March 2018 – NORDP News

NORDP 2018 Conference Cameo: Natalie Fields

#NORDP2018 starts Monday, May 7 in Arlington, VA. Keep checking back here at the blog and on our Twitter feed (@NORDP_official) for live conference updates. Register here: http://www.nordp.org/conferences.
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Who: Natalie Fields, Director of Strategic Initiatives and Research Communications
Where: Emory University School of Nursing
Number of years in research development: 7
Length of NORDP membership: 1
Number of NORDP conferences attended: 1
What is the most interesting place you’ve visited? A coral reef

I came to Emory University in 2011 with no background in academic research. I had come from a non-profit as a director of development, therefore, I had some knowledge about grants but was still a far ways off from NIH R-level experimental research! I worked as a Pre-award research administrator for about five years. Currently, I work in the Office of Nursing Research, directing our strategic initiatives (i.e., mock reviews, lunch & learns, research dissemination) to support faculty, students and fellows in their research endeavors.

Last year’s NORDP conference has played a huge role in my current position. Our office restructured a few years ago, which opened up the opportunity for us to redefine some of our services. The timing for finding NORDP was perfect. I attended the 2017 conference and for the first time was able to clearly define my role (particularly outside of pre- and post-award research administration). When I returned from the conference I had great perspective and strategic vision about what direction I wanted to take our office in. At the conference, I learned more about how other schools organize and manage all the “other stuff” not directly related to proposal development or award management, such as research communications and fostering external relationships—so much so, that I came back from the conference and presented a plan for expanding our office’s services to include more strategic initiatives and research communications. This led me to a promotion from Senior Coordinator to the Associate Director of the Office of Nursing Research. Thank you, NORDP!

At this year’s conference I look forward to engaging with colleagues from other institutions at the networking dinners (they’re great!). Also, I have new ideas for my office and I think this year’s sessions will help me think through those ideas and gather new information to formulate them into a plan.

To get the most out of the conference I would recommend having plenty of business cards to hand out and brainstorm questions with your team before you go so that everyone can get the most out of the conference even if they aren’t there.

See you there!

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We hope to see you at the Conference, which will be held May 7-9, 2018 at the Hyatt Regency Crystal City in Arlington, VA. For more information about the conference program or to register, visit http://www.nordp.org/conferences. Follow @NORDP_official on Twitter for all the latest #NORDP2018 updates.

NORDP fosters a culture of inclusive excellence by actively promoting and supporting diversity, inclusion and equity in all its forms to expand our worldview, enrich our work, and elevate our profession.

NORDP 2018 Conference Cameo: Peg AtKisson

Who: M.S. (Peg) AtKisson
Where: AtKisson Training Group
Number of years in research development: 18
Length of NORDP membership: 9 (I think)
Number of NORDP conferences attended: 8 or 9 (I forget)
When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up? Actor, then attorney. Now have a job requiring both skills.

I started working in research development before it had a name. I started as a contract grant writer, in part because of my PhD qualifying exam at Tufts University. The exam consisted of a mock grant proposal and defense, and one person on my committee, that person who never likes anything, said it was the best he’d ever seen. Fast forward a few years later to a meeting where my dissertation advisor’s best friend heard the associate provost for research say in a meeting that it would be great to have someone who could write well and had a broad understanding of science, which resulted in a phone call to ask, “What’s Peg doing?” Convoluted, yes? Like most people who entered early into RD, I came through a convoluted path.

Our office at Tufts grew organically, with success breeding more work and my eventual transition from contractor to staff, and positions being created for the contractors I’d needed to hire. We focused on large proposals, but also provided training, funding searches, support for individual faculty, larger strategy—all the things that now seem standard for RD offices, but which so many of us created individually because these were what our faculty and administrations needed from us. NORDP formed about the time I left Tufts to work for a grant training company, and I joined the following year. I wish NORDP had existed when we started doing RD work at Tufts, and I have enjoyed being a contributing member.

NORDP conferences always feel like coming home. I always learn something, and I’ve made not only great professional connections, but also good friends. RD professionals are some of the most creative, collaborative, and kind people on the planet. I always find the meeting energizing and leave with new ideas and new connections.

If you haven’t attended a NORDP conference before, be prepared for something a little different, and talk with people, talk with people, talk with people!

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Call for NORDP Board of Directors Nominations and Applications

Nominations and applications are now being invited for NORDP Board of Directors positions. Nominations for Board positions are due April 6, 2018, and applications for the same are due April 13, 2018.

