By Brooke Gowl, Research Development Associate, Duke University
NORDP Members, come join in the fun of the McHuddles! There are McHuddles for Mentees and Mentors, and you are welcome to sign up for one or both.
McHuddle with Mentees will be held on November 9th at 1:00pm Eastern: Register now.
McHuddle with Mentors will be held on November 9th at 2:00pm Eastern: Register now.
McHuddles, informal gatherings hosted by the NORDP Mentoring Committee, are an opportunity to share ideas, ask questions, and collectively learn from other mentees/mentors and are led by the Facilitator Team. While the expectation is that McHuddles will serve as support for current and former NORDP Mentoring Program participants, all are welcome!
During each McHuddle, there will be breakout sessions led by NORDP Mentoring Program Facilitators. I have attended these sessions in the past as a mentor and a mentee and enjoyed talking with other mentors and mentees in a safe, fun, supportive, and informal atmosphere. A McHuddle is also a nice break in your busy day. During the session, participants introduce themselves and often give some insights into their personalities by answering a fun question, such as, “If you had a superpower, what would it be?” or “What is one of the most interesting places you have visited?” We laugh and enjoy the group camaraderie, and of course, discuss mentoring and how our mentoring relationships are developing. We also talk about additional resources we could use or are using that can be shared. McHuddles are a wonderful reminder of the terrific, supportive community of RD professionals that comprises NORDP.
During the McHuddle you will meet our team of Facilitators. Facilitators serve as a resource and point of contact with the mentoring committee. You can contact a Facilitator if you have any concerns about your match, have any difficulties connecting with your mentee/mentor, or have any questions in general about the program. These conversations are confidential and meant to support your experience with the program. You can find the list of the Facilitators on your WisdomShare Dashboard at https://nordpmentoring.mywisdomshare.com/.
PMG Organizers: Don Takehara, Jet LeBlanc, Joanna Downer, Paula Carney, & M. S. (Peg) AtKisson.
The 2022 NORDP Conference included multiple sessions that addressed the discipline of coaching and how it can be used in research development (RD), including faculty research career development, research leadership development, and research team engagement.
The Coaching & RD Peer Mentoring Group (PMG) is now being launched to provide a vehicle for supporting NORDP members interested in coaching.
Coaching fits a broader collection of skills in the RD skillset to further faculty research career development and reflects the dynamic nature of the RD profession. Coaching is a powerful process that encompasses a distinct set of competencies. The International Coaching Federation defines coaching as “partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential.” Coaching often unlocks previously untapped sources of imagination, productivity, and leadership. Trained coaches can engage individual faculty to address research career and research leadership development, facilitate research team engagement, and promote development of research leaders.
Using the peer mentoring model, the Coaching & RD PMG’s goals are to:
Enable members to explore coaching as part of the RD skillset
Develop programs to offer coaching as an RD service at the institutional level
Assess coaching as a contributor to faculty and organizational research attainment
Provide a setting for accountability and continuous improvement for RDs interested in coaching in research development
The Coaching & RD PMG is for NORDP members who may be curious about becoming a coach to add to their RD skillset, interested in adding coaching to an institution’s faculty research career, research leadership development, or research team engagement programs, as well as other opportunities for RD professionals that may benefit from inclusion of coaching.
NORDP members interested in learning more about all eight active PMGs can do so at the 2023 Peer Mentoring Group (PMG) Orientation on Wednesday, October 26, 2022, noon-1:30 pm Eastern.
We have some great news! ARIS is enhancing the 2023 ARIS Fellowship Program structure with the addition of Senior Fellows. Fellowship teams will be led by a pair of Senior Fellows who will act as co-chairs. Senior Fellows will also participate in recruiting, reviewing and selecting Fellows who will be invited to work on a collaborative team.
We are requesting nominations for these special leadership roles. Nominees should have a deep knowledge of the current conditions, practices, and policies shaping graduate education or the research enterprise at MSIs. In recognition of their leadership, selected Senior Fellows will receive a stipend. Please visit the 2023 ARIS Fellowship Program webpage for more details. Nominations are due July 22, 2022.
