Beginning in the late 1980s the V.S.I. provided occasional grants to support Vincentian research projects. A number of confreres, sisters, and lay scholars took advantage of this grant opportunity to support their Vincentian research, writing and publication. Since 2002 the Institute has expanded this program, offering up to $15,000 in grants annually. Two typical grants awarded in the recent past include: Sister Betty Ann McNeil's demographic study of the entrants into the Sisters of Charity of Saint Joseph in Emmitsburg, Maryland, from 1809 to 1850, and the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul, United States Province (1850–1909); and Dr. Richard J. Janet of Rockhurst University in Kansas City, Missouri, who is researching for a book tentatively titled: In Missouri's Wilds: A History of Saint Mary's of the Barrens Seminary and College 1818-2000. On the Web In 1998 the Institute's web site first made its appearance, and it has grown exponentially in scope and depth over the years. DePaul University hosts the site. Regularly updated, the site provides in-depth information about the V.S.I.'s mission and its activities. After its 1995 move to Chicago, the Institute experimented with a variety of outsourcing options for the bookstore operations. Since 2007 the Barnes & Noble has managed this e-commerce enterprise. Transition: The V.S.I. at DePaul University Through a prayerful discernment with the V.S.I. membership, the institute’s Governing Body concluded in 2006 that the time for a transition in sponsorship had arrived. An institutional candidate to take over sponsorship was immediately apparent: DePaul University. Given the long association of the Institute with DePaul, and given DePaul’s own Vincentian mission and institutional commitment to the Vincentian Heritage all sides readily agreed as to the desirability of this move. DePaul, for its part, pledged the financial resources to support the Institute as part of the university’s Office of Mission and Values, and also pledged to continue its traditional mission and forms of outreach to the wider Vincentian family in the United States. Both an editorial board and an advisory board have been established to help guide the Institute as it becomes part of the university on 1 July 2007. Further reading Edward R. Udovic, C.M., "The First Twenty-Five Years of the Vincentian Studies Institute of the United States (1979-2004)," Vincentian Heritage 23-25:1 (2005), 127-137. Catholic Church in the United States Catholic educational institutions Catholic media Catholic orders and societies Congregation of the Mission Educational organizations