Launching the Office for Sponsored Projects

Dear colleagues,

We write today to share an update about an organizational change intended to enhance support for faculty and staff across Northwestern’s research enterprise. Later this month, we will establish the Office for Sponsored Projects (OSP), a new Office for Research unit that will integrate sponsored research functions performed in the Office for Research and in Business and Finance.

Starting Sept. 14, the Office for Sponsored Projects will bring together staff from Sponsored Research (SR) and Accounting Services for Research and Sponsored Programs (ASRSP) to provide integrated support for the full lifecycle of sponsored programs. For now, processes and points of contact that you have relied on will remain the same, and we will communicate proactively about any future changes.

Creation of the new OSP team will strengthen coordination between pre- and post-award activities and make it easier to address service needs across the sponsored-project lifecycle, which is particularly needed as the demands and complexity of sponsored research continue to increase. All current staff will be retained in this new structure.

We came to the decision to make this change based on significant input from our research community over the years, and most recently coinciding with the leadership transition within the Office for Research.

OSP will be overseen by Chief Research Operating Officer Renee Gonzales, who has overseen Sponsored Research since joining Northwestern in 2024 and who brings a depth of experience from her nearly 25-year career in research administration at universities and academic medical centers.

We also want to acknowledge the leaders of the SR and ASRSP teams, Assistant Vice Presidents Cathy Barrera and LaShawnda Hall, and their teams for their dedication to supporting our research enterprise and for the commitment to success they are bringing to this change.

The creation of OSP represents an important step in Northwestern’s approach to supporting research activity in a more integrated manner, and fully realizing the opportunities it presents will take time, collaboration, and patience. We are committed to working closely with OSP as this work gets underway, and we ask for your partnership as well. We welcome any questions and additional input at research@northwestern.edu and thank you for your continued support during this transition.

Sincerely,

Sumit Dhar
Interim Vice President for Research
Associate Provost for Faculty
Hugh Knowles Professor in Hearing Sciences

Mandy Distel
Vice President and Chief Financial Officer