There are two priority areas for 2023 Fellowships: preparing the next generation of researchers for impact and spotlight on minority-serving institutions. This priority area is funded and designed in partnership with the National Organization of Research Development Professionals (NORDP).
The Center for Advancing Research Impact in Society (ARIS) Fellows program is for professionals, researchers, faculty, educators, graduate students and others working to advance research impact. The goal of the program is to provide professional development through collaborative creation of key resources that support the research community in achieving impacts.
Applications to become a 2023 Fellow will open in Summer 2022.
As the 2021-22 Mentoring year draws to a close, the mentoring committee caught up with another dyad pair. Erica Severan-Webb, who serves as the Director of Diversity Programs and Initiatives within the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs at Louisiana State University (LSU) Health Sciences Center in New Orleans mentored Erin Meyer, who serves the University of Utah College of Nursing as a Research Associate.
Bios:
Erica Severan-Webb is an experienced leader in both the education and non-profit sectors who has conceptualized, designed, and implemented inclusive programming and initiatives to achieve institutional transformation. She co-authored and served as Co-PI on XULA STRIDES, a NSF ADVANCE grant designed to increase retention of African American STEM faculty at an HBCU. Her passion for organizational diversity, equity, and accessibility is demonstrated through her work with colleagues, students, and community partners and her continuous engagement and empowerment of individuals and organizations in transformative change models.
Erin Meyer
Erin Meyer earned a PhD in pharmacology from Georgetown University. She has a Bachelor’s of Arts in Biology from the University of California, Santa Barbara. She completed a six year postdoctoral fellowship in neuroscience and genetics at the University of Utah and she was a Research Assistant Professor at the University of Utah. She is currently a Research Administrator at the University of Utah, College of Nursing. Erin is also a yoga therapist and she is interested in DEIA and disability studies.
What influenced you to apply to be a mentor and a mentee for the 2020-21 NORDP Mentoring Program?
Erica: I have had incredible mentors who have encouraged my development and challenged my thinking and leadership practice. My mentoring relationships have contributed to my career progression and have made me a better RD professional and leader. I was excited to serve as a mentor to be able to provide that opportunity for a colleague.
Erin: I have had many great mentors in the past. When I started this program, it had been a long time since I worked with a mentor. I was at a place in my career where I wanted a mentor and I was at a loss about where to find one. I felt stuck without options to advance my career or to change career paths, and I wanted some advice. I am glad NORDP has a program.
What was your favorite part about your relationship?
Erica: I am always so passionate about learning about individuals and organizations through mentoring relationships. Erin was such an amazing colleague to discuss how Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) principles and RD intersect, as well as how institutions and professionals can leverage both their expertise and skillsets as RD professionals to advocate for a more inclusive culture within their institution as well as more broadly throughout academia.
Erin: I specifically requested a mentor from a diverse community. I am from a diverse community, and I have never had a mentor who understood DEI challenges in RD, and in the broader context, DEI challenges in academia. I learned so much from my mentor in these areas. I am now empowered to make a difference in DEI, no matter where I am working.
How has participation in the Mentoring Program helped broaden your horizons about Research Development in general and/or affected your daily work in particular?
Erica: Erin and I had great conversations and discussions about how DEI and RD intersect. I always look forward to our chats and treat our discussions as a priority where I disconnect and am fully engaged to provide substantive feedback and strategies that have been beneficial to me in my own development.
Erin: I always look forward to my calls with Erica. I learned from Erica the differences in RD career trajectories and career limitations among large public academic institutions, smaller private academic institutions, and companies in the private sector. In addition, Erica took the time to reach out to someone who knows people at my current institution and through this contact, I have expanded my network. I now have some plans of how to move my career forward. I do not want my relationship with Erica to end.
What surprised you about being a mentor or a mentee?
Erica: While not surprised, I am always humbled by the incredible talent and expertise that exists within the NORDP community. So many colleagues sustain institutional initiatives and programming that are innovative while also maintaining service commitments within their institutions and other national organizations. Erin is no exception as she has been a DEI champion on her campus – this is truly inspiring to my own work and practice.
