Indiana University

I went out on a limb and applied as an administrative assistant in October 2021 having just an international studies degree. Since then I have learned so much about research administration and financial grant/account management through assisting our grants specialist and department business manager.

I received a Fulbright Grant in undergrad and the stress of that application and subsequent success made me interested in working with grants as a career. I worked at the Grants Office during graduate school and when I finished my masters, I decided I wanted to be closer to my family. With my degree and background, continuing to work in grants seemed like the best option for the city I wanted to live in. Five years later and here I am!

When I graduated from college, I worked in a cancer research lab at the Wells Center for Pediatric Research (IUPUI campus). I worked there for almost 7 years and then went and taught for 7 years (high school and middle school). I then went back to the Wells Center for Pediatric Research as an Administrative Assistant. In 2016, I was asked to be a part of the Finance/Grants team there and have been in Research Administration ever since! Each one of my careers has given me skills that are helpful in the Research Administration area and I am so incredibly grateful!

Like many others, I fell into research administration from a completely different industry and had little knowledge of this career path prior to joining the Office of Research Admin. at Indiana University. I was an IU grad myself (Kelley School of Business) and my dad actually has worked as a microscopist in the Nephrology department of the IU School of Medicine since I was a kid, so I have always had exposure to the laboratory setting of a research environment, though I had zero interest in science myself, ironically. After graduating college during the great recession, I found myself working as a legal admin for an insurance company. One of the paralegals I worked with ended up getting a better job as a contract officer for IU’s research office, and she soon reached out to me and encouraged me to apply for the grant associate position that was open there. I worked in ORA as an associate for almost a year and then was promoted to grant consultant. Then a couple years later I accepted a position in the School of Medicine myself, in the Department of Medical & Molecular Genetics overseeing grants and contracts for the department. I have been here in genetics ever since, for almost a decade now, and I absolutely love what I do!

June 3, 1985. It was the week after I graduated from high school and I had no idea what I wanted to be as I was about to start college in the Fall. I needed a summer job and I found one in the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs on the campus where I was going to be pursuing my degree. That summer job led to a permanent one answering telephones and typing memos; which led to one reviewing proposals; which led to one setting up awards and working with faculty. On and on that went for nine years until I had earned my undergraduate degree. Then I left the central office and went to work at our Cancer Center, then our Division of Hematology/Oncology, then our Department of Medicine. I am now the Director of Research Administration for the Department of Medicine at our Medical School and have loved my career from the beginning. I didn’t know it would be my career back then, but I’m glad it became mine.