Dear Colleagues:
With the fall semester now well underway and research activities increasing, I’d like to inform you of several personnel changes in the Office of Research and Innovation and provide you with current contact information.
Our team has been planning and preparing for what our post-pandemic organization should look like and how we can provide customer service to faculty and research staff who count on our resources. Several changes have taken place in recent months, including a reorganization of some responsibilities to better meet the university’s upcoming strategic plan goals.
Please take note of the following:
- Laura McCabe, MSU Foundation Professor in Physiology, has been promoted to assistant vice president for Regulatory Affairs. She has been preparing for this role while serving as director of special projects in the Office of Regulatory Affairs (ORA), and she was previously an Academic Advancement Network fellow in the Office of Research and Innovation. Read the full announcement for more details and please congratulate her at your earliest convenience.
- McCabe replaces JR Haywood who is transitioning from assistant vice president in ORA to the Office of Research and Innovation where he will focus on several projects including the Henry Ford Health + MSU Health Sciences research implementation. He will also serve as the interim director of the University Research Organization while a national search is underway.
- Beronda Montgomery, MSU Foundation Professor in the Departments of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology and Microbiology & Molecular Genetics, has been serving in the Office of Research and Innovation since June 2020 in an interim capacity, but has now been appointed as a permanent assistant vice president. Continuing her active research program, she will support the office in a half time capacity and be responsible for grant proposal services, institutionally limited proposals, the Global Impact Initiative, and oversight of centers and institutes.
- Charles Hasemann, assistant vice president for Innovation and Economic Development, has assumed several additional responsibilities including oversight of MSU St. Andrews (research and STEM outreach center) in Midland, the AXIA Institute in Midland, and the MSU Bioeconomy Institute with facilities in Holland and Lansing.
- Doug Buhler, director of AgBioResearch and assistant vice president for Research and Innovation, will be joining the Office of Research and Innovation on a full-time basis. Doug will be stepping away from AgBioResearch where he has led more than 350 researchers from seven colleges and a network of 14 research centers. He will continue to focus on research in food, agriculture, and natural resources with responsibilities for large-scale collaborations, relationships with federal and state funding agencies, and international projects. Please read the announcement for more information.
Other key personnel changes:
- Sally Light, Sally Light, administrator for the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) has announced her retirement effective in early October. Under her leadership, MSU has enjoyed a high-quality animal care program that includes full accreditation by AAALAC International, both initially and through subsequent accreditations. Further demonstrating high quality, the program has been citation-free from the USDA for more than 14 years during her tenure. The Click® compliance software for the IACUC was also implemented under her guidance, providing a strong infrastructure for committee review and approvals. We wish Sally all the best as she prepares to enjoy the rewards of work well done.
- Jamie Haberichter, director of Export Control and Trade Sanctions, recently left MSU to pursue a new career in information science and technology. Jamie has been a key player in this important compliance area and was instrumental in the organization and planning of the annual MSU-FBI Academic Alliance Conference. She was also critical in setting up processes during the pandemic to track scholars who were learning and working abroad due to visa restrictions. We wish Jamie well and thank her for her eight years of service to MSU. JR Haywood will be assisting in this area while a search is conducted.
- Claire Hankenson, MS, DVM, has accepted the position of associate vice provost for research and executive director of University Laboratory Animal Resources at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Hankenson joined Michigan State University as the Attending Veterinarian and the Director of Campus Animal Resources in 2014. At MSU, she oversaw the construction of the animal facilities within the Grand Rapids Research Center and Interdisciplinary Science and Technology Building (ISTB), as well as the renovations of the Clinical Center and Trout Food Science facilities. She also led the effort to develop and implement a procedure to decontaminate N95 masks during the pandemic among other safety responses. We appreciate her work as a Spartan and wish Dr. Hankenson continued success as she leaves for her new position at the end of October.
We will keep you informed as the searches progress and announce new or interim staff as they join our team.
A full listing of the Research and Innovation leadership team and other key staff can be found on our website.
If you have any additional questions, please email me or contact my office at 517-355-0306.
Best regards,
Doug Gage
Vice President for Research and Innovation