Strategic Alliances – NORDP News

NORDP Liaison Report: Colleges of Liberal Arts Sponsored Programs (CLASP): An Interview with Amy Cuhel-Schuckers

Amy Cuhel-Schuckers, Director, Office of Grants and Sponsored Research, The College of New Jersey

What is the mission of CLASP? Colleges of Liberal Arts Sponsored Programs (CLASP) was designed to provide a resource for sponsored research administrators at liberal arts colleges and those with a liberal arts focus to promote and strengthen members’ abilities to respond to research support and policy issues as these arise; this is hugely important in contexts where there may only be a single person covering all the functions of research administration and research development. In recent years, CLASP has evolved to become a community of practice and, through an NSF GRANTED conference award, is considering ways to extend its reach to women- and minority-serving institutions and its organizational framing.

What are some of the unique challenges that liberal arts institutions confront with respect to grant administration? The challenge many liberal arts and/or predominantly undergraduate institutions face is that staff engaging in RD need to act in a “generalist” role. They must inform the institution of risk, stay abreast of federal funding trends and priorities, and perform research development, research administration, and compliance functions. Often practitioners must lead from the middle to educate those to whom they report, explain what the university is certifying, and position the institution should it be audited. This is a stressful role with a variety of needs and little support from within the institution.

In small institutional settings there is often a single research administration practitioner doing a “soup to nuts” or “cradle to grave” job. That is, they might engage with faculty on the front end, supporting research development and facilitation, in addition to performing the duties of a pre-award sponsored research professional in submitting, accepting, and managing an award. In some very small institutions with a single staff member managing research administration, this person might also manage IRB and IACUC regulations as well as other aspects of compliance. When I worked at Franklin and Marshall College, a 1,200-student institution, we piloted a 5.5 FTE sponsored research, Corporate and Foundation Relations, and grant accounting team that occupied the same office with three reporting lines under a common leadership structure. Now, I am at the College of New Jersey, a comprehensive master’s granting institution with 7,000 students, also classed as a PUI. We have a 3-person pre-award office and are now in the process of bringing a post-award specialist into our office. Folks acting as generalists in a complex regulatory environment where their institutions are likely strained fiscally, may have little to no money for professional memberships or to travel to conferences for professional development. Yet, their institutions are responsible for meeting the same compliance standards as R1 institutions. Moreover, these folks are often the “expert” on campus –a daunting reality.

How has CLASP evolved since its founding? CLASP originated at Middlebury College and was spearheaded by Francie Farnsworth, who created a listserv-enabled conversation group supported by a Wiki repository of shared materials. The targeted listserv now anchors the membership by providing a forum where questions related to sponsored research concerns—which at small institutions may also map onto corporate and foundation relations—can be posed, with answers coming back almost instantaneously. In addition, through the listserv, CLASP members periodically conduct surveys on range of topics. As one example, we have surveyed our membership on the types and nature of indirect cost rates at member institutions. For example, smaller institutions may have salary and wage-based indirect cost rates, salary, wage, and fringe rates, as well as Modified Total Direct Cost (MTDC) rates, which are more commonly seen at larger institutions. CLASP has also surveyed our membership on where our offices are situated within their institution, whether in academic affairs, advancement, the President’s office, and to compare to peer institutions. Having peer or near peer institutional knowledge helps CLASPS members to advocate for policies and practices that better serve our institutions. As a replacement for the original Wiki-based repository, CLASP hosts a “Collaboratory” which is a Google-document based repository of resources that archives materials and resources from past meeting sessions as well as resources and on various topics of interest that members have created. CLASP also hosts annual meetings, post-Covid alternating between virtual and in-person meetings. The upcoming 2024 meeting will be held in person at North Central College in Naperville, Illinois, November 13-15. Typically, 60-90 people attend.

You are part of a team that was awarded an NSF GRANTED award. Could you speak to some of your objectives for this grant? CLASP’s NSF GRANTED award (NSF 2324524), via Carleton College, is design to strengthen a community of practice (CoP) and to broaden, increase, and diversify membership in CLASP, in particular with MSIs and women-serving and women-only institutions. We first articulated this CoP vision at the annual CLASP meeting in 2018 at Swarthmore College and at the 2019 meeting at Bowdoin College. CLASP has long showcased funder presentations intermingled with some presentations from members. But we began to recognize more fully that our members represent a significant body of expertise and have placed greater emphasis on expanding that dimension of our organization and our community of practice, and imagining how we can position our organizations for the future.

What are the mutual benefits of NORDP’s relationship with CLASP? I started out as an assistant grant writer at a community-action agency, and later transitioned to a predominantly undergraduate institution (PUI) in the SUNY system where I was institutional grant writer and later grant development specialist. Then, when I came to Franklin and Marshall I was introduced to CLASP. Through CLASP I was introduced to NORDP, and like so many other members felt as though I had finally found “my people.” Of course, many one-person shops do not have the resources to attend NORDP, and that has motivated me to share my expertise with CLASP. For example, I recently presented on RD with Susan Ferrari and Dean Gerstein at the 2023 virtual CLASP annual meeting last November. Conversely, expertise from the CLASP community, together with others in PUI settings, has been extended to NORDP through the founding of the PUI (Predominantly Undergraduate Institution) Affinity Group, in 2019. Many members of the PUI Affinity Group are also members of CLASP. Historically, NORDP was developed by individuals who were in a context in which they could specialize in all of the contextual aspects of RD and in preparing researchers to lead large research grants, whereas the research focus of smaller institutions is most commonly at the PI-level and often within a teacher-scholar framework. The PUI Affinity Group addresses the needs of these NORDP members by developing resources for research-related and grant development activities, including my 2016 research article with Cara Martin-Tetreault and Carol Withers, “The Grants Office and the RA Generalist: Parallel Life-Cycles and Development at Small PUIs,” which addresses benchmarks research administrators can use in assessing development at the office and practitioner levels.

