Director
Margot McCullers, Ph.D., Studies in Higher Education, University of Kentucky

Dr. McCullers has been engaged in pre-award research administration at UK since 1980. As director of PDO, she oversees PDO’s administrative functions and strategic direction and provides a direct PDO link to key senior administrators in UK’s research enterprise through her role in UK’s Research Management Group. She has extensive experience in accelerating and supporting development of successful multidisciplinary proposals for institutional infrastructure and individual faculty proposal development support. She is currently co-investigator on a long-running minority outreach effort funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Interactive Learning Modules for Writing Grant Proposals, which provides training in grantsmanship to faculty at minority-serving institutions. She also co-teaches a graduate course on developing grant applications. Her grant-related workshop presentations have been delivered at campus, local, regional, and national events, including numerous annual meetings of the National Council of University Research Administrators and the Society of Research Administrators International.

Associate Director
Kathy Doyle Grzech, M.A., German/Linguistics, Vanderbilt University

Since joining PDO in 2000, Ms. Grzech has authored or co-authored numerous institutional proposals resulting in major awards to UK from federal and private sources and has been extensively engaged in development of many of UK’s largest multidisciplinary proposals as well as diverse individual grant applications. She previously held a joint appointment as associate director of the National Science Foundation-supported Appalachian Mathematics and Science partnership and is currently a writing specialist on UK’s NIH-funded minority outreach initiative, Interactive Learning Modules for Writing Grant Proposals. She serves on the advisory board for the University of Puerto Rico-Mayagüez in an NIH-funded grant to develop a Proposal Development Unit and on the Health Research and Education Task Force within the Washington, D.C. based Grants Resource Center to develop grant-seeking capacity among member institutions. She maintains an active workshop schedule, providing grant-writing training to faculty and staff at UK and nationally.

Professional Associates
Erik Davidshofer, M.A., Political Science, University of Oklahoma

Mr. Davidshofer joined PDO in 2011 upon completing his graduate degree at the University of Oklahoma where he taught courses in American federal government. He previously served as a counselor-tutor for first-generation college students enrolled in the federally funded Upward Bound program at the University of Maine at Presque Isle. He completed an external internship as a constituent services representative for a Congressional office in Maine, where he helped manage cases on veterans’ affairs, pensions, telecommunications, and economic development. In addition to his proposal development role in PDO across all client service activities, he serves as liaison to PDO's external funding opportunities database. He also serves as lead PDO presenter in the UK Research Administration Training and Education (RATE) classes to train campus constituencies in research administrative processes. The series is conducted in cooperation with staff in the Office of Sponsored Projects Administration.

Barbara Duncan, Ph.D., Philosophy of Education, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Ms. Duncan joined PDO in 2004 with a background in literacy research and composition. During her graduate studies and as a visiting assistant professor in the UK College of Education, she taught numerous courses in educational policy, history, and writing. She previously served as a research assistant for the Journal of Educational Theory, a leading journal in educational policy. At PDO she is engaged with extensive proposal development across a wide range of disciplines and funding mechanisms, including support of a number of UK’s large institutional grant applications. She has led numerous workshops on grant-related topics, including fellowship and grant application training for graduate and undergraduate classes. Of note, she was awarded a subgrant to research teaching practices for the Appalachian Mathematics and Science Partnership Program, which was funded during academic year 2005-06.

Shana Herron, M.S., Adult Education, Cornell University

Ms. Herron joined PDO in 2012 after a seven-year tenure as the Assistant Director of the University of Kentucky Asia Center.  At the Asia Center she worked with UK faculty to secure external funding to seed new Asian Studies faculty lines and build Asian Studies P-20 curriculum. She has submitted successful grant proposals to regional, national, and international foundations such as the Freeman Foundation and the Japan Foundation, as well as several federal agencies. In addition, Ms. Herron’s proposal development work was instrumental to the founding of the UK Confucius Institute in 2010. Ms. Herron also has experience in securing funding for programs in agricultural and fine arts disciplines from previous positions with Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh and Community Farm Alliance in Frankfort, Kentucky.

Administrative Associates
Jennifer Hill, A.A., Computer Information Services, Lexington Community College

Ms. Hill joined PDO in 2000 as an administrative associate responsible for administrative processes and database content/data entry. Her training includes certifications in various components of Microsoft Office Systems, the Computer Competency and Advanced Competency Series, and the UK SuperVISION Program and Business Procedures Series. As part of her primary responsibilities, she works closely with professional staff in the information dissemination processes required to issue PDO Funding Alerts. She also coordinates PDO mailing list memberships for selected lists, monitors funding agency announcements, and assists in formatting/preparing biosketches for grant applications. She maintains the PDO website, including the limited submissions web posting and archives as well as workshop calendar and registration pages and GrantWeek and Grant Deadlines pages. 

Dee King, B.A., Political Science, Indiana University

Ms. King joined PDO in 2008 with a background in executive administrative support, event coordination, and database management for a major metropolitan Chamber of Commerce. As part of her primary responsibilities for PDO client services, she teams with professional staff in the information dissemination processes required to issue PDO Funding Alerts, manages PDO subject mailing list memberships, handles incoming phone contacts and walk-in visitors, monitors funding agency announcements, assists in formatting/editing biosketches, and monitors the PDO request mailbox. She also shares responsibility for PDO data entry and database content and reports. Her administrative responsibilities include coordinating workshops, including logistics, registrations, preparation of handouts, and compilation of workshop evaluations and maintaining office supplies and equipment. 

Graduate Assistant
Mike Hart, B.A., Mass Communication, Illinois State University

Mr. Hart, who is pursuing the Master of Science degree in counseling psychology, began his graduate assistantship with PDO in 2011, where he is being trained in research administration. Before beginning graduate studies at UK, he worked for several years as a writer and editor for media publications and for an educational software developer. At PDO, he conducts funding opportunity searches, assists with proposal editing, helps staff prepare for workshops and presentations, and monitors the Federal Register for announcements related to sponsored projects and research administration. He also draws from his publication experience to assist with various editing and layout/design tasks. He plans to utilize his experience with PDO in his future career working in student affairs in higher education.