Erin: I was not surprised that I learned a lot about RD and DEI. I knew that I was lacking in my knowledge in how these areas intersect. I was surprised to learn that feeling stuck in my career has a lot to do with where I work—the type of institution. I learned from Erica how to navigate this institution.
Any words of wisdom or encouragement for those wanting to apply next year? Any other thoughts you would like to share?
Erica: Participation in the program always serves to motivate me to continue to look for opportunities to cultivate meaningful mentoring relationships where I can serve as a resource to mentees and foster support as they navigate through specific projects or career transitions points.
Erin: I went for a long time without a mentor. I will never do that again. I realize how important it is to have a mentor, so I plan to always have at least one. I am also willing to be a mentor.
Erica: Please sign up to be a mentor for the NORDP mentoring program! It is phenomenal in its ability to foster mentoring relationships that facilitate incredible learning opportunities for both mentees and mentors.
The 2022-23 NORDP Mentoring Program is now open for applications! Current users of Wisdom Share have the ability to change their profile to make themselves available for being a mentor, mentee or both. For first time users, a registration step is required. We highly encourage everyone to sign up to be a mentor! Application period closes by May 16th.
Compiled by Samarpita Sengupta, Mentoring 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.
With the generous support of Eric and Wendy Schmidt via recommendation of the Schmidt Futures program, NORDP is piloting a program to grow research capacity and competitiveness within historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) by increasing institutional capacity for research development. To develop and grow sustainable research support infrastructure, the awarded two-year pilot project will provide NORDP consultants—via either virtual engagement or in-person engagement—to participating HBCUs at no cost to the institutions.
NORDP is pleased to announce two opportunities to be a part of the NORDP Consultant pilot program.
Please consider applying and share this opportunity with program evaluators in your network. The National Organization of Research Development Professionals (NORDP) requests proposals from experienced evaluators for the evaluation of a two-year pilot project that will create sustainable research support infrastructures at four participating HBCUs. The evaluator will provide formative and summative feedback to NORDP leadership and the HBCUs related to impacts and outcomes as aligned with project objectives. The evaluator will also provide recommendations to inform future programmatic decisions. A bidders conference will be held on September 21, 2021 at 12-1pm EDT. Proposals are due November 10, 2021. Additional information can be found in the RFP here.
Please consider applying to serve as a NORDP Consultant. The National Organization of Research Development Professionals (NORDP) seeks applications from NORDP members to participate as NORDP Consultants in a two-year pilot project that will create sustainable research support infrastructures at four participating HBCUs. Proposals are due November 10, 2021. Additional information can be found in the RFA here.
The application process for HBCUs will also be announced in the upcoming weeks. HBCUs will be contacted directly and invited to apply.
Thanks to NORDP member Jeff Agnoli for telling us about the free 2021 International Forum on Expert Finder Systems (EFS) series schedule to run Feb. 11 – Mar. 18! The six-day series, scheduled over six weeks, offers a wealth of information that can strengthen research development initiatives, especially those related to team building. Several RD professionals, including Jeff, are among the list of presenters.
EFS are “directories, profiling sites, or social networking sites that employ knowledge management tools to gather, manage, and publish searchable information,” the event’s website explains. Proper utilization of these systems can support collaborations, bring innovations to market, and foster regional economic development, among other benefits.
The forum’s goals include: explore best practices, share user cases, and create a community of practice. The unique format enables a deep dive into the topic without “Zoom overload” by offering the six separate sessions and incorporating several interactive opportunities, such as “Coffee Talk.” NORDP members can register here.
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.
“Mentoring is a brain to pick, an ear to listen, and a push in the right direction.” ~John Crosby
Sometimes, being a mentor just means offering a listening ear, or tapping into your professional network to find someone who has necessary expertise. Now more than ever, we are reminded of how important it is to connect (whether in person or virtually), share ideas, grow professionally, and encourage colleagues on to success.
