TOGETHER.
SHAPING THE FUTURE.
On behalf of our team in the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs (ORSP), I'd like to extend a warm welcome back as we kick off a new academic year.
In this issue, I am pleased to introduce a few staffing changes. ORSP bids farewell to Erin Slattengren, grant writer, who returned to graduate school full time and Debbie Yang, IRB Assistant, who moved to Chicago. In their places, we are pleased to welcome Kira Dahlk, Sponsored Programs Specialist and Amy Moss McKenna, IRB Coordinator. ORSP also welcomes Jon Okstad, whose project management role combines a position frozen in 2012 with a new grant-funded role designed to allow me to lead the launch of a new center for innovation on healthy aging within the Henrietta Schmoll School of Health. New ORSP staff members bring strong expertise and experience, deepening ORSP's capacity to advance research, scholarship and program innovation across our campus community.
In addition to sharing upcoming grant deadlines, training offerings and key IRB process changes, this issue also shares stories of recent, successful grants and contracts awarded. These stories, and the faculty and staff members who inspire them, embody our University's opening message on innovation, as well as our mission commitment to excellence and opportunity and to the integration of liberal arts and professional education within the Catholic tradition.
Sincerely,
Mary Clem
Director, Office of Research & Sponsored Programs
Co-Director, Interprofessional Education Center, Henrietta Schmoll School of Health
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Mary Clem
Director
Mary Clem's passion for systems change in K-12 education, higher education and healthcare settings inspired a 25-year commitment to leading research and sponsored programs, startups, charitable foundations and institutional partnerships in public and private settings. In addition to overseeing grant operations, Mary has launched and directed three charitable foundations, two for-profit companies and four national centers, while teaming with researchers, program innovators and service leaders to secure more than $150 million in grants and gifts.
Mary received a baccalaureate degree from Grinnell College and Master's Degree in Applied Economics from University of Delaware. She continued her education in Business and Urban Planning at the University of Iowa. Mary enjoys bass guitar, as well as playing sports like hockey, running, basketball, and yoga with her significant other and their four children.
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Kira Dahlk
Sponsored Programs Specialist
Kira comes to St. Kate's with years of experience working in public policy and community development, most recently as a Co-Principal in the Twin Cities consulting firm, LukeWorks, LLC. As a consultant, Kira partnered with local, state, and national governments and organizations to advance policy and programming in the fields of adult and higher education, workforce training, and economic development.
Kira honed her policy development skills at the state level at the Center on Wisconsin Strategy (COWS) and at the national level at the Coalition on Human Needs, an alliance of anti-poverty organizations. She is an experienced Congressional staffer, handling issues related to welfare, social services, transportation, and the environment for the office of U.S. Representative Tom Barrett.
Kira holds a Master's in Public Policy from the American University and a Bachelor's from Macalester College. Kira enjoys gardening, walks along the river with her dog, and spending time with her husband and two sons.
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Jon Okstad
Sponsored Programs Specialist, Project Manager
Jon comes to St. Kate's having served as Director of Benefactor Services, leading volunteer abroad, child sponsorship and marketing programs for a locally-based international service organization operating in Guatemala, El Salvador, India, and Malwai. Previously, Jon managed renovation projects with budgets of $6-15 million, leasing operations for corporate partners, community engagement and project management at Kilbourne Group, a downtown redevelopment firm in Fargo, North Dakota owned by a former founder of Microsoft.
Jon received his baccalaureate degree from North Dakota State University, and is currently pursuing his Master's in Youth Development Leadership from the University of Minnesota. When not at St. Kate's, you'll find him planning or enjoying his next trip, reading for graduate school or spending time with his two little nephews, Logan and Ryder.
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Glenna Whitmill
Sponsored Programs Specialist
A native of New Mexico, Glenna has worked as library director in settings ranging from establishing a school library on the Navajo Reservation to directing a county public library with a million dollar endowment in central Indiana. She has also taught math, English and computer science, managed a large bookstore and served as an executive assistant for a family entrepreneurial business.
Glenna received her Bachelor of Arts degree from New Mexico State University with a major in English and minor in math. She holds a Master's Degree in Library and Information Science from the University of North Texas. Glenna's skills include successful grant writing in several areas including library programming, materials, and construction as well as recent grants in the arts. She has also served on grant review boards. In her free time, Glenna enjoys volunteering at her church, gardening, cooking, knitting, reading and visiting her grandchildren.
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Amy McKenna
IRB Coordinator
Amy has a background in software development and business analysis. She worked as a software consultant for most of her career and then proceeded to take 10 years off to stay home with her children. She has spent the last 4 years working her way back into the workforce and excited to make St Catherine University her new professional home.