Available positions: Four Board of Directors positions are available in 2018. Three of these seats represent members whose terms are ending in 2018, and one is a new seat. All four seats are open to eligible NORDP members from any type of institution or region. New Board members are elected for four-year terms.

Eligibility: All regular members of NORDP in good standing who meet the qualifications outlined below are eligible to apply for Board of Directors positions. Any NORDP member employed by a for-profit company that employs more than 25 people is an affiliate member of NORDP and not eligible for election to the Board. Current Board members whose terms are expiring are eligible for nomination and re-election unless they have already served two consecutive terms (in which case they must wait at least one year before becoming eligible for re-election).

Qualifications: Qualifications for serving on the Board of Directors encompass a number of factors, including:

Active support and/or service to NORDP (e.g., service on committees, working groups, or other efforts on behalf of the organization). While conference presentations are highly valuable to the organization, they do not in and of themselves constitute active support of the organization or demonstrate an individual has knowledge of how NORDP operates and how its mission is served.
Experience in research development that demonstrates deep knowledge of the profession.
Experience serving on non-profit boards or providing other forms of organizational leadership.
Demonstrated ability to communicate well and work collaboratively.

Expectations: The expectations for NORDP Board members are significant in terms of time and effort. Members are expected to actively participate in the Board, head committees, and pursue activities that advance the NORDP mission and goals. The time requirement for Board members averages 10 to 12 hours per month. A more detailed position description for members of NORDP’s Board of Directors are available on the NORDP website.

Selection Criteria: The Nominating Committee will evaluate applicants for the ballot based on the following criteria:

Potential of applicants to serve NORDP effectively, as reflected in their application materials and other evidence such as their description of interests in serving on the Board and the contributions the candidates think they can make, their specific goals for NORDP, and why they think they would make a good candidate.
Diversity of Board members is highly desirable, although there are no formal requirements.
Diversity of institution type, location, size, focus, etc. is also highly desirable.

Nomination and Application: Nominators and applicants are requested to prepare submissions in a word processing program and then cut and paste the information into the on-line forms.

Applicants must also upload a brief résumé/CV (three pages maximum) in PDF format, a brief biographical sketch (200-word maximum) in Word format, and a high-resolution headshot (2MB maximum file size; 72 dpi is acceptable).

Nomination: You may nominate another individual for a Board position using the online form by April 6, 2018. Upon receipt of a nomination, the Nomination Committee will contact the nominee to request completion of an on-line application.
Application: If you are interested in serving as a Board member, please complete the on-line application form by April 13, 2018.

Selection and Voting Processes: All members of NORDP in good standing (including affiliate members) are eligible to vote in the election, which will be held online. The Nominating Committee will review applications and present the nominees to the membership for a voting process according to the following schedule, which relates to the Annual Meeting (May 7 to 9, 2018):

Two weeks prior to the Annual Meeting: The Nominating Committee will notify candidates regarding eligibility and placement on the election ballot.
Annual Meeting: Nominees who have been placed on the ballot by the Nominating Committee will be invited to participate in an open candidates’ forum during the Annual Meeting (specific date, time, and location will be indicated in the conference program and uploaded to the conference website http://www.nordp.org/conferences). Candidate information will be posted to the NORDP website, and the voting period will run from May 7 to 31.
July 1, 2018: Newly elected Board members assume their duties.

Please contact Nathan Meier at nlm@unl.edu or 402-472-3902 if you have any questions regarding the Board of Directors nomination, application, or election procedures.

Thank you in advance for your participation in the Board of Directors nomination and application process, which is designed to ensure strong leadership of NORDP.

Posted on behalf of the Nominating Committee and Board of Directors

NORDP 2018 Conference Cameo: Augusta Isley

Who: Augusta Isley, Proposal Manager
Where: Ball State University (Muncie, Indiana)
Number of years in research development: 8
Length of NORDP membership: 3
Number of NORDP conferences attended: 1
When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up? A paleontologist

Like most, I started my career in RD completely by accident. I got ‘in’ as a website development / techie GA for our Sponsored Programs Office (now SPA). Upon graduation, I was (thankfully) hired in SPA full-time as a research information coordinator (RIC). My duties were website development, education and outreach development, managing our electronic resources, and finding funding for faculty. But really I wanted to do everything my director would allow and asked an annoying amount of questions to anyone who would answer me. Having no background in RD or sponsored projects, it was a whole new world of information! Not to mention, SPA was full of knowledgeable overachievers like myself! Augusta Wray - Sponsored Projects

After 4 years as RIC, and a second Masters degree, I was eager for more responsibility and a challenge. When a pre-award proposal manager (PM) position came open, complete with data management and software responsibilities, it was a perfect match!