However, the biggest benefit to NORDP in liaising with CLASP is in engaging generalists around a clear articulation of one component of their role – research or grant development. CLASP in some ways also represents a type of diversity – institutional diversity – that NORDP needs to be consciously aware of, so that it can best meet the needs of this sector of membership. Moreover, and relatedly, CLASP members are well positioned to inform NORDP that it runs the risk of losing the generalist audience to larger organizations such as NCURA and SRAI who are beginning to offer RD training modules which NORDP is, in fact, most ideally positioned to offer.

This report was prepared by Elizabeth Festa, Liaison Chair, Strategic Alliances Committee, eaf2@rice.edu

NORDP Liaison Report – Canadian Association of Research Administration (CARA): An Interview with Gen Clark

Gen Clark, Research Facilitator
University of Saskatchewan

What is the mission of the Canadian Association of Research Administration (CARA)?

CARA provides professional development and networking opportunities to over 1100 professionals at research institutions across Canada. Founded in 1971, I believe it is the third oldest research administration society in the world, after NCURA and SRAI.

How did you become involved in CARA?

As a departmental Research Facilitator at the University of Saskatchewan, I support health science researchers in the College of Pharmacy and Nutrition, the College of Kinesiology, and in the School of Public Health. When I started my job in 2012, I was interested in meeting and learning as much as I could from people who did similar work. I work at a research-intensive university and so there is a large group of us who work in research facilitation on campus. I realized that we all do slightly different things depending on the organizational needs and culture of our departments, so I wanted to expand my network even further; the annual CARA conference allowed me to make these important connections and learn more about my profession. At the same time, I discovered NORDP and was soon matched to Karen Eck through the NORDP mentorship program. We had a CARA connection as Karen had worked at McGill University in Montreal and was the CARA-NORDP liaison at the time. This is when research development’s place within the broader landscape of research administration and management started to become clearer for me.

What is research facilitation?

That is actually what we call research development in Canada, though the term research development is appearing more frequently in our professional terminology and in position and research office titles, which could be due to NORDP’s influence. Although, in Quebec, the literal translation “développement de la recherche” is a term commonly used.

Is RD a part of CARA?

Yes, about one third of CARA members say they perform grant facilitation, and conference sessions on research facilitation/development are always very well attended. While we currently lack a formal special interest group devoted to research development within CARA, I think there is interest in creating such a space. Last January, with two of my CARA colleagues, we created the Grant Facilitators’ Journal Club, a monthly online gathering where CARA members come to discuss current literature in grant facilitation. At a typical meeting, someone presents a paper, and a discussion ensues about the topic and its relevance to our work. We have close to a dozen attendees every month, so the journal club is creating that sense of community and filling a need.

How is NORDP’s relationship with CARA mutually beneficial?

It’s always interesting and valuable to learn about practices across the international landscape, and I’m hoping to share some of my Canadian insights on RD at future NORDP events. I believe there are currently about a dozen Canadians within NORDP. While this is a small group, I could see it growing among those who identify as RD professionals, especially as the term and its distinct body of knowledge gain ground. Recently, NORDP and CARA established a Memorandum of Understanding as a first step in creating a formal framework to allow for deeper and more sustained exchanges involving professional development and networking through for example joint webinars and conferences. As the current CARA-NORDP liaison, I’m excited to be able to help facilitate these exchanges.

You recently completed a study about research development in Canada. Could you tell us about it?

With my colleague and fellow CARA and NORDP member Anita Sharma of Thompson Rivers University in British Columbia, we embarked on empirically describing what research development looks like in Canada. The professionalization of RD has developed somewhat in parallel to that in the U.S., with the first university grant facilitators appearing in the late 1990s. Still, for a profession that’s been around for decades, there is very little scholarly Canadian literature about the function or the profession. So, Anita and I conducted a survey of RD professionals across Canada with a goal of comparing our findings with that of similar U.S. studies. We found many similarities between the two countries, such as the emphasis on building capacity, the demographics of staff, and the broad presence of RD professionals across different types of research institutions and organizational models. And some particularities came through as well. For example, we probed into the function vs. profession aspect of RD as many professionals have split roles, mainly involving more prescriptive research administration. Also, some of the questions in our survey focused on what we might call a fifth area of RD. Within NORDP, we often speak of the four areas as strategic advancement, proposal development, research communication, and team science. To this, we added “researcher development” a term used in the U.K. to refer to the personal, professional, and career development of researchers of all stages, from undergraduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and clinical residents, to early, mid, and late career faculty. Many respondents identified with this mentoring or teaching aspect.

What does researcher development mean to you?

To me, research-er development is another opportunity to strategically move the dial on research by helping researchers adapt to the constantly changing research landscape, and by gaining new research adjacent skillsets in research management, finances, ethics, communications, and other related topics. The leading resource on researcher development is the Vitae website. Though much of it is accessible only to institutional members, it is still a valuable starting point for those who provide training and development support to researchers.