Amy received her baccalaureate degree from the University of St, Thomas. When not at St. Kate's you'll find her spending time friends, traveling and hanging out with her husband and three children.
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Grants Awarded: Summer Review
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Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) 2015-17 Renewal
Joan Demeules -
The Access and Success program was awarded renewed funding of $121,000 from the Minnesota Department of Health as part of the Minnesota Student Parent Support Initiative.
The program, which currently serves almost 2,000 student parents and their children, offers a wide range of resources, including emergency financial assistance for child care, utilities, food, and rent; parenting education classes; social support groups; health education classes; and screening for students for partner violence, depression, tobacco use and alcohol. Participants choose their level of engagement based on their individual needs, with research showing the program significantly effects graduation, retention, campus engagement and plans to continue pursuit of education.
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NASA Minnesota Space Grant Consortia (MnSGC)
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Students Preparing for Launch
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Erick Agrimson, Kaye Smith, Jolene Johnson and Monica Brown - St. Catherine University was awarded $31,500 for the 2015-16 academic year through the Minnesota Space Grant Consortium, with funding from NASA's Space Grant and Fellowship Program. Funds support student scholarships, curricula development, field-based research, and outreach activities. The program encompasses over 1,000 affiliate partners nationwide.
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CATIE Center Rehabilitation Services Administration funding continuation
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Laurie Swabey,
Rosa Ramirez, and Richard Laurion |
The CATIE Center (Laurie Swabey, Richard Laurion, Andrea Olson, and Rosa Ramirez) received a continuation award of $300,000 from the U.S. Dept. of Education, Rehabilitation Services Administration. Funds will support the delivery of healthcare interpreting education resources and skill development for American Sign Language interpreters across the country. Programs planned for the 2015-2016 year include online training for healthcare interpreting supervisors, a healthcare interpreting immersion train-the-trainer program, conversion of previously-developed study guides into self-guided online modules and a new online healthcare reader module. Plans also include dissemination of the field's first career lattice, developed by the CATIE Center, which identifies how the educational resources available can be used on the path to competency in healthcare interpreting.
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Minnesota State Arts Board - Arts Touring and General Operating Awards
Wells Fargo
National Endowment for the Arts - Artworks Program
VSA Minnesota
Pohlad Foundation
Boss Foundation
Xcel Energy
Kathleen Spehar, O'Shaughnessy -
Due to the generosity of multiple funders contributing $126,000, the O'Shaughnessy has expanded its programming for the 2015-2016 season, increasing its O'Shaughnessy Presents and Women of Substance series. In addition, workshops for students and community have been added, as well as
support for an accessible door upgrade to its mainfloor theatre and an energy-savings stage and house lighting upgrade.
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National Science Foundation (NSF)
James Wollack -
The Wollack research group was awarded $27,185 as a part of a NSF Research Opportunity Award (ROA), which sponsors a scientist from a primarily undergraduate institution collaborating with a currently funded NSF investigator.
An ROA is intended to increase the primarily undergraduate institution faculty member's research capability and effectiveness, improve research and teaching at his/her home institution, and enhance the NSF-funded research of a host principal investigator (PI). The Distefano lab at the University of Minnesota is the host collaborator for this award. This proposal looks to target proteins that are elevated in cancer patients, and use synthetic chemistry and biochemical techniques to identify and quantify these proteins in living cells. The ROA provides funding for an undergraduate research assistant and supplies for either a summer or an academic year.
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Templeton Foundation Subaward - University of Notre Dame
Rhodora Beaton -
Associate Professor of Theology, Rhodora Beaton received a sub-award from the Templeton Foundation's Human Distinctiveness Project. The award matches St. Catherine University sabbatical support to allow for a full year of paid sabbatical research. The project includes a three-week seminar held at the University of Notre Dame attended by theologians and evolutionary anthropologists from around the world. The seminar serves to facilitate interdisciplinary research through sharing of information and resources for the development of individual projects. Professor Beaton's project focuses on the ways that the development of human language and sensory perception can be understood in tandem with the theological study of God's revelation to humanity.
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National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (PI: Marilyn S. Nanney) BreakFAST Study
Mary Hearst is a co-investigator on a $2.5 million five-year National Institute of Health funded BreakFAST Study. Marilyn S. Nanney, the principal investigator, is from the University of Minnesota Department of Medicine, Family and Community Health Division. The BreakFAST study is a group randomized trial aimed at increasing school breakfast participation among rural adolescents through policy and environmental-level school changes. The grant has recruited 2,512 students who eat breakfast three or fewer times per week (breakfast skippers) from 16 schools, oversampling for racial minority students. The intervention is completed. Next steps include dissemination of the findings and of the program to control schools.
