NORDP News

Hello NORDP!

Thank you for the opportunity to serve you this year as NORDP’s next President. NORDP is at a critical point in our evolution as an organization. Earlier this year, NORDP crossed a major threshold with 1,000 active members and rolled out our new three-year strategic plan, but had to cancel the much-anticipated Annual Conference because of COVID-19. At the same time, a national conversation about racism has sparked a wide range of emotions, dialogue, and opportunities for change across the country.

In my opening message to you, I wanted to reflect on these events and think about the future.

As our organization grows, I want to emphatically reiterate NORDP’s statement on inclusiveness that we formally adopted nearly three years ago:

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.

NORDP is deeply committed to creating an inclusive environment, but in order to live an anti-racist life, we must act, so we are continually looking for more ways to demonstrate these values. In the past month, for example, we asked proposers responding to our event management RFP to describe their organization’s commitment to diversity and inclusivity and how it is embodied in their work with clients and within their organization so that we can ensure that our event planner shares our values. We actively sought bids from minority-owned event management companies. We also launched a series called Conversation Roadblocks: A Dialogue with NORDP’s Committee on Inclusive Excellence, which provides a forum for conversation about current events that provides a safe space for our members to share their feelings, connect with colleagues, and suggest actions that we can take together and at our home institutions. I encourage you to join upcoming discussions, which you can find on the NORDP events calendar.

Looking ahead, our strategic plan calls for the development of a robust action plan toward inclusive excellence throughout the organization. I look forward to sharing the working group’s recommendations for NORDP so that we can act together in the near future.

Speaking of the strategic plan, in September 2019, the Board of Directors used the feedback from the membership survey to develop our next three-year strategic plan, which we formally adopted and began sharing with members in early 2020. To keep you informed of our progress, we created a new strategic plan website where working groups will post updates throughout the year. You will also be able to see the membership of each working group. If you’d like to get involved in an ongoing or future working group, please contact the champion identified.

After canceling the 2020 Annual Conference, the Board of Directors and I have spent a lot of time reflecting on the value of NORDP membership beyond the Annual Conference. We remain committed and even more enthusiastic about several objectives in the strategic plan that will bring value to members even when we cannot convene in-person.

Building on our years of successful programming and in addition to the 2020 conference content that we are bringing to you virtually, we are creating more coordinated, professional development content and programs for RD folks at all levels:

• This year we will launch NORDP LEAD, a leadership development program that leverages peer mentoring groups.
• This year we will launch RD 101, a new signature training, for early career RD professionals and those hoping to enter the field.
• The mentoring program continues to serve members and evolve with more peer mentoring groups forming.
• We’ve re-designed the Leadership Forum that will be a part of the 2021 Annual Conference.

And there’s more on the horizon: We will be planning to develop year-round content that will benefits members at all stages of their careers and exploring the possibility of RD certification or credentialing for RD professionals.

Before I wrap up, I want to thank our outgoing Board of Directors, Kathryn Cataneo, Karen Fletcher, David Stone, Kari Whittenberger-Keith. Your service to this organization has helped us grow in so many ways. Let me say welcome to our incoming Board of Directors members, Eva Allen, Anne Maglia, Anne Pascucci, and Michael Preuss, with whom I look forward to working. The biggest T-H-A-N-K  Y-O-U goes out to our dozens and dozens of members who volunteers their time in big and small ways to help NORDP achieves its mission.

Lastly, I want to keep in touch. Starting next month, I will be hosting monthly drop-in office hours with other members of the Executive Committee on the first Monday of the month at 11am EST/EDT. Keep an eye on the NORDP events calendar for the zoom link so you can access these monthly office hours.

Throughout the year, please make use of the listserv to ask your colleagues about RD and subscribe to the NORDP Blog for relevant NORDP and RD news. If you have any questions or comments about NORDP and/or the Research Development field, just “Ask the President” by emailing president@nordp.org.

I look forward to working with all of you in the upcoming year!

Sincerely,

Kimberly Eck

—

Kimberly Eck, MPH, PhD
Assistant Vice Chancellor of Research Development
University of Tennessee, Office of Research & Engagement
Blount Hall, 1534 White Ave, Knoxville, TN 37996-1529

President 2020-2021
National Organization of Research Development Professionals (NORDP)
http://www.nordp.org

 

Who: Eva Allen, Assistant Director, Environmental Resilience Institute
Where: Indiana University
Number of Years in RD: 18
Length of NORDP Membership: 10

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

I learned to write proposals to fund my graduate research in evolutionary biology, and after graduating, I shifted directly into a career at Indiana University in research development, initially as a one-person shop providing proposal support to my graduate department. When the VP for Research created a central team to support strategic proposals and faculty development, I joined the team as a research development specialist with a specialty in complex, team-based proposals. I eventually served as director of that team for a couple years, while also still working with teams developing proposals.

When one of those teams earned a 5-year internal “Grand Challenge” award, I accepted the position of assistant director for the initiative, which I still hold. Although less connected to proposal work in this role, I have had the privilege to experience the next phase of the grant process, helping a group of researchers implement their proposed plans to launch a “grand challenge” initiative, which has honed my skills as an administrator, and has given me valuable insight into the ways in which the articulation of a proposal’s project plan can impact post-award implementation. I have also been an active participant in the growing RD community of practice surrounding university-led Grand Challenges and other audacious research initiatives.

