UND Today

University of North Dakota’s Official News Source

UND names Interim Research VP, launches search

John Mihelich to serve until permanent successor found for current VP Grant McGimpsey

UND Tech Accelerator
UND Professor and Faculty Fellow John Mihelich will serve as Interim Vice President for Research & Economic Development until a replacement is found for current VP Grant McGimpsey, who will retire Dec. 31. The division headquarters for research & economic development recently moved to the Tech Accelerator building on the southwest corner of campus.

UND Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost Tom DiLorenzo announced today that John Mihelich will serve as Interim Vice

Tom DiLorenzo
Tom DiLorenzo

President for Research & Economic Development, until a permanent replacement is found for Grant McGimpsey.

Mihelich has been serving as associate vice president for research & economic development at UND. Current Vice President for Research & Economic Development McGimpsey will retire on Dec. 31.

Search panel set

DiLorenzo will chair the search committee for McGimpsey’s replacement. The committee will comprise Jed Shivers, vice president for finance and operations/chief operations officer; Cindy Juntunen, dean of the College of Education & Human Development; Marc Basson, professor and senior associate dean for research at the School of Medicine & Health Sciences; Stephanie Walker, dean of libraries & information resources; Soizik Laguette, chair of the earth systems science & policy department; Thomasine Heitkamp, professor of nursing; Ed Steadman, chief resource officer at the Energy & Environmental Research Center;  Brian Tande, professor and associate dean at the College of Engineering & Mines; Chris Nelson, associate professor and associate dean of the School of Graduate Studies; Dan Muus, a vice president of development at the Alumni Association & Foundation, and Keith Lund, president and CEO of the Grand Forks Economic Development Corp.

Promoting discovery

The Division of Research & Economic Development recently announced other exciting changes, including moving the division headquarters to the Tech Accelerator.

John Mihelich
John Mihelich

Also, as the division continues to support the One UND Strategic Plan and its goal to enhance discovery at a level consistent with research intensive universities (Carnegie R1),  it is revising and reorganizing the proposal development/submission and award administration processes.

1: Proposal development/submission and award administration processes are now separated into pre-award and post-award functions. This separation will enable the team members to develop and focus more expertise in specific areas, which will allow them to better serve the faculty and Colleges in the University’s mission to grow research funding.

The proposal development/submission (pre-award) process remains a function of the Division of Research & Economic Development and the following pre-award staff remain:

  • Karen Katrinak (Proposal Development and Processing)
  • Jamie Mitzel (Proposal Submission & Award Negotiation)
  • Michael Sadler (Export Control & Contracts)

Functions remaining with the Division of Research include:

  • Proposal development
  • Proposal review
  • Proposal submission
  • Notice of award
  • Negotiation and Execution of Awards & Sub-awards

Award modifications include:

  • Budget Modification Requests
  • No Cost Extension Requests
  • Change of Principal Investigator

Award administration (post-award) in the Grants & Contracts Administration (GCA) office has become a part of the Division of Finance & Operations reporting to VP Shivers. The following post-award staff is now operating under VPFO/COO:

  • Chassi Herman, Senior Grants & Contracts Officer
  • Wayde Anderson, Grants & Contracts Officer
  • Christen Hoselton, Grants & Contracts Officer
  • Ashley Melicher, Grants & Contracts Officer
  • Rebecca Anderson, Grants & Contracts Officer
  • Lisa Moore, Account Technician

Functions now under the Division of Finance & Operations include:

  • Award and project set up in PeopleSoft
  • Monitoring of Allowable Costs
  • Award Invoicing
  • Award Reporting (Financial, Property / Equipment, etc.)
  • Personnel Activity Confirmation Reporting (Effort Reporting)
  • Award and Project Closeout

2: The division also has revised the Transmittal Form to reflect these changes. Please use this new form.

3: We are now requiring that all proposals be submitted electronically to vpr.proposals@UND.edu.  For proposal submission, please submit a complete electronic proposal package, inclusive of complete and signed proposal transmittal form, RFP, SOW, budget, budget justification and any other documents required under the RFP.

4: For all pre-award proposal development/submission questions, please contact Karen Katrinak (Karen.katrinak@UND.edu) or Jamie Mitzel (Jamie.mitzel@UND.edu). For post-award questions, please contact the Grants & Contracts Administration at und.grantcontracts@UND.edu.

The division is dedicated to developing strong partnerships with faculty and Colleges in an effort to provide the services necessary to enhance discovery under the One UND Strategic Plan.

Please do not hesitate to contact either division if you have any further questions.