The purpose of seeking external funding (grants, contracts, and other sponsored programs) is to advance the teaching, research or public service mission of the university. External funding can be an important supplement to state appropriations, tuition and fees, and other sources of revenue available to the university. In view of this purpose, the following priorities should apply to the preparation and submission of sponsored activity proposals:

• Activities proposed should be appropriate to a university and should be clearly related to Western's specific mission.
• All externally-sponsored projects should be directed by a regularly-employed faculty or staff member.
• Project budgets should be structured to provide the best possible return to the university through indirect cost recovery (as permitted by the terms of each grant) and through the dual-funding of faculty or staff members in university budgeted positions who are assigned project work.