Leadership and Partners

Dr. Dianne Nagy, PI

Dr. Dianne Nagy’s 20-year career at South Dakota State University (SDSU) has focused on helping faculty make a difference, providing support that enables them to serve the public good through innovative teaching and research.

Dr. Nagy’s experience with sponsored programs administration began as the principal investigator on a large federally-funded consortium grant that meted out competitive subawards to 32 other institutions of higher education. She then moved into a college-level pre-award position where she assisted faculty with grant proposals and developed their capacity to compete for funding. From there, Dr. Nagy went on to serve the entire campus, first as the institution’s grant proposal specialist, next as the research integrity and compliance officer, and now as the assistant vice president for research development and administration.

Tisha Gilreath Mullen, co-PI

Tisha Gilreath Mullen is the director of proposal development at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL). Situated within UNL’s centralized research development group, UNL’s Office of Proposal Development is governed by a mission to increase faculty and staff success in securing funding for research, scholarship, and creative activity. Team members collaborate with individual proposers, small teams and large teams on the development of any externally sponsored UNL-led proposal.

Farrell Rapp, co-PI

Farrell Rapp, MBA, CRA, has 17 years of research development and administration experience in higher education. She currently serves as the director of research services (pre-award) at the University of Wyoming (UW) and her team oversees the institution’s research development, preaward and non-financial post-award activities. She serves as the Authorized Organizational Representative for the institution as well.

Rapp is an active certified research administrator (CRA) and a member of the National Council of University Research Administrators (NCURA) and the Society of Research Administrators International (SRAI). She also serves as an organizational representative for both the Federal Demonstration Partnership (FDP) and the Council of Governmental Relations (COGR) for her institution.

Nicole Motzer, co-PI

Dr. Nicole Motzer is the inaugural Director of the Office of Research Development at Montana State University (MSU). In this role, she works closely with PIs from across campus to elevate research capacities and accelerate research activity. She is particularly focused on facilitating interdisciplinary connections, fostering team science, and encouraging boundary-spanning partnerships. Prior to joining MSU, Nicole served as the Assistant Director for Interdisciplinary Science at the National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center (SESYNC).

Hollie Mackey, co-PI

Hollie Mackey (Northern Cheyenne) is an Associate Professor of Educational and Organizational Leadership at North Dakota State University (NDSU). She has focused her work to advance educational opportunities for Native American students from birth through lifelong learning. Dr. Mackey’s scholarship examines the effects of structural inequity in Indigenous and other marginalized populations in educational leadership and public policy which she uses to advocate nationally for Tribal sovereignty and self-determination in education.