Interview conducted by Elizabeth Festa. For more information about the SAC Liaison program, contact her at eaf2@rice.edu.

Get to Know a NORDP Committee: Strategic Alliances Committee (SAC)

Tshepi Khahlu (University of Cape Town) joined Karen Eck (Old Dominion University) and Emily Kotay (University of Arizona) to present on “Managing University-Industry Collaboration” at INORMS 2023 in Durban, South Africa.

One of the oldest committees within NORDP, the Strategic Alliances Committee (SAC) is a driving force behind the growth and development of research development professionals. We invite you to explore this group that builds strong organizational relationships across all facets of the research enterprise.

SAC volunteers promote and enhance interactions between NORDP and external entities, which include professional organizations within the research enterprise, government and private agencies, and international groups. The committee’s mission is to “build and support relationships that drive membership growth, foster professional development, and strengthen advocacy and stakeholder relations.”

In the process, SAC positions NORDP as an engaged and respected professional organization with avenues for membership growth. To do so, we take a dual perspective that recognizes the importance of both outward and inward-facing actions.

Jessica Venable, Thorn Run Partners (Washington, DC), met Saskia Walcott, Walcott Communications (Bristol, England), at the 2023 INORMS conference in Durban. They now collaborate to attract more women of color to RD, particularly targeting professionals in England, the US, and South Africa.

NORDP → WORLD: SAC disseminates NORDP members’ expertise to benefit the global research enterprise. In doing so, we assist in promoting the organization across the world, and advocate for a collective voice for research development excellence.

WORLD → NORDP: SAC brings valuable insights and information back to NORDP and its members. We help NORDP strategies align with the ever-evolving landscape of RD, ensuring that our organization remains at the forefront of the global research enterprise. This work also helps RD professionals at all levels have a bird’s-eye view of the field, contributing to their professional growth.

What We Do: Notable accomplishments in support of research development include:

Establishing funding for the Center for Advancing Research Impact in Society (ARIS) Fellows in 2022
Leveraging a partnership with the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities (APLU) to secure funding for research development growth at Historically Black Colleges and Universities in 2021
Actively participating in EU-US Science and Technology and European Commission Horizon 2020 meetings
Developing guidance documents to promote strategic outreach, such as the NORDP Rules of Engagement with Federal Employees in 2013
Advocating for NORDP’s bid to host the 2027 International Network of Research Management Societies (INORMS) conference

SAC Liaisons: Liaisons are are specifically tasked with advocating for research development to external organizations and associations, in turn providing an invaluable service to NORDP members by gathering and sharing useful information as part of a broad, strategic outreach program. Visit SAC’s Liaisons webpage to see a list of existing liaisons.

The role of each liaison depends on the target organization and NORDP leadership goals as well as the skills and experience that an individual liaison brings to the position. Liaison duties and roles are assigned by SAC and approved by the Board on a case-by-case basis. Typical duties for liaisons include:

Serving as a point of contact between NORDP and the targeted organization or key subgroups.
Monitoring developments and activities at the targeted organization and sharing that information with NORDP’s membership through reports shared through NORDP’s various communication channels.
Increasing the visibility of RD generally, and NORDP specifically, among these targeted organizations; for example, by delivering relevant webinars, presenting at conferences, and contributing to thought pieces. email, webinars, conferences, discussions, posters, and presentations.

With NORDP Board approval, some liaisons interact with their target organization’s leadership to determine how NORDP’s mission can complement mutual interests such as: promoting alternative career paths within academia, increasing national and international research collaborations, building multidisciplinary research teams among diverse groups of individuals, and advocating for the global research enterprise.

Liaisons serve a minimum of three years, are asked to participate in a 30-minute monthly meeting with other liaisons, and encouraged to set goals with the Liaison Manager. Individuals with at least two years of NORDP membership may apply (although some liaison positions have additional requirements) . Liaison applications are reviewed by the SAC chairs and approved by the Board of NORDP. Upon acceptance, liaisons are provided with useful resources to begin their new roles. SAC considers individual requests to add new liaison organizations based on NORDP’s goals and evolving needs of NORDP members.

International Working Group (IWG): Many RD professionals work on international research funding opportunities and benefit from professional development opportunities to consult with experts in this area. Within SAC, the International Working Group meets monthly to discuss international research issues, such as NIH’s new policy regarding reporting requirements for international collaborators. The IWG actively promotes NORDP within the International Network of Research Management Societies (INORMS), work that attracts new members from across the world, strengthens relationships with others in the field, and delivers global RD perspectives, relationships, and best practices to US-based RD professionals.

How to Get Involved: Join SAC to become part of a dynamic team that is passionate about RD and:

Advocate for the field of research development
Catalyze activities that advance the profession
Serve as a liaison between NORDP and external organizations
Elevate your professional profile
Contribute to strategic thinking and intelligence gathering

Join us in shaping the future of research development at NORDP! For more information and to get involved, contact one of the SAC Committee Chairs: Karen Eck at keck@odu.edu, Gretchen Kiser at gretchen.kiser@ucsf.edu, or Sharon Pound at spound@utk.edu.

NORDP Liaison Report: Network of Academic Corporate Relations Officers (NACRO) – An Interview with Don Takehara

What is the mission of NACRO?

NACRO is the Network of Academic Corporate Relations Officers. NACRO “provides professional development opportunities that enable corporate and academic professionals to develop and advance comprehensive, mutually beneficial relationships between industry and academia.” While membership in NACRO has historically been limited to corporate relations officers in the academy, the organization is now open to professionals in industry.

