NORDP Board Member Cameo: David Stone

Who: David Stone, Ph. D., Chief Research Officer
Where: Oakland University
Number of years in Research Development: 12
Length of NORDP membership: 8 years

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

In 2005, when I was working in Europe but planning to come to Northern Illinois University as director of sponsored projects, I did an environmental scan in Europe and the US to better understand the needs of faculty with respect to Stone photo 1.jpgexternal funding. On the basis of that scan, I saw that faculty at mid-tier institutions like NIU needed assistance with what I call positioning (strengthening their standing in the literature, as researchers, and as grant writers) in order to compete with their colleagues who were selected out of grad school by larger research universities. On that basis, I created a hybrid job that I called research development specialist, a single role that handled the standard pre-award requirements, but who also worked very closely with faculty to strengthen their positioning prior to (and then throughout) their efforts are seeking funding. I am now the chief research officer at Oakland University, where I have made research development integral to our office.

What’s your history with NORDP? How have you engaged with the organization (committee work, conferences attended/presented)?

I had been discussing my new model of RD with Holly before the gathering that led to the founding of NORDP. I presented at the first meeting and have, I think at all subsequent meetings, and was asked to serve on the board in 2012. I have been on the board ever since, including a stint as president in 2014-15. I have served on numerous committees in that time, and in 2015, I founded NORD with the goal of establishing research development not just as a profession, but also as a field of research, providing an opportunity for scholars both within and outside NORDP to create new knowledge based on the work we do in RD and the role it plays in higher education, in science, in economic development, in technology advancement, in knowledge mobilization, and elsewhere.

What relationships have you built as a result of NORDP (new colleagues, connections to institutions where you previously had no point of contact)?

In my years in NORDP, and especially through the board, I have made a number of very strong connections that I have come to rely on in my work. Having served as president, I find that I can call any university in the country when I have a question or need some feedback, and my requests are always welcomed.

What inspired you to run for a position and serve on the NORDP board?

Back in 2010, when we were first talking about whether research development was a coherent thing, something that could be recognized as a profession, it was less clear whether people working in models like mine at NIU would be understood to be doing research development. At that point in time, most people connected to the movement were working in very large universities on very large projects. So, when I was asked to be on the board, and again when I was asked to run for president, I made it clear that core to my mission would be to ensure that the kinds of RD that are carried out at smaller schools and that often involve research admin work as well as RD would be valued, recognized, and represented in NORDP. So during the bylaws revisions in 2013-14, I ensured that there would always be seats on the board for representatives from PUIs, mid-level schools, and minority serving institutions. I am very heartened by the fact that the vast majority of the growth in NORDP membership since 2012 has been in these kinds of institutions.

What initiative are you most excited about in your role as a board member?

I continue to be very excited about the prospects for NORD. Last year we partnered with InfoReady to offer small grant awards to investigators interested in conducting research on (or about) research development. InfoReady has committed $30,000 for three years of pilot funding for these awards in order to kick start RD as a field of study. Unlike research administration, which uses a static body of knowledge to support the work of its professionals, RD professionals always work strategically and contextually, and so need a living, breathing, always developing literature that they can draw from like professionals do in other strategic fields like management or healthcare. Helping launch RD as a field is a complex undertaking, but it plays to my strengths as an interdisciplinary philosopher of science, and so I very much enjoy it and am excited for the day when RD is studied by disciplines outside of us who are examining our contributions to larger issues in higher education, science policy, science funding, faculty development, networked industrial policy, and other issues that are shaping our future.

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.

 

NORDP’s Got a Brand New Swag

NORDP apparel, including t-shirts, hoodies and hats, are now available for purchase online! Click through to see our line of men’s and women’s styles in a range of colors – some examples below.

Our first-ever NORDP store will be available for a limited time only—you must place your order before March 15. Get your gear and strut your NORDP pride in Providence!

Please note: when you place your order and submit payment information, your credit card will not be charged until after March 15 when all orders will be processed and shipped. Merchandise should arrive within 2-4 weeks after the sale closes.

The 11th Annual NORDP Research Development Conference will be held April 29 – May 1, 2019 at the Omni Providence Hotel in Providence, Rhode Island. Take advantage of our special discounted conference rate, book your room now with this NORDP-specific hotel reservation link.

2019 Conference: Registration Opens Next Week

NORDP 2019 with photo of buildings in Providence

Registration for NORDP 2019 will open TUESDAY, January 15!

This year’s Research Development Conference will offer several new options for three full days of programming. A welcome reception will take place as members arrive Sunday evening, then all sessions kick off the morning of Monday, April 29, with concurrent 2-hour and 4-hour workshops. Please note:  space is limited for 4-hour sessions, and they will require advance registration.

Both 4- and 2-hour workshops provide opportunities for more in-depth development of a topic than a traditional 1-hour conference session can allow.

Four-hour workshops provide an opportunity for intensive engagement with activities and applications, interacting with both the topic and with one another. Attendance is capped to maximize participant engagement, so registration is required.

