The annual election for NORDP’s Board of Directors is open until 11:55 p.m. EDT on Friday, May 31. Two new Board members will be elected in 2019.
The election will be held via secure electronic ballot using Election Runner. Your ballot should have arrived via email on Monday, April 29. Email reminders will be coming periodically for those that have not yet voted.
Only individuals whose memberships are current are eligible to vote. If you believe you are eligible to vote but do not receive an electronic ballot, please check your spam folder and then send a message to nomcom@nordp.org if you are unable to locate your ballot.
Please take the time to review the Board of Directors candidate profiles and cast your vote for up to two individuals. Vote by May 31!
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.
The Holly J. Falk-Krzesinski Service Award was established in 2011 and named for NORDP’s founding President, Holly J. Falk-Krzesinski, Ph.D., who was the first recipient. Voted on by the Board of Directors, the award is given annually to a NORDP Member in recognition of outstanding service to the organization and to the Research Development profession. The honor is recognized with a commemorative plaque and free registration to the following year’s NORDP Research Development Conference.
Kari Whittenberger-Keith, Ph.D. Senior Proposal Development Manager, Office of Research, University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee NORDP Board of Directors 2016-2020
Kari’s 30 plus years in higher education is a testament to her advocacy for professional development and for RD professionals. NORDP members have benefited positively from her efforts. She is both an innovator in our field and in her service to our organization.
Through her role in laying the groundwork for our professional development programming, Kari has built a high quality and enriching curriculum for all NORDP members – from the early pre-conference workshops, to webinar offerings all year long, to an exciting new and innovative conference program this year to suit every taste and every need.
In 2016, Kari received a “Rising Star” award for her service; was elected to the NORDP Board; and served as Co-Chair of the Effective Practices & Professional Development Committee through its transition into the Professional Development (PD) Committee. As a 2019 Conference Co-Chair, Kari helped spearhead the substantial changes to our annual conference structure.
Kari’s clear dedication to NORDP and its members contributed to her election to the Board of Directors. NORDP benefits from her continuity of service through a multi-year commitment to our conference committees and her active service on subcommittees.
In short, Kari’s official leadership roles in NORDP have been numerous, and her contributions in those roles substantial. As one of her nominators noted, “Kari embodies warmth, humor, and opens her heart to all of us.”
Kari’s practical approach and collaborative spirit have provided an excellent model for others to emulate in their service to our community. Kari’s leadership through the PD committee’s many transitions most certainly contributed to the committee’s success, and her leadership has helped ensure that NORDP meets its members’ evolving professional development programming needs, ensuring growth of the RD profession.
Those who know her well compliment her communication skills and ability to manage diverse teams as two of her greatest assets. She is an accomplished mentor/coach to those who serve the organization, offering her own brand of support and encouragement to sustain our efforts. With a dedication to seeing plans through to fruition, Kari can talk us off the proverbial “ledge” and get things back on track. She has given so much and we all benefit from her selflessness. She is a powerful force!
Posted on behalf of the NORDP Board of Directors
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.
“Expert finder systems (EFS) have been serving universities, businesses, and the research community for more than two decades. However, there are still no formal venues for EFS stakeholders to network, learn from each other, and help steer the future of this dynamic field.” – EFS National Forum 2019
A group of ~5 NORDP members attended the EFS National Forum. Together with the more than 80 forum attendees, we explored:
the current administrative and research uses of these systems,
the need for new features and functions to support emerging uses,
best practices for building and managing expert finder systems and
strategies for enhancing stakeholder engagement.
We also discussed the economic development impacts of EFS on a regional, state and national level. The forum also explored the possibility of establishing a professional organization to provide leadership and develop ongoing events.
Attendees included many of the established and emerging vendors/partners in this space, librarians, researchers, informatics and social science faculty, research development, foundation and corporate relations professionals.
Robert McDonald, Dean of Libraries at UC Boulder, delivered a compelling keynote address. He provided a history of these tools citing their existence since the early 1990s, first in Europe and then spreading to other countries. He referenced an important study, see euroCRIS (Current Research Information Systems) Survey http://bit.ly/2TgQX1b, detailing “Practices and Patterns in Research Information Management: Findings from a Global Survey”, a 92-page report developed by OCLC, of Dublin, Ohio. He emphasized the role of the library as the system leader, “owner of the citation” and their responsibility to support and promote adoption of these tools. UC Boulder is training people in how to build their profiles and drive impact.
He introduced all of us to the made-up word “collabatition” which reminded me of “Team Science”, detailed the library as a trusted broker of data (or keep of the citation), the need to build a larger distributed network, and establish linked data as people move from institution. The EFS, at its core, is about the impact of our faculty member’s work.
Other presentations featured how these systems can educate early career researchers, identify potential collaborators, recruit individuals for peer review service, improve the status of the discipline, boost research through media/journalist relations, drive industry-sponsored research, and promote self/research activities. Presenters shared their success stories ranging from the number of visits/month to their site, to industry-sponsored research agreements, student research partnerships, and postdoc recruitment.
The EFS have three main audiences which include (1) Researchers, (2) Community Members/Industry, and (3) Managers/Research Administrators.
A highlight of the Forum for me was the presentation from Noshir Contractor, Northwestern University. His team has leveraged these systems and social science research to develop “Team Recommender Systems” which will influence the future of work at Northwestern University and beyond.