How did you become involved in NACRO?

I have been in NACRO for over 10 years. Having a background as a chemical engineer, I worked for Dow Chemical for 17 years. A large part of my job was bringing in sponsored research with academia so that Dow would have much needed expertise and capability. Therefore, I was initially on the other side of the table. Once I began working in research development, working in/with corporate relations was a natural fit for me.

What is your role within your organization?

I am Director for Research in the Grainger College of Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. My office falls under the Office of the Associate Dean for Research. In addition to supporting the launching of large, multi-investigator, multi-organization efforts, I have a significant faculty development mission. I have developed a number of programs for early career investigators including a program for new faculty to help them in starting their research at University of Illinois and a workshop series dedicated to assisting faculty with their NSF CAREER proposals. I have also developed/facilitated workshops on interacting with program officers and workshops on leading graduate students as well as faculty peers. As part of seeding large, multi-investigator centers and institutes, I oversee the Strategic Research Initiative at Grainger Engineering, which offers funding to help build teams and obtain preliminary data for large, multi-million-dollar proposals. I am also a certified coach – coaching faculty and staff in career and leadership development. I recently initiated “5 for 5” group coaching where five professors meet with me for five weeks.

How can NORDP’s alliance with NACRO help us at the member level?

We have an alliance between NORDP and NACRO, and one of the things we’ve been thinking about is how this alliance can increase member-to-member interaction across these organizations. Right now, we are exploring collaborations between NORDP, NACRO, and federal agencies. Our current project is emerging in conversation with the NSF TIP (Technology, Innovation, and Partnership) program. NORDP and NACRO are exploring the possibility of partnering to conduct a landscape analysis of needs and capabilities (such as workforce development and commercialization opportunities) in different regional innovation ecosystems. We hope to facilitate collaborations between universities and corporations that are mutually beneficial. This project is well-suited to support the NSF ENGINES program, which focuses on catalyzing regional innovation ecosystems – especially those that may be in early development and have had limited interaction with federal agencies.

You recently presented on this project at the NACRO 2023 meeting. How was your talk received?

This year’s NACRO 2023 meeting was held in Portland, Oregon. I presented on a panel with fellow NORDP and NACRO member Rachel Dresbeck, Senior Director of Research Development at Oregon Health and Science University, and NACRO member, Kim Jacobs, Assistant Dean of Development in the College of Engineering at Florida A&M and Florida State. A quick poll of the audience of about 50 showed that almost all were potentially interested in this project. Our vision for the landscape analyses are quite broad and may include technical/research capabilities, entrepreneurship, tech transfer, DEIB, local government needs, nonprofits/NGOs, community engagement, incubator services, etc.

How might NORDP members be involved in this project?

This project will necessarily draw upon many untapped partnerships and will have teams performing landscape analyses in different areas of the country that are co-led by NORDP and NACRO members. NORDP and NACRO members can also just be members of the teams. The highly successful NORDP Consultant program has been an inspiration and a model as we plan for this grassroots effort. We are also drawing upon Strategic Doing to develop our framework. As you may know from workshops at previous NORDP conferences, Strategic Doing facilitates collaborations to address complex challenges. NORDP members Rachel Dresbeck, and Jeff Agnoli, Director of Education, Funding, and Research Development in the Office of Research at Ohio State (who is also a Strategic Doing Fellow) are involved in this effort. The NORDP membership will be instrumental in requesting support for their regions and partnering with us in these efforts. NSF TIP may also wish to prioritize certain areas. While we are still in the planning phase of this effort, it is clear that the kernels of activity and energy from this effort will also result in new collaborations and team building.

Based on your experiences as an engineer in industry, an RD professional, and a NACRO member, how can research development offices and offices of corporate relations work together more effectively?

I want to emphasize the importance of networking between RD offices and offices of corporate relations. While each office has its own mission, there is a benefit for corporate relations being included as a part of the team in proposals to federal funders, and vice versa. Since corporate partnerships and funding are an essential part of the academic research ecosystem, corporate relations, and research development should be working closely together on a regular basis. This will result in new opportunities as well as more compelling proposals for funders. Instead of waiting until a particular proposal needs corporations, these teams can engage at a much earlier stage to determine how they can work together for future proposals – before the solicitation comes out. Programs that the institution has submitted to in the past may be a good place to start.

NORDP Liaison Report: International Network of Research Management Societies (INORMS)

Interview with Emily Kotay, Liaison to INORMS and Leader of the International Working Group within NORDP’s Strategic Alliances Committee (SAC), by Jessica Venable

Emily Kotay, Assistant Director, International Research, University of Arizona

What is the mission of INORMS?

INORMS stands for the International Network of Research Management Societies. Their mission is to connect “research management societies and associations from across the globe….to enable interactions, share good practice, and coordinate activities between the member societies, to the benefit of their individual membership.” INORMS is comprised of organizations around the world that are similar to NORDP, including the National Council of University Research Administrators (NCURA), Malaysia Association of Research Managers and Administrators (MyRMA), the Brazilian Research Administrations and Management Association (BRAMA), the Canadian Association of Research Administrators (CARA), and many others. One of the benefits of membership in INORMS is the opportunity to engage with people all around the world who are working in research administration and research development.

How did you become involved with INORMS?