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Children's Hospital - American Cancer Society
Laura Gilchrist - St. Catherine University Professor of Physical Therapy and Clinical Research Scientist at Children's Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota was awarded a $610,000 Research Scholar Grant from the American Cancer Society to study peripheral nerve damage that can occur during chemotherapy for childhood cancer. By conducting a longitudinal analysis of neuropathy in childhood cancer, taking measurements during and after treatment, and having detailed analysis of treatment-related factors, she hopes to determine which signs and symptoms of neuropathy developed during cancer treatment are indeed significant and indicative of long-term deficits and which are more benign and likely to recover after treatment has ended. This understanding will allow healthcare providers to make informed decisions about treatment changes and dose modifications in the face of treatment toxicity.
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T
he Economics of Life Course Transitions in the Middle East and North Africa
Caroline Krafft - St. Catherine University's Assistant Professor of Economics, Caroline Krafft, was awarded funds of $28,750 from the Economic Research Forum (ERF) in Cairo, Egypt, to undertake research on the economics of life course transitions in the Middle East and North Africa. ERF is a regional network dedicated to promoting high quality economic research to contribute to sustainable development, Iran and Turkey. Funds will support collaborative undergraduate research on employment, housing, and marriage markets in the Middle East and North Africa. Funds will also support project management for the 2016 round of the Jordan Labor Market Panel Survey.
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Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA)
Maggie Pharris - A shortage of nursing faculty is a key barrier to growing our US nursing workforce. The US Health Resources and Services Administration awarded St. Kate's a $250,000 grant to fund its Nurse Faculty Loan Program (NFLP), which provides loans of up to $35,000 per year for students enrolled in Master's Nurse Educator and Doctor of Nursing Practice programs. Through this NFLP program, loan recipients may cancel up to 85% of their loan when they serve as full time faculty in any accredited school of nursing for four years.
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National Science Foundation - Subaward
Siri Anderson - The Director of Graduate Programs for Licensed Teachers and Interim Director of the National Center for STEM Elementary Education, Siri Anderson, is Co-Principal Investigator on SciGirls Strategies: Gender Equitable Teaching Practices in Career and Technical Education Pathways for High School Girls, a 3 year $1.5 million National Science Foundation grant involving St. Catherine University, Twin Cities Public Television, National Girls Collaborative, XSci at the University of Colorado-Boulder, Minnesota Department of Education and the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities. Dr. Lisa Kiesel from St. Catherine University's Social Work Department will serve on the advisory board of this grant.
The project is designed to help Twin Cities' Career and Technical Education (CTE) educators and guidance counselors recruit and retain more high school girls from diverse backgrounds in STEM pathways. Female students served by participating teachers and counselors will receive direct and virtual mentoring from active STEM professionals to encourage their consideration of opportunities within STEM fields to do meaningful, creative, and collaborative work that aligns with the young women's existing interests.
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Institutional
Review Board Update
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The IRB Committee and staff within ORSP look forward to a new year. We welcome a new IRB coordinator, Amy McKenna, who is available to help investigators navigate the application process.
We are happy to offer an updated consent template and a new survey-specific consent option. Both will be added to the Mentor IRB software this fall. Also, a new practice is to formalize collaboration agreements with other IRBs to streamline reviews of studies that involve multiple institutions.
If you are involved in a study at multiple institutions, contact the IRB Coordinator to help facilitate an authorization agreement.
Contacts for the University IRB:
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Upcoming Workshops & Trainings
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September 15 from 12:00-1:00pm
Cour de Catherine, Meeting Room 361
For tips, tools and hands-on assistance in preparing an APDC
proposal, attend our APDC 101 workshop. We will review the proposal components; provide examples of strongly written sections; review budget guidelines, and provide constructive feedback on draft proposal sections.
Bring your lunch. Cookies and coffee will be provided.
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To register for the workshop and for questions send
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Collaborative Institutional Training
Initiative
at the University of Miami (CITI)
St. Kate's has a subscription to CITI, the nation's largest online coursework system offering peer-reviewed research integrity education. St. Kate's assembles CITI modules to create courses--each serving a different purpose and audience. Certain modules are required for researchers, principal investigators, and graduate students. Visit
www.stkate.edu/orsp for more information.
**Instructors please note that links may have changed for course syllabi.
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For questions regarding CITI, contact IRB Coordinator Amy McKenna at
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Keep your eyes out for upcoming workshops...
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