NORDP Board Member Cameo: Karen Eck

Karen Eck is currently serving as the NORDP President for 2018-19. We thank Karen for her service to NORDP!

Who: Karen Eck, PhD, Assistant Vice President for Research
Where: Old Dominion University
Number of years in Research Development: 13
Length of NORDP membership: 9 years

When and how did you enter the field? What kind of RD work do you do?Eck-portrait-NORDP2018

I started working at McGill University in Montreal, Canada in 2005 in a hybrid RA/RD position supporting the Faculty of Medicine. In 2009, I moved to ODU as Director of Research Development where I managed a team of Grant Development Specialists assigned to our 6 academic colleges and was responsible for limited submissions, intramural grant competitions and faculty workshops & outreach. As AVP for Research at ODU since 2015, I have been interfacing with internal and external stakeholders in support of research development and implementation of a 5-year Research Strategic Plan for the university.

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

I became aware of NORDP in Fall 2009 when I came to work at ODU and attended the 2nd annual conference in Chicago in 2010. I haven’t missed a conference since then (9/10)! I presented talks at the conferences in 2012, 2013 and 2015 and collaborated to develop a half-day pre-conference workshop in 2016. Before I was elected to the Board of Directors in 2015, I served on the Facilitating Collaboration Working Group, chaired the Enhancing Research Collaboration subcommittee and served as a mentor in the NORDP Mentoring Program. I co-chaired the annual conference in 2017 and 2018, served as Vice President in 2017-2018 and I am now serving as President until July 1, 2019.

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

I am going into my fourth and final year on the NORDP Board and I have been fortunate to work with so many smart and motivated colleagues. Two former board members who I consider mentors are Peggy Sundermeyer (former NORDP Treasurer) and Gretchen Kiser (former NORDP President). I have had 3 amazing mentees who I look forward to seeing each year at the conference and from whom I have learned a great deal. Those relationships are special and it was a privilege to exchange and learn with them. It has also been great reconnecting with colleagues in Canada as a liaison to the Canadian Association of Research Administrators (CARA) as well as meeting other international members of NORDP who come to the U.S. for the annual conference.

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

Joining NORDP helped me connect to colleagues across the country in similar positions. The exchanges on the listserv and at the conferences were so beneficial and I felt as if I had found my tribe. After a few years, I wanted to get more involved. I had recently helped organize and host a state-wide conference at ODU for research administrators that was successful and I felt I had something to contribute to conference organizing. I liked working in teams to get things done so I ran for a NORDP Board spot the first year elections were held in 2015.

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

I think the NORDP Mentoring Program is exceptional. The opportunity for one-on-one mentoring, the care that is taken to match people with like interests, and the resources and support to make it a good experience for mentors and mentees are unique in my professional sphere. Having a mentor, a resource for ideas and problem solving, and feeling supported can make a difference in someone’s career and overall happiness at work. That’s powerful and I think NORDP is rightfully proud of this unique program.

What is your proudest accomplishment as a NORDP board member?

I’m proud of the work I did organizing the 2017 and 2018 conferences. Working on a conference is an intensive group experience where you work closely with your colleagues. It allows you to get to know people and build friendships and trust. It also helped me to learn more about NORDP and how the organization functions. I’m also proud to have played a role in reviving the PEERD program, including recruiting reviewers and coordinating a site visit.

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.

NSF 18-102: Dear Colleague Letter: Non-Academic Research Internships for Graduate Students (INTERN) Supplemental Funding Opportunity

This is a great opportunity for RD offices that have NSF funding, and for other NSF funded PIs and their graduate students at your institutions!

DCL 18-102 provides up to $55,000 per student in funding for up to six months to allow recipients to participate in research-based internships in STEM or STEM education research fields in non-academic settings. The goal is to enable students to gain knowledge, skills, and experiences that prepare them for entry into non-academic careers.

This opportunity is open to PIs who are supporting graduate students through any active NSF award. To be eligible, a graduate student must have completed at least one academic year in their graduate (master’s or doctoral) program and be making satisfactory progress towards degree completion.

For a description of the activities supported, visit the announcement page, then contact your program officer to discuss your proposal.

2019 CFA Update & Conference Collaborations

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NORDP has launched the Call for Abstracts for the 2019 Research Development Conference in Providence, and the application system is now open! All abstract proposals are due by November 25, 2018, at 11:59 pm (Pacific Time).

