18 graduate from Sponsored Project's Departmental Administrator Working Group program
Elizabeth Hall (front, left to right), Brittany Oliver, Mona Howell, Kimberly Lewis, Rhonda Hannah, Schanna Beckham, Janice Nichols; and Doug Bedsaul (back row, left to write), Anna-Marie Nickels, Hannah Thach, Amanda Reed, Silas Knox, Robin Pigg and Coleman Grimmett are members of the latest class of DAWG graduates. Meredith Betts, Ashley Massey, Jessica Northcutt and Sandra Reynolds are not pictured. PHOTO: Logan Kirkland | Public Affairs
Eighteen Mississippi State staff members are graduates of the seventh-annual professional development program offered by the university’s Office of Sponsored Projects.
A unit of the Office of Research and Economic Development, OSP oversees externally-sponsored programs -- the grants, contracts and similar agreements that help fund research at the land-grant institution.
This year’s edition of the Departmental Administrator Working Group -- also known as DAWG -- involved a nine-month curriculum designed to develop participants’ sponsored-project administration skills and foster networking opportunities with campus peers.
Honored at a recent campus reception, the 2019 graduates are Schanna Beckham, College of Business; Doug Bedsaul, Center for Environmental Health Sciences; Meredith Betts, Mechanical Engineering; Coleman Grimmett, Delta Research and Extension Center; Elizabeth Hall, Coastal Research and Extension Center; Rhonda Hannah, Biological Sciences; Mona Howell, Parking and Transit Services; Silas Knox, Dean’s Office, College of Arts and Sciences; Kimberly Lewis, Sponsored Programs Accounting; Ashley Massey, MAFES/FWRC; Janice Nichols, Coastal Research and Extension Center; Anna-Marie Nickels, Wildlife, Fisheries and Aquaculture; Jessica Northcutt, Office of Technology Management; Brittany Oliver, Psychology; Robin Pigg, Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, Entomology and Plant Pathology; Amanda Reed, Student Leadership and Community Engagement; Sandra Reynolds, Center for Advanced Vehicular Systems; and Hannah Thach, Raspet Flight Research Laboratory.
Applications for the 2020 class will be made available later this summer. Participants are chosen through a competitive nomination and selection process. For the 2020 class, OSP is teaming with Sponsored Projects Accounting to offer a more well-rounded pre-award and post-award training.
Classes meet for two hours each month. During that time, DAWG members are taken through the grant administration process from cradle to grave of a research grant. Topics include how the different offices work together to prepare budgets, how to administrate research proposals and conduct post-award management, among other key areas.
Class participants also give brief presentations about themselves and their work.
“There are so many areas on this campus, and belonging to MSU, that no one knows about so it is always very interesting to learn about their departments and a little about themselves” said DAWG Program Leader LeLe Newell.
Learn more about the Office of Sponsored Projects at www.osp.msstate.edu.
MSU is Mississippi’s leading university, available online at www.msstate.edu.
