Research and Sponsored Programs Director to retire after 20 years of service to UW–Madison

Gracious. It’s the word used most often when co-workers are asked to describe Kim Moreland.

Moreland, associate vice chancellor for research and director of Research and Sponsored Programs (RSP), recently announced that she is retiring after 20 years of service to the UW–Madison and even longer as a part of the national research administrator community. Her last day in the office is April 26 and Mark Sweet, RSP director for grant and contract services, will be interim RSP director.

“Kim has been an amazing mentor to so many people across RSP – she has always been able to think of the right thing to say – and has really raised the professionalism around research administration and profession of research administration at RSP and across campus,” say Sweet who has worked with Moreland for her entire UW career. “That is a legacy that will continue.”

“My dad always said, ‘Never ask anybody to do something you are not willing to do yourself,’” Moreland recalls.

That lesson resonated with her at an early age and has followed her through her career including overseeing RSP, an office reporting to the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, that is responsible for assisting faculty and staff in accomplishing their research goals while also protecting them and the university from risks.

“We really don’t want to say ‘no’ to anybody, but sometimes we must. But – because we are from Wisconsin,” Moreland says with a laugh, “We would say ‘no’ in the nicest way possible. Leadership is hard. You can read all you want about it ­­– and I have read a lot ­– and observe people who are great leaders. But it’s still hard because there are so many moving parts, especially in the research administrative field, which is so heavily regulated. Being a leader in research administration requires a certain level of tact and diplomacy and a certain level of being able to make the hard decisions.”

UW–Madison has more than $1.5 billion in annual research expenditures. RSP promotes and facilitates the research mission of the University by supporting and administering extramurally sponsored programs. RSP is responsible for the final review, negotiation and submission of all grant and contract applications and for the negotiation of agreements. RSP staff provides financial and other administrative assistance by preparing financial reports, submitting invoices, processing payments and more.

“We are extraordinarily grateful to have benefited from Kim’s decades of efforts in research support and outreach, leadership, and extensive expertise in administering extramurally sponsored programs,” says Cynthia Czajkowski, interim vice chancellor for research. “Kim has thoughtfully led RSP through its essential work assisting PIs and their departments to develop timely, cohesive, and compelling research proposals and outreach materials.”

Moreland received her master’s degree from the University of Kansas in Finance and Business Administration and a bachelor’s degree from the Oklahoma City University with a double major in Political Science and History. She joined UW–Madison in 2004, coming to Madison from the Pacific Northwest where she was the director of Grant and Contract Administration at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle.

Robert Gratzl, assistant director of contracts at RSP, considers Moreland a mentor and says she elevates the office by seeing past the professional titles to the person behind the title.

“I think one of the things that a good manager does is tries to engage the person as a person and Kim is very invested in every one of her staff as people,” Gratzl says. “When we talk, the conversation is about work, but she also asks about our families, baking, people’s interests and because she is engaged with us on that level, she makes this a better place to work.”

Jennifer Rodis, policy and planning analyst at RSP, echoes Gratzl’s sentiment and takes pride in also working with someone who is not only gracious, but a leader among senior research administrators nationwide.

“Kim is so well respected nationally and knowledgeable on federal grants management,” Rodis says. “She is a mentor not only to those of us who work for her at UW–Madison, but research administrators around the country.”

Moreland has served on the National Science Foundation’s Advisory Board to the Director on Business and Operations. She also has been very active in the National Council of University Research Administrators (NCURA). Moreland received the NCURA National Award for Distinguished Service in 2002 and the NCURA Award for Outstanding Achievement in Research Administration in 2004. Moreland also has served on the NCURA Peer Review Panel since 2011, conducting reviews of sponsored program’s structure and operations at major universities. In 2016 she was named an NCURA Distinguished Educator, the same year she traveled to Cuba as part of an NCURA delegation.

Moreland’s national service includes membership on the Council on Governmental Relations (COGR) and serving on the COGR Board of Directors from 2011 to 2018. She also lectures for Johns Hopkins University in the Master’s Degree Program in Research.

Her career highlight, though? Moreland says it was receiving the NCURA Award for Distinguished Service and being able to then, years later, present that award to Bob Andresen posthumously.

“That was a profound moment for me, but also for the whole research administrative community,” Moreland recalls.

Andresen died in 2020 at the age of 61 while associate director of RSP and director of research financial services. He was an UW–Madison employee for 34 years.

“All of this experience has given me the opportunity to interact not just with colleagues here and at other universities, but with people in the federal government who set funding policy,” Moreland recalls. “The relationships I have had with staff, researchers and with people at sponsoring agencies have been astonishing. Above all, I value the relationships.”

In retirement, Moreland says she plans to spend more time with friends, traveling and baking. She may start a blog and recently co-authored a new book (scheduled for release in March), The Soft Stuff is the Hard Stuff: The Challenge of Management and Leadership. The book covers over 30 years of webinars and presentations along with interviews in the research administration space, and is geared toward new and up-and-coming research administration managers.

Moreland says she is going to improve her baking skills, though she is known around campus for her cupcake creations, which are as much art as they are culinary delights.

“When I came to Wisconsin in 2004, I came here skeptical – I had only been to Wisconsin once before and it was in May and it snowed,” Moreland says. “I thought, ‘I want to see if I can challenge myself and be successful at a university of this size and complexity.’ What I didn’t expect was to begin to love the people who have been born and bred here. There is a willingness here to help the people who live next door to you and a willingness to nurture relationships. I love being in Wisconsin. I never planned to stay more than five years, but here I am 20 years later retiring from UW–Madison.”

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By Natasha Kassulke, natasha.kassulke@wisc.edu