By Katie Grant, Office of Research & Scholarship
The charge of the Office of Research & Scholarship (ORS) is to equitably support the wide range of research and scholarship underway across the School of Education. Access to these resources has expanded across the School as part of the One School initiative. These resources are now available to researchers and scholars across all departments, disciplines, and career stages.
As part of this evolution, ORS partners with faculty throughout the School by offering a unique combination of research planning, proposal, and strategic navigation of funding requirements. For many faculty outside WCER, this expanded support has reshaped their understanding of what ORS offers — and how impactful early collaboration can be.
Beth Fields, a principal investigator (PI) in the Department of Kinesiology, was new to having support outside of her department and unsure how ORS could help her.
“Through this collaboration, I now see ORS as both an accessible and valuable resource across the School,” said Fields.
That accessibility extends across many aspects of the research process. ORS distinguishes itself by offering expert interpretation of requests for proposals (RFPs), shaping competitive budgets, providing proposal editing, and ensuring submissions align with both sponsor and institutional requirements.
For Fields, budget development was especially transformative while preparing a recent NIH R01 proposal.
“I had never received this level of support before,” said Fields. “From clear templates to having budgets largely drafted to checklists that kept us track, the entire process felt remarkably stress-free.”
The experience has changed how she will plan for future projects: she will include ORS services, such as graphic design, in her grant and sees them as central to her research workflow.
Carlos Padilla, also in the Department of Kinesiology, described ORS as not just an administrative resource but as a strategic partner.
“Their guidance strengthened the clarity, structure, and impact of my proposal,” said Padilla. “The feedback integration elevates the narrative throughout.”
For Padilla, proposal editing and strategic framing made a decisive difference — particularly in articulating significance and innovation in ways that aligned with funder priorities.
Support extends beyond proposal development into the complex institutional work that often happens behind the scenes. Jacob Meyer, an assistant professor in the Department of Kinesiology, highlighted the critical role ORS plays in coordinating between faculty and the broader university infrastructure.
“ORS has served as a local site for handling institution-level things like subawards and contracts. They’ve been excellent point people for contract development and language,” said Meyer.
These advantages extend beyond the sciences. Chell Parkins, a scholar in the Dance Department, first saw ORS as nothing more than a compliance checkpoint.
“I didn’t realize ORS could support research,” said Parkins. “Working with them changed that.”
Parkins highlighted editing and budget development as especially valuable. This was particularly true when navigating complex grant criteria and unfamiliar financial requirements. “The editing helped me frame my work to better meet grant criteria, and the budget support was huge — especially understanding formulas, job descriptions, and templates,” said Parkins. She is now working with ORS on both grant applications and a book project. She describes the partnership as “a game changer.”
Since the strategic realignment, faculty engagement with ORS has grown. In the 2026 fiscal year, ORS has supported 114 across the School of Education. This trend marks a shift toward more strategic collaboration and enables PIs to focus on ideas, impact, and scholarship in a changing federal landscape.
Dean Marcelle Haddix emphasized that expanding research administration services centrally at the school level through the creation of demonstrates a commitment to equity and competitiveness across the School.
“Our priority is ensuring all faculty and staff have the research support to strengthen ideas, boost competitiveness, and reduce administrative burden,” said Haddix. “Creating the Office of Research & Scholarship shows our commitment to investing in faculty excellence across all disciplines where innovative, impactful research can thrive.”
ORS services continue to evolve in response to staff and faculty needs. At the end of the day, their focus is on supporting high-quality research and scholarship wherever it occurs in the School of Education. For faculty who have not yet engaged with ORS, the message from colleagues is clear: collaboration with the team is not just available but invaluable.
Interested researchers and scholars can visit the ORS website to learn how its services support proposals and research planning.