In my current role as a PM, I am tasked with honing faculty research agendas, narrative & budget development, along with managing our eRA system solution(s) and reporting tasks. As expected of overachievers, I manage to get into ‘other duties’ such as outreach & education, event planning, some light IT work around the office, and community engagement. I am also the Green Funding Specialist serving the University’s Council on the Environment.

I was terrified of the leap from hands-on techie to research administration professional but have learned so much about myself personally and professionally in this role; so much more than just patience and how to craft an effective email! Every day is something new; I truly love helping faculty conceptualize their agendas into fundable project ideas and realize their goals. Icing on the cake, as a Muncie native, it’s inspiring to see the development of many meaningful and lasting collaborations between faculty, staff, students, and my hometown.

I joined NORDP and attended my first conference in 2015 after a pre-pre-award colleague at IUPUI once told me “These are my people!” After the first conference I completely understood what she meant – I was filled with a sense of belonging akin to when I first found SPA. More importantly, I returned to BSU with a renewed sense of purpose for the research development aspect of my position. I’m looking forward to that same renewal at the 2018 conference and chatting with newly found colleagues!

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NORDP 2018 Conference Cameo: Anne Maglia

Who: Anne Maglia, Associate Vice Chancellor for Research Administration and Institutional Compliance
Where: University of Massachusetts Lowell
Number of years in research development: 1
Length of NORDP membership: 1
Number of NORDP conferences attended: 2018 will be my first!
When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up? Park Ranger

I’m pretty new to research development—I started in my position at UMass Lowell about a year and a half ago after six years as a program director and science advisor at the National Science Foundation. I loved working at NSF, but really missed being at an academic institution and working directly with faculty. As the Associate Vice Chancellor for Research and Compliance, I supervise our offices of Research Administration and Institutional Compliance and help develop strategies to improve our success in extramurally-funded research. The favorite parts of my job are working with faculty to help make proposals more competitive, using data analytics to develop strategies for investing in shared infrastructure and mid- to large-scale research activities, helping to develop interdisciplinary connections among our researchers, and working with our Vice Provost for Faculty Success to provide training and support resources for faculty. Maglia_Anne

I’m a certified project management professional (PMP), and relied on my PMP training quite a bit at NSF, especially when managing multimillion-dollar infrastructure investments. The project management body of knowledge didn’t always translate directly to the work I was doing at NSF, but it was a fun challenge to try to apply private-sector portfolio management practices to those of a funding agency. I’m now trying to apply those skills to aspects of research development, especially when it comes to reorganizing our Office of Research Administration for scalability and providing strategic planning and oversight for our multidisciplinary research and engagement centers.

Although I am able to apply a lot of what I learned at NSF to my current job, I am still on a very steep learning curve. Fortunately for me, our Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation pointed me to NORDP during my first month on the job. I have relied on the resources found on the NORDP website and on the regional NORDP listserv to help me get up to speed and connect with new colleagues. This will be my first NORDP conference, and I’m particularly looking forward to networking with other research development professionals and learning about strategies for promoting and sustaining a research culture of inclusive excellence and team science.

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Mentor/Mentee Spotlight: The NORDP Mentoring Program in Five

Name: David Widmer

Institution: Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

Are you a Mentor? Mentee? Both? Both

1) What influenced you to become a mentor or mentee?
When I joined NORDP, I found a community dedicated to sharing best practices with a newbie, so I signed up for the first class of mentors and mentees. My mentor helped me acclimate to this brave new world of Research Development and guided me through the projects my new role held for me. We actually continued beyond the official 12-month span of the program. Then, I became a mentor hoping to provide similar grounding to new NORDP members. Now, years later, I signed up as a mentee again. My current mentor challenges me in very different ways to reach the next level in my career as an RD professional.

2) What surprised you about being a mentor and/or mentee?
As a former teacher, it actually didn’t surprise me to find that I learned from my mentees. However, when I returned as a mentee years later, I was surprised at how my learning style had morphed since the first time. That means I can approach the relationship with my current mentor in ways that were not part of my thinking as a new RD professional. I am experiencing this match in a new light where my current mentor can be a combined guide, coach, and peer.

