Originally published on MSU’s Sponsored Programs Administration Newsletter

The offices of Sponsored Programs Administration (SPA), Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP), and Contract and Grant Administration (CGA) are honored to recognize excellence and exemplary service through the Research Administrator (RA) Spotlight Award. We are happy to announce that Lisa Parker was selected as the Spring 2024 awardee. Congratulations Lisa, and thank you for playing an integral role in advancing MSU’s research mission! We appreciate your dedication and hard work.

Lisa has worked at MSU for 34 years, and currently provides pre-award and post-award research administration services for 24 of the 40 faculty members in IQ. “Our faculty are very research focused, so I’m kept really busy with pre-award submissions and post-award for multiple grant accounts held by the different faculty members. The research here is very NIH based, but we have multiple NSF, DOE, DOD, and other sponsor grants.”

Lisa Parker
Research Administrator II
IQ and BME

What do you enjoy most about your job here?

“What I like best about my job is being a resource for my faculty. Knowing that they can come to me with any question and I can help or find them someone who can help. Plus the people I work with here at IQ are amazing!!”

What advice do you have for new research administrators?

“The advice I have for someone new to research administration is to find a network of people who you can ask questions/get advice from. Finding who to call when you need an answer can save you hours of time. 99.9% of the time, there is someone on campus who has done the thing that you have a question about.”