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.
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