New for 2019:  There are a number of formats to consider for presentations. Individual or panel presentations may be proposed for one- or two-hour sessions. You also can pitch a one-hour roundtable, or a 5-minute Lightning Talk. Details can be found in the CFA.

If you’re looking to collaborate with others to develop a panel idea or workshop, there’s now a new option for connecting with potential co-presenters! Try out our message board at 2019nordpconf.proboards.com, which will allow the NORDP community to post ideas, search for like-minded colleagues, and craft stronger presentation abstracts.

When you visit 2019nordpconf.proboards.com, simply click on the “Conference Presentation Collaborators Exchange.” There, you can see what ideas others have shared and post a reply within individual folders if you’re interested in a topic. You can propose brand new ideas by clicking the “Create Thread” button in the upper right-hand corner.

Please contact Jenna McGuire with questions (mcguire.165@osu.edu).

Mentoring Committee Highlights

Hello from the NORDP Mentoring Committee! Our mission is to equip research development professionals for success by offering meaningful mentoring expertise, support, and resources.

Here are a few committee highlights as we move into the fall semester:

This summer, we collaborated with the Professional Development Committee to present a series of mentoring webinars, all of which are now available in our Mentoring Toolkit on the NORDP website (log in to the members-only section, then visit the Mentoring Committee page).

Besides access to the mentoring webinar series, the Mentoring Toolkit allows NORDP members to explore tools for self-assessment, goal-setting, and strategic planning; and further reading on mentorship. Whether you are cultivating a mentoring relationship or interested in developing mentoring guidance for faculty, we have resources available.

The Mentoring Committee is also working with the Inclusive Excellence Committee to serve the mentoring needs of a growing and diverse organization.

This year, we are continuing to 1) network with other organizations who provide mentoring support and 2) build mentoring resources and training for NORDP members. Stay tuned for more updates.

If you are interested in learning more about the work of the committee, or are interested in joining us, we would love to hear from you! Are there any mentoring topics you would like to hear more about or any resources that you would find helpful? Feel free to leave a comment or email us at mentorprogram@nordp.org

2019 NORDP Annual Research Development Conference Call for Abstracts is now open!

conference-2019

The 2019 NORDP Annual Research Development Conference Call for Abstracts is now open! Submit your abstracts by Sunday, November 25th at 11:59 pm PST. This deadline will not be extended.

#NORDP2019 will be bigger than previous NORDP Conferences, with three full days of programming! (That’s more than 20 hours of extra content and presentations for RD professionals!) This conference will offer the standard one-hour sessions and the always popular Ideas Showcase, and NEW this year:

  • The conference registration fee will include all activities (no separate pre-conference day to have to justify), making the conference more inclusive for all conference attendees.
  • Two-hour sessions, which will allow presenters and participants to discuss a topic in greater detail and engage the content more fully.
  • Lightning Talks, which are five-minute presentations that allow individuals to share new and creative ideas for fostering research development.

Mark your calendars! This year’s early bird rate is $640, making NORDP 2019 an affordable 3-day conference (comparable to other professional conferences). These new formats, in addition to more networking time, should make NORDP 2019 the best Research Development Conference ever!

Jill Jividen will serve as 2019 Conference Marketing Chair, so you will be hearing more from her (and maybe a little less from me) as the conference approaches. Stay tuned to the blog for further details on NORDP 2019.

Michael Thompson
2018 Conference Marketing Chair

Jill Jividen
2019 Conference Marketing Chair

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.

NORD Initiative 2018: Cycle II Funding

The 2018 NORD Initiative (Cycle II) competition is now open. Please feel free to distribute this information to any / all who may interested in this opportunity.

Submission Deadline: Monday, November 12, 2018

Award Cycle: 2018 NORD Award 12/1/2018 – 11/30/2019

Discipline/Subject Area: NORD/InfoReady Research Grants in Research Development

Funding Available: 4,500.00

NORDP’s New Opportunities in Research Development (NORD) Initiative and InfoReady  announce the 2018 Cycle II competition for the NORD/InfoReady Research Grants in Research Development. Our goal in sponsoring this effort is to begin to establish research development as a field of scholarly inquiry. The NORD/InfoReady Research Grants in Research Development Program is open to all interested researchers, whether or not they are also NORDP members. Cycle II proposals will be accepted until the application deadline of 5:00 p.m. Eastern time on Friday, November 2, 2018. A non-exhaustive list of topics and research areas of interest to NORD are addressed in the program announcement. NORD expects to award 3 projects in Cycle II.

