About the Social Sciences Division Local Business Center

The SSD Local Business Center provides business services to most academic and administrative units in the Social Sciences Division and several programs in the Humanities Division. We serve in four areas: Payroll and human resources; Procurement including reimbursement; Grant administration; and Budgeting and account administration. Units we serve are listed here.

The key LBC role is Faculty Service Representative. FSRs serve faculty members, chairs, and others in the four business areas listed above. FSRs authorize and oversee the processing of payroll and procurement transactions; assist with the development and submission of grant proposals; monitor, report, and adjust spending to remain within budget; ensure compliance with institutional and other relevant rules; and manage the technical aspects of opening, maintaining, and closing accounts. Faculty Service Representatives are clients' main point of contact for business services. The SSD Business Center includes five FSRs and four staff members who perform the FSR role part-time or in conjunction with other duties.

Local Business Centers were established in 1995 and 1996 in response to a centrally sponsored administrative cost reduction initiative. In contrast to the older departmental model of business administration, this LBC and a similarly successful Business Center in the Physical Sciences centralize staff in one main business office in order to standardize routine operations, support training and back-up, and share access to expensive expertise. The main Social Sciences Division Local Business Center office is located on the second floor of Kelly Hall, 5848 S. University Avenue. Since 2000 we have maintained a satellite office at the Biopsychology Building, 940 E. 57th Street.

Please send comments and questions to the manager, David Miller, at damiller@uchicago.edu or 773-834-4145.