Research Administration & Development Conference

Creating Capacity and Connections across the Northern Plains: June 6-7, 2024
Do you provide administrative and/or development support to researchers at an institution of higher education in South Dakota, North Dakota, Wyoming, Nebraska, or Montana?

Do you struggle with challenges related to staffing shortages, heavy workloads, and limited professional development?

Would you like to meet others in the field and learn how they are navigating similar challenges?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, please join us for a regional capacity-building conference in Rapid City, SD, on June 6-7, 2024. This conference will enable geographically isolated research support professionals to exchange proven practices, share resources and opportunities, and chart a course for future collaboration.

To prepare for the convening, participants will engage in a virtually facilitated self-assessment using appreciative inquiry to reflect on their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, aspirations, and current reality. Any data collected will remain 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 help underwrite travel, food, and lodging costs for select participants from primarily undergraduate institutions and tribal colleges and universities in the five-state region. Submit requests for financial support by March 1^st for full consideration. A virtual option for those unable to travel to the conference will also be available.

Please visit www.sdstate.edu/radcon to either indicate your intent to participate in the self-assessment and co-create the conference agenda, or to register for the convening. Please note that if you are ready to register, you don’t need to complete the intent to partner form.

For more information, call South Dakota State University’s Division of Research at 605-688-6696, email sdsu.RADcon@sdstate.edu, or visit www.sdstate.edu/radcon.

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