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

When I joined IU’s campus-level proposal team in early 2012, I had colleagues for the first time, and one of the first things they taught me was about the existence of NORDP. I joined immediately, and have attended every national and Great Lakes regional conference since then, several times as a presenter or panelist.

I became involved with NORDP’s Professional Development Committee in 2014, and shifted to the Pre-conference Workshops Committee when that function was split off before the 2015 conference. I learned the ropes as co-chair under Kari Whittenberger-Keith for the 2017 conference, and chaired that committee for the 2018 and 2019 conferences. In that role I also served as liaison to the Conference Organizing Committee for the 2018 and 2019 conferences. This year, I joined the core team organizing the 2020 conference with co-chairs Jill Jividen and Jenna McGuire, for which I led the workshops working group and served as liaison with the evaluation working group before the pandemic canceled the conference.

I am honored to have been elected to NORDP’s Board of Directors, and look forward to serving the organization in this new way.

What relationships have you built as a result of NORDP?

I knew from my very first conference that I’d found “my people.” Through NORDP conferences and committee work I’ve met so many people I consider to be not just acquaintances, but true friends. We share information, offer advice, follow each other’s careers, and look forward to seeing each other. I’ve also developed fond relationships with a couple of the people I’ve met through NORDP’s mentoring program, and still check in with them long after our formal year together has ended.

What are you most excited about as a board member?

Most of the committee work I’ve done for NORDP has been seasonal, so I’m looking forward to working with NORDP colleagues on a year-round basis. It’s an exciting time to be joining the board, as the organization begins to implement our new strategic plan, and also as COVID-19 has so dramatically shifted people’s approach to in-person work, which I think offers interesting opportunities both for the practice of research development and for NORDP as a geographically-dispersed organization.

Compiled by Daniel Campbell, Member Services Committee

NORDP fosters a culture of inclusive excellence by actively promoting and supporting diversity, inclusion and equity in all its forms to expand our worldview, enrich our work, and elevate our profession.

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

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.

Dear NORDP members,

The Board of Directors held their June Board meeting this week. I want to thank all the committees and volunteers for their dedication to furthering the field of research development and NORDP. Below are a few highlights:

• Our first ever Virtual Idea Showcase – featuring posters and lightning talks – is Thursday, July 30, 2020 from 3-5pm EDT. Keep an eye out for registration information in the coming weeks.
• The Professional Development Committee continues to work on coordinating a schedule of conference presentations in a virtual format.
• A group of NORDP members are working to bring you a series of RD community conversations where we can discuss racism, inclusion, and equity in our society, our institutions, and our organization, and the roadblocks we have on these difficult conversations. Keep an eye out for more information on these sessions in the coming weeks.
• The Board of Directors ratified the 2020 election results and welcomes four new Board members to join the Board in July: Eva Allen, Anne Maglia, Anne Pascucci, and Michael Preuss.

A NORDP Board term is for four years, beginning July 1st and ending June 30th. As we welcome the new Board members, I want to thank the Board members who will be rotating off the Board: Thank you to Kathy Cataneo and Kari Whittenberger-Keith for serving the last four years on the NORDP Board, and to Dave Stone for serving for the last eight years on the NORDP Board. You can see a sampling of their contributions here on slides 21-23. Kathy, Kari, and Dave: we appreciate your dedication and all your work that makes NORDP the organization it is today.

I also want to thank you all for the opportunity to serve as your President this past year. It has been an honor and I thank you for your support. I have enjoyed getting to know many of you through committees and other volunteer work and it has been a privilege to work beside you as we advance the global capacity for and impact of research by strengthening the practice and profession of research development.

Cheers,

Karen “Fletch” Fletcher
NORDP President
president@nordp.org

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.

Dear NORDP members,

Voting in the 2020 NORDP Board elections ended on June 11. This election saw a participation rate of 34%, which is lower than last year but greater than 2018. Thank you to our members for participating in the election process.

We want to thank the Nominating Committee for all their time spent soliciting and evaluating applications and nominations, and for coordinating the election process.

The NORDP Board of Directors ratified the results of the election this week and we are pleased to announce our four new Board members who will serve a four year term beginning July 1, 2020:

• Eva Allen, Assistant Director, Environmental Resilience Institute, Indiana University
• Anne Maglia, Associate Vice Chancellor for Research, University of Massachusetts Lowell
• Anne Pascucci, Director, Office of Sponsored Programs, Christopher Newport University (designated Primarily Undergraduate University seat)
• Michael Preuss, Executive Director, Office of Evaluation and Research, West Texas A&M University (designated Minority Serving Institution seat: a Hispanic Serving Institution)

Please join us in congratulating the new Board members! Eva, Anne M., Anne P., and Michael, we look forward to your enthusiasm and leadership as we advance the global capacity for and impact of research by strengthening the practice and profession of research development.

Sincerely,

Karen “Fletch” Fletcher
NORDP President

Kimberly Eck
NORDP Vice President/President Elect

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.