Need Help? Consider a Duke Project Manager

When Sharlini Sankaran helped write a successful proposal for a planning grant on critical minerals research, she looked forward to the group’s symposium that would bring together scholars and partners from government and industry. As director of external partnerships in Duke’s Office for External Partnerships, she knew her small team wouldn’t have enough bandwidth to pull off an event of this scope, so she budgeted for a Duke research project manager to help organize it.

“Stephanie Barnwell was fantastic,” she said. “We could not have done a symposium like that without her project management support.”

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Launched a year ago, Duke’s Research Project Management Core is a service of the Office for Research & Innovation (OR&I). “There had been effort-based project management support in the clinical world for a while,” said Jamie Wylie, who directs Duke’s Office of Research Initiatives and manages the core. “But lots of others need this kind of time-limited support, too.”

Following a successful pilot in which 12 faculty members received up to 20 hours of weekly support, Wylie began staffing up to meet demand. There are now nine full-time research project managers.

“In our first year, we provided over 7,000 hours of support for 40-plus researchers in 13 schools and units,” Wylie said.

This support spanned a wide range of research-related activities, from developing a quantum computing funding proposal and helping organize a conference for 1,000 attendees, to overseeing the management of a coastal resilience consortium and facilitating partnerships with community stakeholders to address environmental justice issues.

A Versatile Resource

The project managers have different backgrounds and skill sets, Wylie explained. One of them brought grants management experience, another was well versed in sponsored funding, some had robust events experience. A few came from the worlds of education, arts and libraries. Some were internal to the research world. Others brought depth in program management and regulatory compliance.

“They’re all very flexible and adaptable,” said Wylie. Professional development, mutual support and an ethos of collaboration help projects benefit from the managers’ collective expertise.

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Depending on the project, managers work with project sponsors in person, remotely or some of each. The minimum level of support is 10%, approximately four hours a week, for one month. Units cover the cost of salary and fringe for that period. OR&I manages hiring, professional development and supervision, and covers 10% of each person’s time for leave, planning and development.

Expanding the Model to Support Academic and Strategic Initiatives

In response to growing needs from schools and units, the Office of the Provost partnered with OR&I to launch an Academic Project Management Core earlier this year. These project managers, two so far, support academic and strategic needs such as periodic reviews of departments or units, university-wide strategic initiatives and committees, and new academic programs.

“Demand has been strong,” said Jill Powell, who recently joined the Academic Project Management Core along with Blake Tedder. “It’s good for complex projects with a clear start and finish, in cases where it wouldn’t make sense for a full-time permanent hire. We help fill a hole.” She typically has three or four projects going at once.

Powell credits her “institutional curiosity” for attracting her to the position after a decade in communications roles at Duke. “I love seeing how the parts click together when an idea is taking shape,” she said, and she encourages project sponsors to view her as a strategic thinker who can put pieces together quickly and keep things moving without waiting for instructions.

Her recent activities include helping coordinate Duke’s computational strategy, improving how Trinity provides junior faculty with research support and guidance, and supporting a department’s external review.

Praise for Project Managers

[Project manager] was an excellent addition to the team. She is professional, detail-oriented, collaborative, anticipates needs and potential problems, and responds with solutions. She is an excellent communicator, asks questions and responds to feedback. She contributed substantively to the success of the project.

[Project manager] was amazing and went above and beyond to make sure our event was a success! She really was the glue that held the different moving parts together, keeping track of multiple collaborators, every tiny detail including things we had not even thought of! She was clear and timely in communication and had the perfect balance of independently resolving issues and consulting with us as needed. All parties involved were so impressed.

How to Get Started

1. Check out the web pages for the Research Project Management Core and the Academic Project Management Core.
2. Fill out the request form.
3. Discuss your project during a brief meeting.
4. Get connected with the project manager who is the best fit.

Main image, first row: project managers Blake Tedder, Hailey Mason, Jennifer Hurtgen, Jill Powell, Kate Thompson; second row: Kristen Gerondelis, Lauren Whittaker, Rachel Bingle, Stephanie Barnwell, Susan Tierney, Terri Taylor