Creating Capacity and Connections across the Northern Plains
June 6-7, 2024 | June 6: Full day | June 7: Half day
Hosted at Black Hills State University at Rapid City, 4300 Cheyenne Blvd, Box Elder, SD
For more information: sdsu.radcon@sdstate.edu or 605-688-6696
The June 2024 conference will connect research support professionals from across the Northern Plains’ states of South Dakota, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota and Wyoming. The conference is central to the project, supported by the National Science Foundation’s GRANTED program, which aims to improve research support and service capacity at emerging research institutions.
This regional capacity-building conference will enable geographically isolated research support professionals to exchange proven practices, share resources and opportunities and chart a course for future collaboration.
The award will help support travel costs for 50 research support professionals to attend. A virtual option is also available for those unable to attend in-person.
RADCon Agenda
Times are listed in Mountain Time
June 6
8-9 a.m.: Check-in
9-9:15 a.m.: Welcome
9:15-10 a.m.: Introductions and Ice Breaker
10-11:10 a.m.: Mission and Vision
- Review the purpose of mission and vision statements (10 minutes).
- Review and refine sample mission statements (20 minutes).
- Share back (10 minutes).
- Review and refine sample vision statements (20 minutes).
- Share back (10 minutes).
11:10-11:30 a.m.: Intro to Goals and Strategies
11:30 a.m.-1 p.m.: Networking Lunch [Rooms 204 and 207]
1-2:30 p.m.: Breakout Sessions - Goals
- Breakout groups define specific goals for their assigned priority (60 minutes).
- Groups report back and discuss with the entire convening (30 minutes).
2:30-3:15 p.m.: Networking Break
- Break into groups to discuss the following topics:
- Recruitment and Retention of Staff [Room 108]
- Leveraging EPSCoR Status [Room 120]
- Tribal Engagement [Room 201]
- RAD Technology Solutions [Room 204]
- Pre-Award Issues [Room 206]
- Post-Award Issues [Room 207]
- Wildcard [Room 208]
- Virtual participants will remain in all online breakouts
3:15–4:45 p.m.: Strategies
- Breakout groups discuss strategies to achieve identified goals (60 minutes).
- Groups report back and discuss with the entire convening (30 minutes).
4:45–5 p.m.: Day 1 Review and Day 2 Preview
5–7 p.m.: Networking Dinner [Rooms 204 and 207]
June 7
8:45-9 a.m.: Reimbursement Q&A
9-9:05 a.m.: Recap and Refresh
9:05-9:15 a.m.: Intro to Actions and Measures
9:15-10:45 a.m.: Breakout Sessions – Actions
- Groups refine action plans based on feedback (45 minutes).
- Groups report back and finalize action plans with clear ownership and deadlines (45 minutes).
10:45-11:45 a.m.: Breakout Sessions – Measures
- Groups identify measures of success (45 minutes).
- Groups report back and finalize measures of success (15 minutes).
11:45 a.m.–noon: Review and Next Steps
- Presentation of finalized action plans to the entire convening (25 minutes).
- Discussion on resource allocation and implementation strategies (30 minutes).
- Closing remarks and next steps for moving forward (5 minutes).
noon-1 p.m.: Networking Lunch [Rooms 204 and 207]
Conference preparation and self-assessment
To prepare for the convening, participants engaged in a virtually facilitated self-assessment using appreciative inquiry to reflect on their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, aspirations and current reality. Any data collected remains the property of the respondent and will only be used with explicit permission. Recurring themes that emerge from aggregated responses will form the foundation of the conference agenda.
At the convening, participants will collectively identify and prioritize shared goals, rationalize and rank objectives and define key actions and metrics to pursue. Working groups will coalesce under each focal area to further build community and capacity beyond the gathering. Anticipated outcomes include online resources, an email listserv, peer mentoring and additional networking opportunities.
A grant from the National Science Foundation will underwrite travel, food, lodging and registration costs for participants. Priority for selection is primarily undergraduate institutions and tribal colleges and universities in South Dakota, North Dakota, Nebraska, Montana and Wyoming. Additional funds may be available to support participants from other types of institutions.
NSF Award Abstract
This goal of this project is to build research support capacity across the five-state Northern Plains region (Dakotas, Nebraska, Montana and Wyoming) by bringing together research support professionals for an in-person convening focused on enhancing the practices, processes and workforce of the region’s research enterprise. Like the project leadership team, project participants will represent diverse roles and types of institutions of higher education, including research-intensive, emerging research, primarily undergraduate and tribal colleges and universities. The institutions and research support personnel who will participate in this project are committed to catalyzing regional transformation to overcome the challenges of staff recruitment, heavy workloads and access to professional development opportunities.
The Northern Plains convening will create space for participants to develop a shared vision, consider possible strategies to address common challenges, identify how strengths can be emulated or shared and will provide the opportunity to chart a course for future collaboration that includes shifting mindsets away from serving individual institutional needs to supporting the regional research enterprise. The impact of the project will be realized through increased cooperation and resource sharing that will foster connection and mentorship between Northern Plains research support professionals. This will, in turn, promote relationship-building between institutions and faculty and increase collaborative research activity across the region.
This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Award No. 2324648. Any opinions, findings and conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.