RESEARCH INITIATIVE FOR
SCIENTIFIC ENHANCEMENT PROGRAM

ADMINISTRATION AND ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE

Program Management

The Project Director (PD) is responsible for the overall administration of the JSU-RISE Program. He has significant experience in conducting research and training programs. He was JSU's site coordinator for the Mississippi Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation Program, a state-wide initiative with site coordinators at all eight of Mississippi's public universities, from 1991 to 1999. He also directed the Office of Naval Research Student Training Program from 1996 to 2000. These two programs are among JSU's more successful programs in increasing the number of minority graduates in Science, Mathematics, Engineering and Technology state-wide. His success in these programs and other administrative duties contributed significantly to his selection in 1999, by the American Council on Education (ACE), as a recipient of the ACE Fellowship Award. His leadership abilities are also responsible for his selection as JSU's Special Assistant to the Provost for Distance Education. Currently, Dr. Hardy also holds the positon of Professor and Chair of the Department of Biology.

Management Team - The management team is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the JSU-RISE Program with supervision by the PD. The Component I Coordinator manages the activities of the undergraduate component of the program. She is also responsible for setting up the seminars and workshops, as well as monitoring the research of RISE Scholars. The Component II Coordinator has similar responsibilities working with graduate students, designated as RISE Fellows. The PD coordinates Component III: Faculty Development, working with faculty to identify research opportunities during the summer and academic year. The Program Evaluator interacts with departmental chairs, faculty and students to conduct an overall evaluation and assessment of the program.

Administrative Assistant
The JSU-RISE Administrative Assistant is also an integral part of the RISE management team described above. She reports to the PD and is responsible for RISE administrative activities, including coordinating the activities of the RISE management team, serving as the first point of contact for the students, processing requisitions, receiving student time cards from mentors, etc. She also provides these services for the JSU-SCORE Program. We instated a collaborative relationship between RISE and SCORE through the administrative assistant because the RISE and SCORE programs grew out of the traditional MBRS Program, which supported student training and faculty research. Consequently, we have linked RISE, which supports student training, with faculty researchers supported SCORE by utilizing the laboratories equipped by the SCORE Program. SCORE labs have the research infrastructure and vital research environment required for students to participate in high quality research activities. We are also working jointly with the MARC U*STAR Program to host the Biomedical Sciences Seminar Series. Additionally, we anticipate that second semester RISE Scholars will be a pool of qualified students to be recruited into the MARC U*STAR Program. Further, we are working closely with the Bridges to the Baccalaureate Program so that participating community college transfers will have a seamless transition into the junior year in the School of Science and Technology.

Undergraduate Component | Graduate Component