Dear Friends of Simmons University,
I am so pleased to have the opportunity to reflect on the role of research at Simmons University, and to offer this Annual Report for Fiscal Year 2019 that features the research accomplishments of faculty, staff and students. We officially became Simmons University in FY19, and many academic staffing and policy changes have also resulted in a new emphasis on scholarship. This report catalogs our funded research activity, and I'm delighted to have the opportunity to focus on some of it here:
- Faculty members in the School of Social Work extended their remarkable record of success in receiving training grants that substantially impact the social work workforce and that offer specific paid training opportunities for Simmons graduate students. Not only did they continue the work involving almost $3 million in grants previously received from the Health Resources and Services Agency (HRSA) and from the Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), but they garnered additional funding from HRSA for their work around substance abuse disorders ($357,753). Jennifer Putney is the PI on this work, and the team also includes Tammy Cadet, Kristie Thomas, Cali-Ryan Collin, Becky Hamo, Deborah Johnson, and Carlie Capell.
- Melinda Gushwa, SSW Director, CSSPP, received $299,541 from the Boston Children's Hospital Collaboration for Community Health Program to support the Simmons Trauma Education Project. The project team includes Melinda Gushwa, Kelly Pratt, Lydia Ogden, and Carlie Capell.
- Catherine Paden and Nakeisha Cody, Office of the Provost, received an award in the amount of $500,000 for the Global Initiative Fund for the Future, sponsored by Katie McGrath and JJ Abrams Family Foundation.
- Jennifer Roecklein-Canfield, Chemistry & Physics, CNBHS, received $215,377 from the National Science Foundation to fund an REU Program in Synthetic Biology. This is a collaborative project with North Carolina A&T University.
- Rong Tang, SLIS, COCIS, received an award from IMLS - Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program in the amount of $418,951 for a project called "Retooling the Librarian Workforce: Innovative Post-Master's Certificate Program for Developing Inter-Professional Informationists."
We are also proud that this publication credits our faculty's work with undergraduate and graduate students, underscoring the importance of research and the significance of coaching students toward scholarly achievement. Simmons funds student research achievement through several internal programs.
FY19 was a year of transitions. We said goodbye to Jon Kimball and Valerie Beaudrault, two long-serving colleagues in the Office of Sponsored Programs. We welcomed a new Director of Sponsored Research, Elena Glatman. In addition, we were joined by three new Deans: Dr. Stephanie Berzin (The College of Social Sciences, Policy, and Practice), Dr. Marie desJardins (The College of Organizational, Computational, and Information Sciences), and Dr. Brian Norman (The Gwen Ifill College of Media, Arts, and Humanities). I am thrilled that these new leaders (joined in FY20 by Dean Lepaine Sharp-McHenry) are bringing new focus, new policies, and new resources to our research and grant-making endeavors. I look forward to the future fruits of this work!
Best regards,
Katie Conboy