3) How has participating in the NORDP mentoring program impacted your day-to-day work?
My NORDP mentors – past and present – have given me opportunities to talk through conundrums, strategies, or projects. Their fresh insights, from the outside looking in, have provided me with new avenues of thought and/or confirmed that I was on the right avenue already.

4) What is one way being in the mentoring program has helped increase or broaden your understanding of research development?
The Mentoring Program matching application pinpoints just the right information so that the mentor/mentee pairs share skills and interests that are complimentary but not identical. These very differences between me and my mentors and mentees gave me an expanded view of the RD community that wouldn’t have been visible from my desk.

5) Are there any additional thoughts would you like to share about the NORDP mentoring program?
I encourage new members to apply for a mentor, but more importantly, I challenge all past mentees to pay it forward and sign up to mentor another NORDP-ite. You will find it very rewarding. The NORDP resources available to mentors and mentees are extensive, and you’ll have a whole community behind you to provide you with support.

The NORDP Mentoring Program
The NORDP Mentoring Program offers a formalized pairing process to match a mentor and a mentee with similar professional interests and different levels of experience in order to frame a relationship that offers mutual guidance and support. Once pairs are matched, the mentoring process is an informal one based on the needs of each individual pair.

We encourage Research Development Professionals who have been in the Research Development field for a few years to consider volunteering to be a mentor; and we encourage members who are new (or relatively new) to the field to sign up as a mentee. But feel free to sign up for whatever you feel you need. You can even sign up to be a mentee AND a mentor!

Open Enrollment to the Mentoring Program can be accessed through the following link. The survey will be available through March 16, 2018.

Interested in learning more? Check out the website.

If you have any questions, please send an email to mentorprogram@nordp.org.

Interested in learning how you can leverage principles of mentoring at your institution?
You are invited to attend a NORDP Pre-Conference Workshop to learn strategies for advancing the research enterprise through building and supporting effective mentoring relationships as well as developing on-campus mentoring programs: Taking the Research Development Professsional to the Next Level Through Effective Mentoring.

Breaking Records – Early Bird Registration Extended to 3/23

lincoln-memorial #NORDP2018 starts Monday, May 7 in Arlington, VA. Keep checking back here at the blog and on our Twitter feed (@NORDP_official) for live conference updates. Register here: http://www.nordp.org/conferences.
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NORDP and the Research Development profession is breaking new ground. As we approach 850 members strong, we have set a new membership record for our ten-year-old organization. In addition, during this Early Bird Registration period, over 400 people have registered for the 10th Annual Conference. Therefore, NORDP leadership has elected to extend the Early Bird deadline until March 23, 2018. We are aware that many campuses are currently on spring break or working through the travel approval process. Help us set a new record for early-bird registration and register today.

The industry standard for association conference attendance is about 20% of the organization’s membership attending any given conference. Our organization can currently boast a 47% attendance rate for NORDP 2018 – let’s push that number even higher!

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NORDP 2018 Conference Cameo: Heather Chancellor McIntosh

Who: Heather Chancellor McIntosh, Research Statistician and Staff Director
Where: University of Oklahoma-Tulsa School of Community Medicine
Number of years in research development: 5
Length of NORDP membership: 1
Number of NORDP conferences attended: 1
How do you unwind? I like to hang out with my husband, new baby, and our two dogs.

I started working in research development when I took a position at the University of Oklahoma-Tulsa School of Community Medicine (OUSCM) in 2012. Before that, I worked in a non-profit street outreach program assisting homeless youth. While that position was in direct-care, I always gravitated toward project development, data compiling, reporting and grant writing for the program. I was finishing up a graduate degree in research, evaluation, measurement, and statistics when a position opened at the OUSCM to work with a researcher who studied the health and well-being of the underserved and disenfranchised members of our community.

I started out by managing a community health McIntosh_Heather research project and word quickly spread that I had experience and training in project development, project management, study design, and statistics. After a couple of years in an unofficial, central research development position, a central office, the Office for Research Development and Scholarly Activity (ORDSA), was funded, and I was appointed the Staff Director and Research Statistician.

While the road to an official research development (RD) position was unconventional, I’m happy my RD position came about the way it did. It allowed me to foster informal relationships with research faculty and staff, build a reputation for myself, travel abroad to present my work, and gain the trust of many clinical faculty who ended up being my biggest advocates when campaigning for ORDSA.