I am the Assistant Director of International Research within the Research Development Services office at the University of Arizona. In my role, my focus is to ensure more engagement in international research and to serve as a connector for faculty and the appropriate offices/staff on campus to support their international research collaborations, provide proposal development support for international collaborations that involve basic/fundamental research and promote funding opportunities that support international research (NSF, NIH, Horizon Europe, other countries’ science agencies’ opportunities). I have the broad aim of building and sustaining international research collaborations. My supervisor, Kim Patten, is also a member of the Strategic Alliances Committee in NORDP. Kim encouraged me to explore INORMS to continue forming alliances and develop as a professional in this relatively rare field of solely focusing on international research within RD.

Tell me about your recent presentation at the INORMS 2023 Congress.

The biennial INORMS Congress was held in Durban, South Africa, from May 30-June 2, 2023, and was hosted by the South African Research Innovation and Management Association (SARIMA). Each INORMS Congress is hosted by a member society in their home country. This year, the theme was “Towards a Utopia in Research and Innovation Management,” and presentations focused on research administration’s future. This future includes an emerging relationship between research administration, management, and RD, a topic of great interest in the United States and globally. I presented on a panel entitled “Enhancing individual career development and institutional capacity in research development” with SAC members Karen Eck and Jessica Venable. Our presentation outlined the professional development opportunities we offer in NORDP (mentoring program, PEERD, N-ROAD). Our presentation was well-received, and I’m looking forward to the 2025 Congress, which will be hosted by the European Association of Research Managers and Administrators (EARMA) in Madrid, Spain.

In addition to serving as a liaison to INORMS, you also lead the International Working Group for SAC. How does IWG engage the membership of NORDP?

Many RD professionals are working on international research funding opportunities but aren’t solely focusing their efforts there and would like to consult with others on best practices. Within NORDP, the International Working Group, a part of the Strategic Alliances Committee, meets monthly to discuss international research issues. We’re a small group, but we have great discussions. Recently, we have been discussing the NIH’s new policy regarding reporting requirements for international collaborators recently. Members who are interested in joining the IWG should feel free to contact me.

Why is NORDP’s relationship with INORMS important to our membership and to NORDP as a professional organization?

The global research enterprise is rapidly expanding. We can see this in new initiatives that respond to global challenges, such as the National Science Foundation Global Centres funding opportunity in which the NSF collaborated with the United Kingdom Research and Innovation (UKRI), the Canadian Association of Research Administrators (CARA), and the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), in Australia to fund cross-national projects aimed at addressing use-inspired solutions to climate change and clean energy. In addition, the NSF recently published a Dear Colleague Letter from their Office of International Science and Engineering announcing multilateral partnerships for Ukraine’s resilient education and science systems to support integrating Ukrainian researchers into the global research community. Through the connections in INORMS, I can build relationships with my counterparts in other countries to facilitate building teams of researchers to answer these critical calls. While faculty often bring their international partnerships and relationships to us, RD professionals also play an important role in building teams and serving as liaisons to researchers and institutions abroad. Moreover, sharing what we do as RD professionals with INORMS members, and hearing about their best practices, helps develop working relationships; practices vary across countries, and understanding those differences facilitates collaboration.

Just as significantly, as a US-based organization with some international membership, NORDP’s participation with INORMS is important to broadening our awareness of international issues and initiatives in the research management space. INORMS has spearheaded 3 phases of the RAAAP (Research Administration as a Profession) survey and many NORDP members participated. RAAAP seeks to identify the key skills, attitudes and behaviors of successful research management and administration (RMA) leaders and develop a longitudinal dataset about our profession. INORMS has further launched the More than Our Rank initiative, which has been “developed in response to some of the problematic features and effects of the global university rankings. It provides an opportunity for academic institutions to highlight the many and various ways they serve the world that are not reflected in their ranking position. This initiative is meant for every academic institution, whether ranked or unranked, top 10 or yet to place.” NORDP’s exposure to new ways of conceptualizing research impact provide a novel way of assessing not only overall institutional results but also how RD offices and professionals contribute to these outcomes. This has potential to influence how we make the case for, and evaluate, RD activities and their impact.

NORDP Liaison Report: Alliance for Hispanic Serving Institution Educators (AHSIE)

RD professionals connecting with HSIs: Insights from SAC Liaison Jorja Kimball, by Elizabeth Festa

Jorja Kimball, Executive Director, Research Development Services and the Office of HSI and Inclusivity Research Services at Texas A&M University

What is the mission of your liaison organization, AHSIE? AHSIE, pronounced “Osh-ee”, is the Alliance for Hispanic Serving Institution Educators. As noted on their website, the mission of AHSIE is to support educators at HSIs “as they seek to provide quality, relevant educational opportunities to large and growing numbers of underserved populations, particularly Hispanic students.” AHSIE’s focus is on the undergraduate population, which makes it distinct from other organizations.

What is your role as a Strategic Alliances Committee liaison to AHSIE? In my role, I work with a specific HSI organization to help link them to resources and initiatives that NORDP offers or has access to. I also communicate unique RD needs of the organization to NORDP, so that we might possibly develop partnerships between the organizations or obtain resources to address mutual needs or goals. That is central to the SAC mission of serving as the professional development arm for NORDP. In uniting AHSIE with NORDP, I hope to strengthen the efforts of both organizations. For instance, one of the longer-term goals I have as a liaison is to facilitate a proposal, such as NSF GRANTED, that includes AHSIE and NORDP members, which will garner more attention and support through the backing of two organizations. It is just as crucial, I believe, to introduce NORDP members to what AHSIE and similar organizations, such as HACU (the Hispanic Alliance of Colleges and Universities), for example, have to offer. I view myself as a point person for the NORDP member who wants to learn more about HSIs and partner with them as well as to support NORDP members at newly designated HSIs. Finally, I am committed to staying abreast of current research trends in supporting Hispanic students and sharing that with NORDP members as potential best practices for use in research development.

