How many invention disclosures do you work on each year?
My desk handles approximately 35 invention disclosures and their associated legal documents each year. Additionally, legal documents and government reporting for 150 active patent cases and the financial processing for $1.68 million in income and $1.60 million in expenses are managed annually.

Are there any challenges?
I like to finish my work the same day it hits my desk. You cannot always do that here. There is so much is happening. You have to be flexible and work on those pop-up priorities that can delay your regular departmental priorities.

What is your favorite part of the job?
My favorite part of the job is working with faculty. Providing administrative support isn’t necessarily the most glamorous part of research, but as a non-scientist it is extremely rewarding to know that I play a part in the extraordinary work that our wonderful faculty are doing every day.

What is your favorite part of the job?
Knowing that I am, in the long run, helping children.

Are there any challenges?
It can be challenging to find a common language between all of the different roles that touch a grant – from the PI to the program officer to the research administrator to the grants’ accounting specialists, everyone looks at the grant from a different perspective. It can be hard sometimes to find where everything intersects and everyone speaks the same language.

How do you/ your group handle problematic issues?
We handle problematic issues through communication and problem solving. Effective communication is key to everything, but it is most important in problematic situations. We have to tailor our communications to the person, the study and the situation. It’s a constantly moving target. Our goal is to address problems head-on and as quickly as possible.

How long have you worked for the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences? I’ve worked at UAMS since May of 1997. I’ve had the same position for 21 years. How long have you been in your current position? I was recruited here from Kansas State to specifically start the DNA Sequencing Core. UAMS was badly […]

How long have you worked at UAMS? I have been at UAMS for ten years, 8 years in the Digital Microscopy Lab. What is your favorite part of the job? Everyday can be different, it never gets boring. It also helps when things work well the first time.

How long have you worked in the University of Arkansas System? After college, I worked in the Animal Sciences Department at UA Fayetteville for a couple of years doing poultry research and also diagnostic work with industry clients such as Tyson Foods.  I joined UAMS in 1986 and worked briefly with Dr. Phillip Rayford in […]

How long have you worked at UAMS? Since 2005. Previously, I was teaching college freshman/sophomore writing and co-directing a National Writing Project site at UALR. How long have you been in your current position? I came to OSPAN as a research administrator in July 2016. Before that I was in the Department of Internal Medicine […]