Jane Jacobi, Team Lead in the Office of Research Development, has been at Clemson for more than 30 years. Professionally, she has worn many hats, but they all have a thread running through them that has led her to the professional role she has today. She brings over 25 years of experience in research development and program management. Jane views herself as much as a coach and mentor as anything in the work she does. The work of supporting faculty as they form, develop, and articulate their research ideas in a grant application requires a set of skills that many faculty may take for granted and may not be what most faculty assume. Our research is often very personal to us and the process of writing and applying for funding can be emotional and fraught with highs and lows making the job of our grants development professionals even more interesting.
Jane’s journey at Clemson started in the College of Engineering and Science where she was editing and managing proposals in the Department of Bioengineering. This evolved into supporting the College’s larger proposals through the proposal development phase into the management and implementation phase if they were awarded. In 1998 Jane became the Administrative Director for Clemson University’s’ first NSF Engineering Research Center (ERC), The Center for Advanced Engineering on Fiber and Films. Her next steps led to working with the College Dean’s office to create the college level infrastructure for a research development type office. This created an opportunity to build a template focused on creating the organizational infrastructure for a research and grants development focused office in support of this key component of faculty scholarship. This part of the scholarship process is different that sponsored programs or other areas of research but ensuring the institutional infrastructure to support it is fundamental to meeting the mission and goals of Clemson University.
In 2013, Jane was asked to help launch Clemson’s first Office of Proposal Development in the Vice President for Research Office. This office used the template that she created in the College Engineering and Science to create this office, and it has grown and evolved today into the Office of Research Development. Today it offers a range of resources for faculty, whether through the NSF Career Academy, specific workshops or proposal development, Jane and her colleagues can provide an informed and objective even handed critique of proposals. Their goal is to help faculty develop rhetorical strategies that work with any communication or proposal strategy. Helping faculty articulate the best and most effective argument for a given audience is a key component of this work.
In the end Jane says the best part of her job is helping faculty solve complex problems and hopefully the work she is doing is one part of making the world a better place for all of us.
More information about Jane Jacobi
- 864-656-1296
- jacobij@clemson.edu
- ORD Overview
Want to know more?
If you have any questions regarding this post, please contact:
Office of Faculty Advancement
facultyadvancement@clemson.edu
Please use this form to provide feedback, propose stories, or nominate a colleague to be featured (including self-nominations).