Two-hour workshops allow an in-depth exploration of the topic with applications and discussion to facilitate learning.

In addition, attendees will enjoy standard 1-hour sessions, 1-hour roundtable discussions, lightning talks, the Ideas Showcase and plenary speakers.

The conference programming schedule will be available soon!

 

 

New Year – New You?

January 1st is an opportunity to turn over a new leaf and make a change in your life. Unfortunately, we humans lack the resolve to stick with our New Year’s resolutions and are caught buying a jumbo-sized box of chocolates on Valentine’s Day and conveniently forgetting about our gym membership. What are your New Year’s resolutions for your RD office and how can NORDP help you be successful? Do you desire to set new strategic directions? Upgrade to RD Office 2.0? Help your institution achieve its goals for 2020?

NORDP’s Program for External Evaluation of Research Development (PEERD) can help your institution follow through with its New Year’s resolutions, implementing and effecting impactful change in 2019. Whether your office has clear goals identified or needs assistance in identifying a long-term strategy, NORDP’s PEERD consulting program can serve as your guide.

For a no-obligation cost estimate, contact PEERD@nordp.org. More information can be found at https://www.nordp.org/peerd-consulting-program

HUDDLE: A New Year’s Resolution You’ll Love to Keep!

Dear NORDP Colleagues,

We ALWAYS hear that the best thing about attending a NORDP conference (even beyond all the great information and education) is the JOY of connecting with new colleagues and renewing the friendships we’ve made during our years in Research Development.

But why wait an entire year? Take this New Year’s Resolution with us: Let’s get together throughout the year by letting one another know when we are attending a business-related conference, so we can HUDDLE! Let’s not rely on serendipity or fickle fate!

It’s simple. When you decide you are attending a conference, send an email to the NORDP listserv and invite other members who may be attending for their organization to HUDDLE with you sometime at the conference. It adds another dimension to your conference and it’s just FUN to get together this way!

Our best wishes for a productive and wonderful 2019!

Warm regards, your Strategic Alliance Committee Co-Chairs

Rachel Dresbeck
Gretchen Kiser
Peggy Sundermeyer

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.

Conference News for the New Year

Mark your calendars! Early bird registration for the 2019 NORDP conference in Providence, RI, will open January 15. The early bird rate of $640 (which includes all conference activities) will be available until March 15.

Our new conference format–with 4-hour workshops and 2-hour presentations included in regular programming–offers a multitude of options for members to learn, network, strategize, and be inspired. For planning purposes, please note that 4-hour workshop attendance is capped, and thus first-come, first-served; you will register for your preferred workshop when you register for the conference. We’ll announce the 2019 workshop line-up early next month.

Conference plans will rev up in January, so stay tuned for more details, cameos and surprises in the new year!

Wishing you all a safe and happy holiday season!

NORDP Board Member Cameo: Karen Fletcher

Who: Karen Fletcher, M.B.A. Director of Grants Resources & Services
Where: Appalachian State University
Number of Years in RD: 8
Length of NORDP Membership: 6

When and how did you enter the field? What kind of RD work do you do?Fletcher_headshot_2018

I was working in Advertising and Sales at the local newspaper when I was hired at Coastal Carolina University (CCU) to create a Proposal Development program in 2010. I was told that my sales skills landed me the position, as they wanted someone to sell the benefits of applying for external funding to faculty members at a PUI and coach faculty on how to sell their project/research to funders. I also think my background in writing, editing, marketing, and running a non-profit education program helped with the job duties.

I was hired as the Director of Grants Resources & Services at Appalachian State University in 2015. We are a central office that handles the collection, analyzation, and dissemination of funding opportunities; administers limited submission and internal grant competitions; provides educational programming on strategic research positioning and competitive proposal development; and works with faculty to develop their research and funding strategies.

What’s your history with NORDP? How have you engaged with the organization (committee work, conferences attended/presented)?

I joined NORDP and attended my first Conference in 2012 (attending every Conference since) and found myself surrounded by people who were professional, organized, and committed to providing a network and education to RD professionals like me. I applied to be a mentee and in 2013 I joined a dinner group which inspired me to be more involved. Eventually I joined the Member Services Committee, the Pre-Conference Committee, the Communications Working Group, the Conference Program Committee, co-chaired the Mentoring Committee, and I volunteer as a NORDP mentor and am a member of the PUI Working Group. I was elected to the Board of Directors in 2016, was elected Secretary in 2017, and was elected Vice President/President Elect in 2018. I co-presented at the 2016 conference in CO and the 2017 conference in VA.

What relationships have you built as a result of NORDP (new colleagues, connections to institutions where you previously had no point of contact)?