Tell me about your professional role. I’m Executive Director of Research Development Services and the Office of HSI and Inclusivity Research Services at Texas A&M University. Texas A&M is an HSI as of last year and a Carnegie Research 1 institution. Research Development Services has three areas of emphasis: support for large proposals, career development for faculty (especially early career faculty), and a focus on submitting for HSI funding opportunities. My role in the Office of HSI is similar to the other two focuses, but with increased attention to communicating HSI funding opportunities to faculty and facilitating the proposal writing process according to faculty requests and needs.

How did you become involved in working with underrepresented scholars? Before coming to Texas A&M, I worked across the State of Texas as Director of Strategic Development for the Texas Engineering Experiment Station, the research arm of engineering for the A&M System. In addition, my doctoral research focused on underrepresented groups in STEM and time to completion of the core body of knowledge at A&M. As such, my background prepared me for this role.

What qualifies a university as an HSI? According to the White House Initiative on Advancing Educational Equity, Excellence, and Economic Opportunity for Hispanics, an HSI must have an “enrollment of undergraduate full-time equivalent students that is at least 25 percent Hispanic students at the end of the award year immediately preceding the date of application.” The federal government also requires that HSIs have educational and general expenditures per full-time equivalent student that fall below the average of similar institutions, as calculated by the U.S. Department of Education.” There are currently 451 HSIs in the United States. One interesting fact is that three states have their own consortia: California, Texas, and Florida.

Could you recommend an article or book on HSIs that may be of interest to NORDP members and the faculty they serve? I’m currently reading Gina Ann Garcia’s book Transforming Hispanic-Serving Institutions for Equity and Justice (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2023). Garcia was the keynote speaker at the recent AHSIE conference, and was also a speaker at a conference that we held at Texas A & M. Garcia, with other scholars, coined the term servingness, which emphasizes the importance of actually serving, as opposed to simply enrolling, Hispanic students. That is an important distinction and a key term for any scholar who is developing research or programming involving HSIs or Hispanic students. This is yet another way that I hope to assist NORDP members through my role as a SAC liaison. Very often, in RD, we need to assist technical faculty in locating publications on best practices for use in broader impacts or educational outreach narratives. My liaison with AHSIE will help to keep me on the cusp of current research, and I will share these resources with NORDP members.

One of SAC’s missions is advocacy. How do you see this as influencing what you hope to achieve as a liaison? One of the goals I have for the next few years is to help with an HSI-specific consulting initiative that is part of or similar to the current project that NORDP launched with HBCUs. This would be a significant undertaking, but a very valuable one in light of the growing college age population in Texas and the nation and the growing interest in DEI. I would love to brainstorm this with the Board and the SAC committee in the coming months!

SAC Spotlights: An Interview with Tisha Gilreath Mullen, SAC liaison to to Advancing Research Impact in Society (ARIS)

In April, 2023, Elizabeth Festa sat down with Tisha Gilreath Mullen to discuss Tisha’s experience as a SAC Liaison to Advancing Research Impact in Society (ARIS).

The Strategic Alliances Committee (SAC)‘s NORDP Liaisons Program is an exciting opportunity for NORDP members to thoroughly advocate for Research Development to external organizations and associations while gaining additional professional experience. While championing NORDP, Liaisons provide an invaluable service to NORDP members by gathering and sharing relevant and useful information as part of a broad and strategic outreach program.

In April, 2023, Elizabeth Festa sat down with Tisha Gilreath Mullen to discuss Tisha’s experience as a SAC Liaison to Advancing Research Impact in Society (ARIS).

Tell me about your role at University of Nebraska.

I lead the Office of Proposal Development, a five-member team situated within the Office of Research and Economic Development’s research development group at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

What is the mission of your liaison organization, ARIS?

Advancing Research Impact in Society (ARIS), an NSF-funded initiative that originated as NABI (National Alliance for Broader Impacts) in 2018, brings researchers and engagement practitioners together to build capacity, advance scholarship, grow partnerships, and develop resources to help facilitate and demonstrate the impact of research in communities and society.

Why did you decide to become a liaison to ARIS? What benefits has it conferred on your organization and on your own professional development?

My role as a liaison offers me an opportunity to broaden my professional network by meeting and collaborating with colleagues working in the research impact space. It made sense for me to seek out this type of engagement because the University of Nebraska-Lincoln has enjoyed a strong relationship with ARIS from its very beginnings as NABI and the relationship has always been viewed by my leadership as mutually beneficial. Over the years, we have offered ARIS Broader Impacts 101 training for faculty and we were among the pilot participants in the ARIS Program to Enhance Organizational Research Impact Capacity (ORIC). ORIC, in particular, was useful for enhancing the supports and resources we deploy to help our faculty extend the societal impact of their work. We now have a research development position dedicated to research impact and we are involved in piloting the ARIS Toolkit Project in one of our faculty development programs.

What benefits and resources of ARIS would you like NORDP members to know about?