We thank the InfoReady Corporation for sponsoring these awards.

View the competition.

NORDP 2019 Call for Proposals Opens in Mid-October

The 2019 NORDP Annual Research Development Conference will take place on April 29-May 1, 2019, at the Omni in Providence, Rhode Island. Mark your calendar! Much, much more to come about our 11th annual conference in the coming weeks and months.

conference-2019

Call for Proposals Opens in Mid-October

NORDP Community, start thinking about your proposals for the 2019 NORDP Conference. The Call for Proposals will open in mid-October; proposals will be due by November 25, 2018, 11:59 p.m., Pacific Time. 

We have some exciting format changes coming in 2019:

  • In addition to one-hour Oral Sessions and the Ideas Showcase, we will have two-hour Oral Sessions, which will allow presenters to discuss a topic in greater detail and interact with the audience more.
  • We are also soliciting ideas for proposer-led discussion roundtables with open and robust topic-specific conversation among participants.
  • Finally, another new format will be Lightning Talks. These five-minute presentations will be an opportunity for individuals to share new and creative ideas for fostering research development.

No need to limit yourself to only one submission. Stay tuned for more information about the RFP in the coming days!

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.

National Postdoc Appreciation Week (NPAW), Sept. 17-21

The first ever National Postdoc Appreciation day was held on September 24th 2009, and in 2010, NPAW was nationally recognized when the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.RES. 1545. The National Postdoctoral Association (NPA), in collaboration with its affiliated Postdoc Associations and Offices at institutes across the country recognize the passion, the perseverance, the hard work and toil, and the commitment to their craft that postdocs across the country demonstrate every single day. These organizations host networking events, breakfast and ice-cream socials, motivational speakers, receptions, and game nights, to name a few.

Postdoctoral scholars are highly trained and possess transferrable skills such as project management, effective time management, leadership, communication skills, the ability to speak different “languages,” and many more, and therefore, make particularly talented research development professionals. NORDP hopes to continue our relationship with the NPA to increase awareness of Research Development as one of the non-traditional paths for postdoctoral scholars as well as act as a supportive resource for postdoctoral scholars headed for the traditional academic route.

NORDP is proud to recognize the contributions made by the NPA in improving the postdoctoral experience and providing opportunities for professional growth, creating policies for the betterment of postdoctoral scholars and help them create a balance between personal and professional lives. NORDP also recognizes its several members, who came into the research development through the postdoc route, several of whose stories have been highlighted on our blog recently. Thank you for your contributions and Happy NPAW 2018!

posted on behalf of the Strategic Alliances Committee by Samar Sengupta

 

Request for Proposals: 2019 NORDP Conference Workshops

Dear NORDP Members,

Expert facilitator teams with compelling and relevant content are invited to apply to deliver Conference Workshops during the NORDP 2019 Annual Research Development Conference in Providence, RI. Conference Workshops will satisfy the following goals:

  • Provide intensive, interactive learning activities and professional development opportunities in selected areas of research development
  • Successfully deliver clearly identified learning objectives and provide tangible outcomes for targeted audiences.

Four-hour conference workshops are designed for in-depth, interactive exploration of topics that cannot be adequately covered in a shorter session. Workshop length is intended to provide participants with a more holistic and engaging learning environment. The additional length is also intended to provide participants with tangible outcomes or products that may be implemented in their home institutions. Detailed information regarding the purpose of one-, two-, and four-hour sessions will be shared by the NORDP conference organizers at a later date.

Workshop proposals will be considered on any topic relevant to the broad NORDP membership. Based on last year’s conference evaluations, we have identified several topic areas of interest:

  • Faculty development programs and activities; proposals addressing new and junior faculty development are particularly encouraged
  • Building and enhancing the diversity of the research development professional workforce
  • Research development team mentoring and development
  • Incorporating private sector tools and techniques into the proposal development office
  • Practical strategies for teambuilding and translating team science findings into practice
  • Starting and building the research development office
  • Professional development for the RD professional, including an introductory or foundations workshop for new RD professionals across perspectives (institutional, division, and department-level RD professionals)
  • Science, research, and technical communications, including strategies to communicate findings beyond the academy, communications from experts to non-experts, and train-the-trainer approaches for RD professionals to provide sessions to constituents at their home institutions
  • Tools for the RD professional

The above list is not exhaustive—the Conference Workshop Committee welcomes proposals in any area that achieves the goals for these sessions. Proposals are also encouraged that reflect the breadth of the NORDP membership, including research development roles and positions, levels of knowledge and experience, academic disciplines, and institution types. Workshops involving new, emerging, or exploratory topics are also encouraged. Proposals are welcomed from previous conference workshop facilitators.

