Signing Guidelines and Procedures
Global Programs will coordinate the signing process.
Signatories: An international agreement must be signed by the dean/chancellor of the college/campus proposing an international agreement. In addition, the Vice Provost for Global Programs must sign every international agreement. Also, the agreement must be signed by an individual with delegated signatory authority under University Policy FN-11 CONTRACTS AND LEASES.
If there are additional administrative units impacted by a proposed agreement, the head of each such administrative unit must sign the agreement. For example, any agreement involving a Commonwealth Campus must be signed by the Vice President for Commonwealth Campuses. Global Programs will identify all such additional signatories.
The President of Penn State does NOT sign international agreements. Exceptions may be made under rare circumstances, such as for agreements of fundamental, strategic importance to the University as a whole.
Electronic Signing Procedure: Penn State utilizes Adobe Sign to route agreements for electronic signatures. Generally, Penn State stakeholders will be asked to sign agreements first. Signatories and approvers will receive an email from echosign@echosign.com and must follow the prompts to review or approve the agreement. Once the recipient signs or approves the agreement, Adobe Sign automatically shares the agreement with the next signatory or approver. Once all Penn State stakeholders have signed or approved the agreement, the partially executed agreement is shared with the international proposed partner with a request for either original or electronic signature(s). Once the agreement is signed by the partner, it is fully executed and activities under the agreement may commence. Global Collaborations maintains an electronic database of all international collaboration agreements for the University. Scanned copies of the fully signed agreement will be distributed to all interested stakeholders.
Original Documents: Penn State no longer prints agreements for signature. If a proposed partner insists on original wet ink signatures, Global Collaborations will print the agreed upon number of agreements on parchment paper and send them to the appropriate signatories at Penn State and to the institution abroad. The collection of Penn State signatures may take several weeks, depending on signatory availability.
Signing Ceremonies: Signing ceremonies are discouraged unless the agreement is of major strategic importance to the University. Colleges/campuses are responsible for arranging a signing ceremony. Global Programs should be notified of the date as early as possible.