NORDP members have access to a wealth of community, connectedness, and resources through the NORDP Mentoring Program. (NOTE: The application deadline for 2020-2021 has been extended through April 10, 2020).
Would you consider #payingitforward by becoming a mentor? Here is what a few NORDP mentors are saying:
“What has struck me this year as a first-time mentor in the program is how impactful it can be to just be there for someone who’s dealing with transitions at work and contemplating how their current actions will impact their future career growth. …It has reinforced to me the power of connecting with others and the value of a strong support network.” ~Hilda McMackin, NORDP member, mentor
“Being a mentor is so rewarding! Don’t make the mistake that I did and wait to become a mentor until you have “enough” experience. You have more to offer than you realize. The resources provided make navigating the mentee-mentor relationship easy, especially if you are a first-time mentor. In my experience, both mentee and mentor have something to learn and gain from each other.” ~Kathy Partlow, NORDP member, mentor
“I was inspired to serve as a mentor by the people who took me under their wings early in my research development career, and generously gave of their time in ways that helped me learn and grow as a professional. I wouldn’t be where I am today without their mentorship, and I wanted to give back to the community.” ~Angela Jordan, NORDP member, mentor
Being a mentor offers collaboration. Friendship. Community. Learning. Staying connected. Nudging others forward to realize their potential. Paying it forward. And, perhaps even more importantly, offering hope: “A mentor is someone who allows you to see the hope inside yourself.” ~Oprah Winfrey
NORDP members can sign up to be a mentor and/or a mentee in the NORDP Mentoring Program. Peer mentoring groups are also available. The deadline for applications has been extended through Friday, April 10, 2020. Individual Mentor/Mentee matches and Peer Mentor Groups will be notified in late spring. Contact mentorprogram@nordp.org with any questions.
In May 2019, NORDP launched the Peer Mentoring Group (PMG) pilot program. So far, 89 members have engaged with the program, and the invitation remains for others to join.
To recap, the PMG program is structured around the six pillars of research development; the liaisons for each group are included:
Career & Professional Development – Christina Howard
Enhancing Collaboration & Team Science – Paula Carney
Communication – Scott Balderson, Svetlana Pitts, Rachel Goff-Albritton
Members were invited to select one or more of the PMGs in which they would like to participate, and NORDP’s Mentoring Committee initiated the first meeting of the six PMGs.
The effort was driven by Christina Howard and David Widmer, who are co-chairs of NORDP’s Mentoring Committee and are joined by Jan Abramson, Kathy Partlow, and Faye Farmer to form the committee’s leadership team. The Mentoring Committee is made up of about two dozen other NORDP members to help facilitate the Mentoring program, which paired up 112 mentors/mentees this year.
David explains that the initial goal of the Peer Mentoring Group pilot was to help members build a network of support among members. “We are never really fully developed by a single mentor. If you think about your broader network, it’s clear that you are being mentored by multiple people.”
“PMGs are an example of this committee in action,” Jan Abramson says. “One idea leads to another to another to another … and from a discussion about member needs, the importance of building a network of mentors, and making sure anyone who requests a member has one, the Mentoring Committee decided to launch the pilot.”
David, himself, is participating in three PMGs – the proposal development, enhancing collaboration & team science, and leadership & management groups. He says this is yet one more time he’s been impressed by the willingness of NORDP members to share best practices. He invites other NORDP members to join in with the PMGs that interest them.
“These groups are coalescing, building closer relationships, and beginning to collaborate,” he says, explaining that one group, the Proposal Development PMG, has scheduled a monthly Zoom call and set up a Google folder to share resources.
“Everybody speaks and interacts on the calls. As the hour comes to an end, it feels like we want to keep talking more,” he says, noting several members have continued conversations via emails in-between calls.
“Participating in PMG has been a great learning process,” Katie Howard, Mentoring Committee member and a part of the Leadership and Management PMG, says. “Our group has really gelled and enjoys coming together for lively conversation about our selected topic of the day – it’s a refreshing way to share best practices and learn from colleagues.” This group shares facilitation responsibility and rotates discussion leaders each month for the calls.