Each workshop will be four hours in length and must have at least two facilitators. Each session will have 30 to 35 participants. Facilitators will be expected to develop intensive, interactive workshop experiences with appropriate hand-outs and resources that participants can integrate into their professional activities at their home institutions.

To propose a conference workshop at NORDP 2019 in Providence, application materials must be submitted via InfoReady no later than Monday, October 29, 2018 by 5:00 PM local time. The InfoReady platform will be available beginning Thursday, September 20, 2018 for proposal submissions.

The application will require the following information:

  1. Workshop Information
    • Proposed learning objectives, workshop competencies, and tangible outcomes (handouts, tools, resources, etc.)
    • Format, lesson plan, and curriculum overview, e.g., interactive delivery
    • Learning environment and connection to inclusive excellence, i.e., description of how the facilitators will develop a positive learning environment and support NORDP’s inclusive excellence goals
    • Targeted audience(s), i.e., research development roles and positions, levels of knowledge and experience, academic disciplines, institution types
  2. Facilitator Expertise and Qualifications
    • Related to the workshop topic
    • Expertise and qualifications related to delivering interactive workshop sessions

The criteria used in the selection process mirror these categories, and also take into consideration the goal of addressing a variety of topics and targeted audiences. Facilitators will be notified by early January 2019 of the Committee’s decisions.

Selected facilitator teams will be expected to provide updates to a subset of the Conference Workshop Committee regarding the development of their presentations, including learning objectives, lesson plans, and tangible outcomes. Webinars and resources on effective presentation techniques will be offered to all selected teams. Further, members of the Conference Workshop Committee will provide direct support to each team to provide feedback and assistance to ensure the highest quality for each workshop. Facilitator teams will be paid an honorarium for their preparation and presentation.

NORDP reserves the right to cancel Conference Workshops due to lack of enrollment. The decision whether to cancel will be made when the early-bird Conference registration discount ends. Selected facilitators will be expected to begin development of their materials in advance of this decision.

If you would like to discuss this opportunity in greater detail, please contact Eva Allen at evaallen@iu.edu. Applicants interested in receiving feedback on a draft of their conference workshop proposal should email their draft to Eva by Monday, October 15, 2018.

We look forward to reviewing your proposals for what we are confident will be exciting and highly useful professional development experiences.

The NORDP Conference Workshops Committee:

Eva Allen, Co-Chair, Indiana University
Sarah Bronson, Co-Chair, Penn State College of Medicine
Jan Abramson, University of Utah
Faye Farmer, Arizona State University
Ron Fleischmann, Hope College
Alicia Gahimer, Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis
Sue Grimes, Purdue University
Marie Grubbs, NC State
Ann Marie Hess, Arizona State University
Missy Jenkins, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Monica Kessel, Utah State University
Jamie Kirkley, Indiana University
Stephanie A. Korcheck, Texas State University
Benjamin Mull, University of Houston
Donnalyn Roxey, KnowInnovation
Angela Shotts, University of Alabama
Paul Tuttle, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University
Kari Whittenberger-Keith, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

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.

Developing Effective NORDP Workshop Applications

Are you interested in designing and presenting a workshop for the next NORDP conference in Rhode Island? Conference workshops are a unique opportunity for our community to explore a specialized topic in depth.

For 2019, we are hoping to increase the diversity of our workshop topics and facilitators. This webinar is designed to engage anyone interested in designing a workshop and ensure that applicants know how to prepare a winning application.

Past workshop presenters, Kathy Cataneo and Alan Paul, will share their stories, and we will review the current solicitation, which will be released September 17th.

It’s time for you to get excited about sharing your expertise and experience with the NORDP community! Register to attend this webinar on September 20, 2018; 10am PT/11am MT/12pm CT/1pm ET.

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.