New Board Member Cameo

When and how did you enter the field?

May 2015 as the Assistant Director of Grants Resources and Services (GRS), I’m now the Associate Director of GRS.

What kind of research development work do you do?

I work on all areas of RD: disseminating funding opportunities, workshops, internal competitions, proposal research development. I currently work on larger-scale, institutional initiatives and collaborative research support primarily. We started as an office of two and are now up to four full time employees in our research development unit (GRS).

What’s your history and involvement with NORDP?

In 2017, I joined the organization and immediately got involved with the Professional Development Committing and the Mentoring Committee. I’ve recently stepped down from the PD committee due to board duties but am still involved with the mentoring committee peer mentoring activities and as a convenor. I was a Conference Co-Chair in 2020/2021 & 2021/2022 and Co-chaired the Virtual Recon Conference in the fall of 2023. I have been part of the RD101 leadership team since 2018/2019 and am currently involved with the development of RD200 series (pilot was just concluded last fall).I was also one of the original developers of the LEAD (Leadership, Engagement, And Development.) program, it runs an annual cohort and fireside career chats came out of this. And finally, most recently, I was elected to the NORDP Board in 2024!

What motivated you to run for the NORDP Board?

I had been nominated multiple times and ran once in the past, but I was not elected. I decided that once I had finished my PhD I would run again. And this time, I was elected! I was motivated to run for the board because I wanted to continue being of service to NORDP. This is also a great opportunity to continue growing in a leadership role.

What are you most excited about as a new NORDP Board member?

I’m excited about getting to work on the strategic pillar driving activities to move the organization forward. I look forward to being involved and seeing results as I’ve just started my four-year board appointment. 

The strategic pillars are as follows: 

1. Cultivating Volunteer Opportunities for Growth
2. Future-Proofing Core Infrastructure for Sustainability
3. Defining & Positioning RD & NORDP to Partners
4. Catalyzing Coordinated Strategies to Promote Equity & Inclusion

Would you like to leave our readers with any last thoughts?

Joining and being a part of NORDP has been one of the best decisions… Look for opportunities to engage that are meaningful to you!