The ARIS Toolkit, a compilation of resources that research development and research impact professionals can use to help faculty think strategically about how to identify and cultivate robust community partnerships, is publicly available. It’s an amazing resource for NORDP members who guide faculty toward understanding what elements are needed to create a robust and mutually beneficial broader impacts plan. Beyond the Toolkit, ARIS offers webinars on topics of interest to both our communities (NSF CAREER proposals, for example) and, of course, there are opportunities for organizations to participate in ORIC. Upon graduation from ORIC, organizations become part of a research impacts community of practice, which helps to sustain momentum gained through the program. It’s also worth noting that NORDP and ARIS have a joint Memorandum of Understanding, which includes discounted registrations for NORDP members to attend the annual ARIS Summit and ARIS members to attend the annual NORDP conference. I encourage anyone interested in learning more about ARIS to attend the Summit. It affords access to colleagues who are doing innovative research impact work, sneak peeks at new tools to facilitate research impacts; and insights into new concepts that are driving innovations in the space. If your experience is like mine, you’ll be challenged by the Summit to think in more expansive, powerful, and inclusive ways about the work you do.

How were you challenged by this year’s ARIS Summit?

This year’s Summit in Baltimore focused on diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility. The speakers and sessions challenged me think more deeply about what we are doing well in the Office of Proposal Development and areas in which we need to improve. The keynote was delivered by Dr. Natalie Shaheen, Assistant Professor of Special Education at Illinois State University, who is blind. She talked about access and equity for a blind population and identified different strategies for engagement and disseminating research. For example, when introducing speakers to an audience that includes blind individuals, do we describe the speaker’s appearance? If we are using slides, are they fully accessible? As an audience how do we express engagement with a blind speaker (such as finger snapping or foot stomping, for example)? When we publish research, what considerations are we giving to accessibility (do we translate the work into Braille, for example)? While we are attuned at my institution to the importance of racial, ethnic, and gender diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility, we have less often considered how to reach audiences with physical disabilities. These insights will impact how my team coaches on inclusion moving forward.

How does our alliance with ARIS help to promote the professional development of NORDP as an organization?

The NORDP/ARIS alliance is a natural connection that is integral to the work of both organizations and we can accomplish so much more by working together. There is a true synergy to this alliance, where the whole is most definitely greater than the sum of its parts. We can learn from each other at the grassroots level and wield more influence on the national and international stage when we unite for change.

About the Strategic Alliances Committee

The Strategic Alliances Committee focuses on the interactions between NORDP and all external entities, including research funding, government and private agencies, and other professional organizations. Our goal is to become recognized as the “go-to” organization regarding interactions between funding agencies and research performing institutions, and to facilitate communication and collaborations between research institutions themselves. The signature program of the Strategic Alliances Committee is the member-led NORDP Liaison program which utilizes a matrix approach to reach out to over 20 organizations including AAAS, APLU, the National Academies, and the European Commission. Click here for more information and to get involved.

NORDP’s Strategic Alliances Committee Supports Fulbright Specialist and Fulbright Scholar Opportunities

As you consider new RD opportunities this year, members of the Strategic Alliances Committee (SAC) offer their support for the Fulbright Specialist and Fulbright Scholar opportunities, such as the short-term International Education Administrators Award (IEAA).

The Fulbright Specialist program sends US academic professionals abroad to serve as expert consultants on curriculum, faculty development, institutional planning, and related subjects at academic institutions for a period of two to six weeks. The Fulbright Scholar IEAAs are two-week seminars hosted by the Fulbright Commissions in particular countries for higher education professionals to exchange their professions’ best practices with their counterparts abroad.

SAC hosted a webinar on the Fulbright Specialist program in 2022 covering its applicability to RD professional development and its application and selection processes. Fulbright Specialist applications are reviewed every other month.

“If qualified, you’re added to a list, and interested countries can use that to select their chosen specialist,” Kotay explains. “To facilitate the process, it helps to identify the university you’re interested in visiting and research its needs. SAC members can help you with both the proposal development and how to establish connections. Then, when the university makes its application to host a Fulbright Specialist, it can name you, specifically.”

Kotay and Peggy Sundermeyer, Partner, ORG Transitions and a charter member of SAC, are willing to coach NORDP members who might want to explore these Fulbright opportunities. Sundermeyer says she’s motivated by the benefits that Fulbright can bring to the individual, their institution, their host institution, and the broader global research enterprise.

Selected in 2022 for the Fulbright Scholar IEAA in Germany, Kotay networked with German higher education administrators, shared best practices in RD, and learned about the German education system with a focus on the challenges of internationalization in times of crisis.

Fulbright IEAAs offer opportunities to RD professionals to enhance the internalization efforts of their work and share RD best practices that are often practiced differently outside the US.

“What one brings back to their institution is a stronger awareness of how to build partnerships for a variety of educational and research initiatives, plus the prestige of being a Fulbright Scholar,” Kotay says.

Led by the US government in partnership with more than 160 countries worldwide, the broader Fulbright Program offers international educational and cultural exchange programs for students, scholars, artists, teachers, and professionals of all backgrounds to study, teach, or pursue important research and professional projects.

“These Fulbright opportunities can facilitate global research, better understand resource allocation in other countries, and foster excellent career development opportunities,” Sundermeyer says.

A copy of SAC’s Fulbright Specialist webinar is available in the members-only section of the NORDP website here.

More information about the Fulbright Specialist Program can be found here.

More information about the Fulbright Scholar International Education Administrators Award can be found here.

To explore Fulbright opportunities unique to your situation, send an email to peggys@orgtransitions.org and/or emkotay@arizona.edu.