Noshir shared what has to be one of the best workshop titles: “Why Netflix thinks I am gay and Amazon thinks I am pregnant.” His message illustrates the limitations of analytics and the challenge of consuming data from multiple sources. As any of us in RD know, simply knowing our faculty members’ keywords is not enough to build a cohesive team; the process is much more nuanced. His description of “traditional teams as hierarchical versus self-assembled and more organic” speaks directly to the need for RD professionals to leverage creative collaborations and provide a high-touch vs a high-tech solution. Our sponsors desire authentic, transdisciplinary collaborations to solve the most challenging questions of our time.
Another high point was the concierge engagement model developed by New York State’s FuzeHub. They are leveraging the power of a Salesforce-like platform to capture leads, engage with industry through regular education/outreach, and drive industry-sponsored research. It is an exceptional and highly successful example of entrepreneurship and higher education. As a member of the core team leading to the implementation of the Ohio Innovation Exchange, launched in Novemeber of 2018, we are eager to adopt some of these practices to promote our site.
The EFS Steering Committee will continue to meet and discuss the meeting evaluation/feedback and chart a course for the future. For example, EFS could collaborate with NORDP and plan a joint conference, become an affinity group, or establish themselves as a new professional association. Stay tuned.
Submitted by Jeff Agnoli, The Ohio State University. My attendance at this forum was co-sponsored by NORDP’s Strategic Alliances Committee. Thank you.
The NORDP Board of Directors established the Rising Star Award in 2016 to recognize up to three members annually who have made outstanding volunteer contributions and show great potential for future contributions to NORDP and the Research Development Profession. Awardees are announced at the NORDP annual conference, presented with an etched glass plaque, and receive free registration for the following year’s annual conference.
JOANNA DOWNER, DUKE UNIVERSITY
Joanna joined NORDP in 2010. She has been a member and, since 2016, co-chair of the Professional Development Committee. As such, she developed and contributed to numerous, significant enhancements to NORDP’s Webinar Program, including an RD webinar topic framework, standard evaluation, presenter instructions, and hosting scripts. She now spearheads development and delivery of a growing number of webinars, organizes logistics, and works to continuously improve webinar content and process. Joanna is also the Strategic Alliances Committee liaison to the National Association of Science Writers (since 2017) and a member of the NORDP Training Working Group (since 2018). A regular NORDP Conference presenter and contributor to the listserv, Joanna has become one of NORDP’s go-to persons for RD best practices. Joanna’s selection as the inaugural recipient of a NORD Research Grant in RD further exemplifies her commitment and capacity to advance our field.
Posted on behalf of the Member Services Committee
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.
The NORDP Board of Directors established the Rising Star Award in 2016 to recognize up to three members annually who have made outstanding volunteer contributions and show great potential for future contributions to NORDP and the Research Development Profession. Awardees are announced at the NORDP annual conference, presented with an etched glass plaque, and receive free registration for the following year’s annual conference.
DAVID WIDMER, MEMORIAL SLOAN KETTERING CANCER CENTER
David participated in the first (2011-12) Mentoring Program mentor/mentee class and has been “paying it forward” ever since. As a Membership Committee member (2012-14), he worked on the analysis and reporting of NORDP’s first Salary Survey. In 2015-16, he was a member of the Effective Practices & Professional Development Committee, and its Online Professional Development working group. David joined the Mentoring Committee in 2015, has mentored 4 mentees since 2016, became Committee co-chair in 2017, and serves on the MESHH working group that developed the NORDP mentorship on-boarding packet. He and his Mentoring Committee co-chair have increased member interactions to include five working group teams focusing on items such as the annual Mentor/ Mentee pairing survey, and development of a National Research Mentoring Network – supported curriculum for mentoring in the RD field. As a Conference Planning & Program Committee member since 2018, David has carefully interwoven mentoring throughout Conference engagement and programming (e.g., mentoring networking dinners, 1- and 2- hour presentations, lightning talks, roundtables). David epitomizes the model organizational citizen for NORDP.
Posted on behalf of the Member Services Committee
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.
The NORDP Board of Directors established the Rising Star Award in 2016 to recognize up to three members annually who have made outstanding volunteer contributions and show great potential for future contributions to NORDP and the Research Development Profession. Awardees are announced at the NORDP annual conference, presented with an etched glass plaque, and receive free registration for the following year’s annual conference.
SAMARPITA SENGUPTA, UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS SOUTHWESTERN MEDICAL CENTER
A NORDP member since 2017, Samar is our Strategic Alliances Committee liaison to the National Postdoc Association. Formerly a postdoc, she created an innovative RD internship / mentoring program for postdocs at UT-SwMC, presented the program at NORDP’s 2017 IDEA Showcase, and led trans-forming the program into a comprehensive, flexible pedagogy for NORDP members to implement at their institutions – to train postdocs, grad students and staff for RD positions. Active in NORDP’s Member Services Committee (MSC), Samar works not only to increase the pipeline of new NORDP members, but also to support and retain members. She co-chairs the MSC subcommittee that creates events and activities for First-Time Conference Attendees, and is one of the architects of the current Ambassador Program. She is active in NORDP Region VI, recently launched a Region VI newsletter, and is a regular contributor to the NORDP listserv. Samar embodies many of the core qualities we value in NORDP: mentoring, service, knowledge transfer, and promoting the RD field to the uninitiated.
Posted on behalf of the Member Services Committee
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.
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