Month: July 2020

Who: Anne Maloney Pascucci, Director Office of Sponsored Programs
Where: Christopher Newport University
Number of Years in RD: 20+
Length of NORDP Membership: 10+

When and how did you enter the field? What kind of RD work do you do?

I don’t know that I officially entered the field. Back in the early 2000’s I worked at Rhode Island College for the Research Administration office. There was very little engagement with faculty or encouragement for them to seek external funding. I took it upon myself to become familiar with state politicians and other public entities to bring “RIC” into the forefront and showcase our faculty’s efforts. I held proposal development sessions, collaborativeopportunities and gave my office a face. Since then, I have done similar work for Radford University and Christopher Newport University. While being the lead research administrator at a PUI, I also engage in RD. I have organized Collaborative Ecosystems Summits that brought various experts from around the state to discuss the other aspects of research, such as science communications, measuring impact and niche careers for students. I enjoy getting to know my faculty and their research. The best feeling is when you put them together with others who can develop a program with real impact. So, what kind of RD do I do?  Not official, make it up as I go, attempting to bring creative forces together to improve the human situation and its impact on the earth.

What’s your history with NORDP? How have you engaged with the organization?

I believe my first conference was in 2010. I’ve been involved on and off with the Nominations Committee, the Enhancing Collaboration Working Group, PUI Working Group, have presented at multiple conferences and have been fortunate enough to have won a travel award twice. I consider myself to be an ambassador for NORDP to many peers from PUIs to R1s.

What relationships have you built as a result of NORDP?

Mark Milutinovich was the first, followed by Holly Falk-Krzesinski. She has been an incredible resource and I’ve roped Mark into doing some pretty terrific sessions with a wide variety of folks. Jeff Agnoli is someone that I rely on for advice and innovation. Susan Carter is always one to bring out the best in me. Jorja Kimball is near and dear to my heart and someone that I would not hesitate to reach out to for help. Karen Eck has been right down the road and a great inspiration to me.

It is funny how my NORDP engagement has come full circle. In 2006 I took NCURA’s Leadership Development Institute. In my cohort was Joseph McNicholas, Jeanne Viviani, Nancy Daneau, MaryBeth Curtain who are all now members. I have been preaching about NORDP to them for years with Joseph getting involved when he was at a PUI years ago. It was fun in Providence for us all to get together like a reunion!

 What are you most excited about as a board member?

I am so excited to be able to speak on behalf of NORDP with some leverage.  I’ve reached out to various groups as a member or thrown ideas out there for others to run with.  Now I feel like I can really make a difference encouraging membership diversity and growth. I sort of consider myself the underdog. In Rhode Island, RIC was sort of the “red haired middle child” that seemed to be overlooked. Christopher Newport University is very similar. It is in an extremely research rich environment with Jefferson Lab, NASA Langley, museums and NOAA all nearby. Somehow, we do get overlooked, but I make sure that our presence is known and that we are great collaborators. It takes a while to shift the self-image that an institution has and projects to the community. We are getting there and I like to think that I am playing a role in elevating the presence of CNU as a scholarly, research engaged institution.

Compiled by Daniel Campbell, Member Services Committee

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