NORDP members who would like to join one of the PMGs should send an email to the Mentoring Committee at mentorprogram@nordp.org.
Submitted by Sharon Pound
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.
Research Development (RD) is a career of strategists, planners and figure-it-outers. Most of us “fell into” the role and realized later that what we do is RD. We’ve figured out and honed our skills along the way.
However, the field is growing (if the first-ever sold-out NORDP conference is any indication!), and so a considerable need exists to shorten and ease that learning curve. Similarly, people looking at RD as a potential career may feel unsure about how to get started, or how to “test the waters” given the variability across RD offices.
With this in mind, NORDP launched a working group in June 2018 under the Strategic Alliances Committee to create a resource to help RD offices develop training programs relevant to their own needs. Indeed, the “NROAD to RD” training program framework is based on the idea that some RD-relevant skills and knowledge can be taught – and it offers a menu of options from which to choose.
The NROAD to RD, or theNORDP Resource for Organizing and ADapting a Training Program toward Developing an RDcareer, is the culmination of a year’s worth of work by the working group (with input from each of NORDP’s standing committees), a beta test at Duke University’s School of Medicine, and a soft launch at the 11th Annual NORDP conference in 2019.
How does NROAD to RD work?
The goals of NROAD to RD are to “provide RD offices with a framework to (1) develop their own training/apprenticeship/internship programs, and (2) employ that framework to introduce, recruit, and train individuals interested in a RD careers.” RD offices can choose among the suggested components and add additional components as necessary to ensure relevance to their individual office and institution’s missions.
The resource provides a guide for decision-making in designing an appropriate training program (Fig 1). Each decision affects the others, collectively defining parameters for the training program.
Figure 1: Decisions to be made while designing an NROAD-based RD training program.
NROAD to RD also offers curriculum modes, or training delivery methods, from which to choose (Fig 2). Most programs will likely include a range of delivery methods, from self-study to shadowing to live or simulated work projects, as suits their goals and mentoring capacity.
Figure 2: NROAD’s recommended curriculum modules
Curriculum suggestions include RD basics; navigating large grants, individual grants, and limited submissions; project management; team science; diversity and inclusion; and other institutional/research-related/career related topics. The curriculum module section is further broken down into sub-categories with recommended reading resources and suggested assignments for each.
Finally, NROAD to RD offers suggestions for program and trainee evaluation to ensure refinement and success.
Interested in NROAD to RD?
The NROAD to RD framework is available to all NORDP members and may be requested via email to Dr. Samarpita Sengupta (samar.sg@gmail.com). In the coming months, the “Phase II” working group under the auspices of the NORDP Professional Development Committee will create additional resources (e.g., case studies and job simulations), navigate the logistics of hosting these resources on the NORDP website, and evaluate resource usage.
Acknowledgements!
The Phase I working group was chaired by Samarpita Sengupta, and consisted of the following members: Peggy Sundermeyer, Trinity University; Joanna Downer, Duke University; Page Sorensen, then at the University of California San Francisco; Sharon Pound, University of Tennessee, Knoxville; Rebecca Latimer, University of Virginia; Nicole Frank, University of Utah; Beth Moser, Maricopa County Community Colleges District; and Sarah Messbauer, University of California, Davis.
NROAD to RD was developed initially using resources generously shared by UT Southwestern Medical Center’s NeAT program (Samarpita Sengupta), University of California San Francisco’s Internship program (Page Sorensen), The University of Tennessee, Office of Research & Engagement’s Onboarding Resources (Jennifer Webster), and University of Nebraska–Lincoln’s Onboarding Resources (Kathryn Partlow).
Current Phase II WG members are Joanna Downer, Rebecca Latimer, and Samar Sengupta with several new members: Danielle Matsushima at Columbia University; Elaine Lee, Boston University; Maile Henson, Duke University; Alexis Nagel, Medical University of South Carolina, and Dawn McArthur, BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute. Peggy Sundermeyer remains on the WG as a consultant with supplementary assistance from Jacob Levin, MIT.
Submitted by Samarpita Sengupta
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.
NORDP News 