I heard about NORDP through a colleague. She and I submitted an abstract on how ORDSA was developed and presented it at the 2017 conference. Attending the 2017 conference helped underscore the difference between research development and research administration, a distinction I think many people miss. After attending the 2017 conference, I was determined to spread the word about NORDP and promote ORDSA as a research development, and not research administration, office. This effort has made an enormous difference in our research activity and how we interact with faculty and staff. We have a poster on this very topic this year, so come check it out!

While I’m still quite new to NORDP and increasing my involvement with the group, the NORDP E-list has been invaluable. I have learned so much from my fellow RD colleagues just by reading and interacting with the E-list. This year I have signed up for the NORDP mentoring program, and I am looking forward to being matched with a mentor and, hopefully, meeting her/him at the conference. I am, especially, looking forward to bringing one of my new staff to NORDP with me this year and soaking up as much RD knowledge as I possibly can.

My advice for fellow conference-goers is: Don’t be afraid to strike up conversations with people sitting next to you in the breakout sessions or those next to you in line for food. I met a really awesome gentleman last year during breakfast one day. We chatted about our programs and positions, and it really helped me to feel connected to the NORDP community.

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NORDP 2018 Conference Cameo: Farzaneh Masoud

Who: Farzaneh Masoud, PhD, Strategic Research Proposal Development Administrator
Where: National Center for Supercomputing Applications, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign
Number of years in research development: 7
Length of NORDP membership: 6
Number of NORDP conferences attended: 5
When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up? A scientist

When I was a kid, I thought scientists knew everything that there is to know in the world. With this in mind, I earned my PhD from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign (UIUC) in Cell and Molecular Biology, focusing on the mechanism of cancer metastasis. However, as I was preparing for my defense, I realized that I didn’t know about anything except my own research. It was a very claustrophobic and terrifying feeling to watch my childhood perception crashing down. I wanted to know more about other disciplines, and learn how to provide opportunities for scientists who have deep passion for basic research. Masoud_Farzaneh

I was introduced to NORDP through Dr. Jennifer Eardley, who worked with NORDP founding member Holly Falk-Krzesinski. Once I connected with NORDP, I was in heaven, and quickly realized that I had joined the right organization.

Through NORDP, I was able to obtain training in RD, and I began to develop the Office of Strategic Research and Proposal Development at UIUC’s National Center for Supercomputing Applications. As the Strategic Research Proposal Development Administrator, my focus is on coordinating interdisciplinary research proposals, and building capacity for strategic proposals which can lead to larger interdisciplinary projects. The hardest part of my job, believe it or not, is to encourage faculty to be proactive in seeking funding.

As I gain more experience each year, and as the funding agencies’ priorities and policies change each year, I seek different information, skills and techniques. Attending NORDP conferences and staying connected with this community has provided me with the resources and support I need to navigate these ever-changing landscapes. I have established several collaborations from attending last year’s NORDP Conference, and together we are in the process of developing proposals for NSF.

I have been a member of NORDP for 6 years and I have attended 5 conferences. In my view the RD profession is slowly, but surely gaining acceptance among academia, government, and industry. I believe this is entirely due to the role that NORDP plays in brining awareness to this profession.

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Mentor/Mentee Spotlight: The NORDP Mentoring Program in Five

Name: Mary K. Green

Institution: Univ. of Massachusetts Amherst

Are you a Mentor? Mentee? Both? Mentee

1) What influenced you to become a mentor or mentee? I became a mentee because I had a mentor in my job and it had been a great experience.

2) What surprised you about being a mentor and/or mentee? How helpful my mentor could be about very specific issues. My mentor provided a sounding board as well as opinions, suggestions and advice.

3) How has participating in the NORDP mentoring program impacted your day-to-day work? I credit my mentor’s help with success in landing my current job and she has helped me figure out how to navigate my new office.

4) What is one way being in the mentoring program has helped increase or broaden your understanding of research development? It has been helpful to get my mentor’s perspective of my experience and skills in comparison to other RD professionals she has known in several institutions. There was no position like mine at my former institution.

5) Are there any additional thoughts would you like to share about the NORDP mentoring program? Thank you!

Open Enrollment to the Mentoring Program can be accessed through the following link. The survey will be available through March 16, 2018.

Interested in learning more? Check out the website.

If you have any questions, please send an email to mentorprogram@nordp.org.