There are too many to choose from! From my first NORDP member interaction with Pollyanne Frantz, who introduced me to Karen Eck (VP, current President), who became my Board mentor and I now work with side-by-side as VP/President-Elect; to meeting and working with Board member, Jan Abramson, on the Mentoring Committee and with her help, conceptualized a research mentoring program for my institution which earned me external grant funding and has garnered institutional support in its second year – the “NORDP connection” has shaped my career.

I could name many more members who have left an impact on me, but this space won’t allow it. My advice: never let an opportunity to meet a NORDP member pass you by – you never know where it will lead you!

What inspired you to run for a position and serve on the NORDP board?

I decided to run for the Board when I found myself looking for more PUIs to talk to and I wanted to make sure PUIs had a voice on the Board. I have attempted to support PUIs at the Board level and am happy to support and be a part of the new PUI Affinity Group that Ron Fleischmann is leading.

What initiative are you most excited about in your role as a board member?

I am excited about the Board’s efforts to develop a Strategic Plan for NORDP’s future. More to come on this soon!

What is your proudest accomplishment as NORDP board member?

So far, my proudest accomplishments are working with Jennifer Lyon Gardner to help standardize operating procedures and my work with Karen Eck on establishing a New Board Member orientation.

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.

Former NORDP President Gretchen Kiser Published in Nature

Dr. Gretchen Kiser, Executive Director of the Research Development Office at the University of California San Francisco and former NORDP President, has an article published in Nature about equity in publication attribution. You can check it out here: No more first authors, no more last authors.

Congrats, Gretchen!

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 Committee: Survey Says…

By Scott Balderson and Kathy Partlow

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Scott Balderson
180403_Partlow_122
Kathy Partlow

The Mentoring Committee recently surveyed the 2018-2019 Mentoring Program participants, which has 60 pairs (the largest group yet!). We had 40 out of 86 participants complete the survey (27 mentees, 9 mentors, and 4 both). As part of the survey, we received feedback on some ways we can improve the resources we developed for mentor-mentee pairs, including the OnBoarding Packet tools and webinar series that are available to all NORDP members. These can serve as a framework and guide for being intentional about your professional development. Topics include a guide to initial conversations, a self-assessment worksheet, mapping your network, and individual professional development plans. While the OnBoarding resources are optional for matched pairs, participants that employed the materials found them very or somewhat useful (100% for the tools and 95% for the webinars) for their mentoring relationship. These tools and webinars are always available to you through the NORDP Mentoring Toolkit on the NORDP website.

Also from the survey, we are excited to see that most of this year’s participants are new to the program. Specifically, it was the first year in the program for 73% of the mentees. In addition, 77% of mentors are serving as a mentor for the first time. While glad that the program is serving new mentees and mentors, we would like to encourage past program participants to consider re-engaging as mentors or mentees. Regardless of where we are in our career path, we can all benefit from having both mentee and mentor relationships. The most common benefits, perhaps, can be summarized using words from this year’s participants in response to our query on the most useful element of the program: having a “sounding board” with an “outside perspective” where we can have “honest conversations” and “get to know new RD professionals and learn from them.”

We plan to present the full survey results at the conference so stay tuned. Have other thoughts or ideas you’d like to share with the Mentoring Committee? Feel free to leave a comment or email us at mentorprogram@nordp.org

 

Member Services Committee Update – Fall 2018

This is the first in a series of periodic updates on activities of the Member Services Committee (MSC).

NORDP membership continues at an all-time high, hovering around 900 members. This is 100 more than last year at this time. What an exciting time to be a NORDP member!

MSC’s primary purpose is to recruit and retain members. We also work with other NORDP committees to improve member resources and services to enhance the member experience.

A few of the many projects we are advancing during NORDP’s FY19 are described briefly here:

  • Ron Fleischman and Kendra Mingo are co-leading the PUI Subcommittee to engage and increase the number of active NORDP members working at PUIs. Ron is spearheading a PUI “Affinity Group” application to the NORDP Board.  PUI Affinity Group status would provide opportunities to increase support and resources to this group of members.
  • Vanity Campbell is leading the MSI Subcommittee’s efforts to enhance outreach to current members and recruit potential members working at MSI’s, which includes HBCU, Hispanic Serving, Tribal, and other underrepresented groups.
  • Samar Sengupta and Maile Henson are researching potential interest in establishing new NORDP member types for retirees (to help retain and share extensive knowledge of the RD field) and for postdocs who might be recruited to the RD field.
  • Gretchen Kiser is leading the Salary Survey Subcommittee’s efforts to update NORDP’s salary survey, with plans to launch in early 2019 and present results at the 2019 NORDP Conference in Providence, RI.

MSC knows that NORDP members are doing great things at their home institutions and we want to hear about them. Please tell us about your special achievements or recognitions so we can share them with our NORDP colleagues around the world. (Send to MSC member Dan Campbell at dcampbel@odu.edu.)

If you would like to learn more about the Member Services Committee please contact our chair Kathy Cataneo at k.cataneo@unh.edu or co-chair Kay Tindle at Kayla.Tindle@ttu.edu.