports and Fitness, outdoor equipment rentals available, along with outdoor programming for students
OSE Office of Student Engagement: Student body government, clubs, community service, student programming
OSHA Occupational Safety and Health Administration
OSI Office of Science Integrity
OSTP Office of Science and Technology Policy
OTA Office of Technology Assessment
Outreach & Engagement Council To strategically champion engagement at MSU through outreach, leadership, and service to fulfill the land-grant mission.
P Card Purchasing Card: Issued credit card from department to make department-approved purchases (not every employee has one)
PA Program Announcement
PACE Program Activities & Campus Entertainment: Student activity board that plans concerns, events, etc
PHS Public Health Service
PI Principal Investigator
Planning Council The Planning Council is responsible for promoting an alignment between the institution’s strategic plan and resource development and allocation. 
Program Official The person who coordinates the process by which the grant proposals are evaluated and awarded. This is a Project Director at the NSF and a Scientist Administrator or Program Officer at NIH. Foundations also often have a Program Contact.
Projections Predicting expenditures for a certain amount of time based on past trends or future expectations.
QSA Queer Straight Alliance (Student club)
RCR  Responsible Conduct of Research training: the practice of scientific investigation with integrity and involves the awareness and application of established norms and ethical principles in the performance of all activities related to scientific research.
Research Capacity Team The Research Capacity Team (RCT) advances research and scholarship at MSU by sponsoring workshops on all aspects of grant development and management, partnering faculty for grant writing mentoring, providing mini-grants for faculty to enhance and explore additional research opportunities, and offering other initiatives that support faculty success in research and scholarship.
Research Council Enhance the research enterprise at MSU and provide guidance and recommendations for strategic investments to facilitate discovery on the MSU campus.
Renne Library MSU Library
RFA Request for Applications
RFP Request for Proposal
RFQ Request for Quotation
RHA Residence Hall Association: Student leaders for residence life
RSF Recreational Sports and Fitness: Department within the Division of Student Success that houses, recreational sports, personal fitness, group fitness, maintenance of the fitness center, outdoor programs, club sports
SAP Satisfactory Academic Progress
SBA Small Business Administration
SEA State Education Agency
Service Learning Advising Committee Advises on aspects of service learning at MSU.
SPA Sponsored Programs Administration
SPC Special Conditions appeal
SPIN Sponsored Programs Information Network
SRO Sponsored Research Office
SUB Direct Subsidized loan
Subawards/Subcontracts Grants and awards provided by the prime recipient to a subrecipient to carry out part of a Federal award. Subawards are typically subject to the terms and conditions of the prime award. MSU maintains policies on subawards that must be adhered to.
TDC Total Direct Costs
Teaching Excellence Action Committee Improve faculty teaching by allocating funds for faculty development projects; support assessment and outcomes on campus by sponsoring teaching improvement activities; support attendance at instructional development workshops which provide the potential to impact teaching methods on campus
TGA The Grant Advisor
Time & Effort Federal law requires documentation of all time being spent on grant funded projects that involve federal dollars. Through its web-based Time and Effort (T&E) reporting process, Montana State University accounts for the distribution of effort by employees involved in grant activities.  All individuals who devote effort to grants or contracts, whether they receive pay or not, are subject to effort reporting. 
TLAs Three letter acronyms (LOL!)
UFPB University Facilities Planning Board
University Council The mission of the University Council shall be to ensure that the institutional policies and procedures support the university's strategic plan and land grant mission.
UNSUB Direct unsubsidized loan
USC United States Code
USDA United States Department of Agriculture
VERF Verification