Julie T. Norris, who served for 10 years as director of MIT's Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP), has agreed to serve as OSP's interim director. Sherwin Greenblatt, executive vice president, and Claude R. Canizares, vice president for research and associate provost, announced the appointment in an e-mail to the MIT faculty and staff today.
Norris will assume her new position Dec. 2, following the departure of current OSP director Patrick W. Fitzgerald for a new position at Harvard University.
Norris is "widely recognized as one of the nation's leading experts in university research administration and is, of course, completely knowledgeable about MIT. We are extraordinarily grateful to her for returning to help us through this period of transition," they wrote. Since Norris' retirement in September 2004, she has served as a consultant to several universities, including MIT.
Norris will be "supported by the strong in-house management team, co-led by deputy director Patricia Greer and assistant director Colleen Leslie, and the very capable and dedicated OSP staff," said Greenblatt and Canizares. Leslie will continue to lead MIT's full implementation of the Grants.gov electronic proposal submission process. During this time, OSP will report directly to Canizares to "ensure close coupling to our research community," the e-mail stated.
Greenblatt and Canizares offered their "profound gratitude and very best wishes" to departing director Fitzgerald. A comprehensive and expedited national search for OSP's next director will be launched in the coming weeks. Any comments or suggestions regarding the search may be sent to vprassist@mit.edu.
A version of this article appeared in MIT Tech Talk on November 22, 2006 (download PDF).