NORDP Award Highlights Innovation

At the 2022 NORDP Annual Conference, a group of NORDP members were recognized with the 2022 NORDP Innovation Award for their contributions to the research development profession. Before 2022 comes to a close, we celebrate their work that resulted in a valuable resource for research development organizations and individuals: the NORDP Resource for Organizing and ADapting a Training Program toward Developing an RD career (NROAD to RD).

An image of an empty, straight roadway stretching forward. The road is bordered by deciduous trees lit by low, golden sunlight. Beyond the trees on both sides of the road are large, flat farm fields. The photo has.a sense of possibility, hope, and forward progress. — Photo by Karsten Würth on Unsplash

NROAD to RD was designed to help RD professionals and offices develop internship and training programs to expand the RD community. It brought together representation from each NORDP committee and used crowd-sourcing to identify materials;

Easy to access at https://nordp.mclms.net/en/package/6128/course/6797/view, the program provides a framework and growing library of resources. RD offices can access modules and add additional components to create a program relevant to their individual office and institution. While originally developed as an internship/training tool, NROAD to RD serves as an innovative tool that can be adapted for training or onboarding new RD members, or even for professional development. It has already been accessed and used by more than 150 members.

The effort was chaired by Samarpita (Samar) Sengupta, Assistant Professor and Director of Research at The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center’s Department of Physician Assistant Studies. She fondly recalls the teamwork that made NROAD to RD possible.

“This effort arose from my work as a Strategic Alliance Committee liaison to the National Postdoc Association, which identified a need for training related to research development for postdoctoral scholars. Working with Peggy Sundermeyer, the chair of SAC, we realized that a centralized approach wouldn’t work. So, we pulled together different perspectives, tapping expertise from NORDP’s various committees.”

The NROAD to RD team leveraged existing resources and created new tools to create an innovative resource will help grow the RD field and community. Their dedication of countless volunteer hours for brainstorming, creating, persevering, and was recognized with the 2022 NORDP Innovation Award.

Phase 1 piloted in 2018, followed by Phase 2 work focused on implementation and dissemination. In early 2021, the Phase 2 team conducted a survey of users to determine return on investment and identify areas for improvement.

“As opposed to dropping into the storm without a parachute, now postdocs and others can learn about the RD profession and potentially join our growing field,” Sengupta says. “Previously, there was no way for RD offices to provide such information, no training or internship structure to utilize. We filled a gap that people didn’t even realize they had. Many NORDP members are also using this resource for onboarding new employees.”

In addition to Sengupta, NROAD to RD’s Phase I working group included Peggy Sundermeyer, Trinity University; Joanna Downer, Duke University; Page Sorensen, previously at the University of California San Francisco; Sharon Pound, University of Tennessee; Rebecca Latimer, University of Virginia; Nicole Frank, University of Utah; Beth Moser, previously at Maricopa County Community Colleges District; and Sarah Messbauer, University of California, Davis.

The NROAD to RD team now lives under the NORDP Professional Development committee. Phase II WG members include Joanna Downer, Rebecca Latimer, and Samarpita Sengupta from Phase I, with several new members: Danielle Matsushima, Columbia University; Elaine Lee, Boston University; Maile Henson, Duke University; and Alexis Nagel, Medical University of South Carolina. Peggy Sundermeyer; Jacob Levin, Levin Global Group; and Jeff Agnoli, the Ohio State University, provided consulting support as and when needed.

A “living resource,” NROAD to RD is being continually modified to update materials and add items requested by users. The team is now a working group of the NORDP Professional Development Committee.

Once again, NORDP thanks these tireless RD professionals who made NROAD to RD possible. Visit the Professional Development Committee website to learn more and access this and other online RD resources.

Liaison News: Research Development and the International Forum on Expert Finders Systems Call for Conference Proposals

Jeff Agnoli, Senior Liaison, Office of Corporate Partnerships, The Ohio State University, is serving on the Conference Steering Committee for the International Expert Finders System Forum, April 5 & 6, 2023 in Coral Gables Miami, Florida. He will be a keynote presenter in part because of his research development responsibilities and his role in building a sustainable future for the Ohio Innovation Exchange, http://OhioInnovationExchange.org. This year’s theme is Connecting the Dots, which is something RD professionals do every day!

Agnoli will feature the various ways RD professionals use tools to build interdisciplinary teams, assist with identifying mentors, fostering innovation, building corporate partnerships, and driving economic development. He invites other NORDP members to consider submitting a call for conference proposals and share their institution’s unique use of these emerging tools. Presentations, panels, or posters can address how each college/university leverages these platforms to provide strategic/competitive intelligence, enhance the proposal development process, etc.

“I believe it is time for the RD community to do what we do best, i.e., leverage our relationships across the campus and advance the use of these tools,” he says. “Every day, we build partnerships with our colleagues in the libraries, information technology, communications, foundations/corporate relations, and technology transfer, to promote our faculty, enhance their research impact, and build our institutional reputation.”

Contact Agnoli at agnoli.1@osu.edu if you have questions or interest in collaborating on a poster, presentation, or panel discussion featuring your institution’s unique adoption of these types of platforms.

The Ohio Innovation Exchange (OIEx) is the essential gateway for university scholars and business/industry seeking to build partnerships. Visitors enjoy access to more than 10,000 experts, research equipment/services, and patents to drive innovation and increase economic development. Every week thousands of people from across the globe visit the http://OhioInnovationExchange.org to discover new opportunities and promote research discoveries.