Staff spotlight: Leanne Marshall
Leanne Marshall is the Grants and Research Facilitator in the Office of Research in the VCU School of Social Work. With a wide variety of interests, Leanne has brought together her passion for learning and attention for detail to create the school’s first one-stop-shop for all things grand and research related.
Where are you from?
I grew up in Portsmouth, Virginia and earned my Bachelor of Arts in Fine Arts, with concentrations in art history and studio arts, from Christopher Newport University.
You moved to Philadelphia after college, correct?
Yes. I wanted to go to graduate school for art therapy at Drexel University. However shortly before my husband and I moved, I decided to reevaluate my career trajectory and not go back to school. We had already signed a lease so we moved anyway and my husband went back to school instead. I started working at the Drexel University Thomas R. Kline School of Law as the assistant to the senior associate dean for academic and faculty affairs. I supported the dean and the faculty director for online education, oversaw the faculty hiring process, worked on curriculum development and was the adviser for the joint degree programs. I helped to develop their online Master of Legal Studies, collaborating with the Drexel online learning lab to get the programs off the ground.
How did you decide to move back to Virginia?
My husband decided that he wanted to get a doctorate in education and started visiting programs of interest, including VCU. He was originally planning to apply for Fall 2014 admission but, after his visit to Richmond, he told me about the great opportunities he would have if he applied for Fall 2013. He visited only two weeks before the deadline, so he quickly gathered and submitted his application, was accepted and bam—we moved. It was an unexpected whirlwind but, since my two closest friends live in Richmond, a great move to make.
Your position is relatively new in school, could you explain what you do?
I basically help the faculty in their research in any way that I can. That may mean help find funding, proposal preparation or resource allocation. As the Institutional Review Board liaison I can answer questions about the RAMS-IRB system. I am a one-stop-shop for anyone in the school who is thinking about or actively carrying out research. When I was initially hired, my job description was fairly generic but Betsy Farmer, Ph.D., associate dean for research, and I have worked together to identify and accommodate the research needs of the school.
How did you get into grants?
After I graduated from college, I worked on a sponsored project while I was the program assistant in the CNU Office of International Programs. That was really my only research experience, but I do have a lot of higher education administration experience and the VCU School of Social Work saw my potential.
What would you say is the best part of your job?
I really enjoy learning. I’m always learning new processes and policies, how to work in different databases and about faculty research interests. It’s all very exciting!
What does a typical workday look like?
It really depends on the day. There are generally a lot of emails, but very few phone calls. I work in a lot of different systems so I am in and out of various databases. I also help faculty members with purchasing on their grants. I am their first point of contact when it comes to spending so I work closely with a lot of people in the business office. I also manage the M.S.W. research assistants so I am frequently in contact with them and their supervisors.
What is the best thing in your office? What do you look at that makes you smile?
I really like my half animal magnets. I purchased them online and they are a great conversation starter.
What’s something your co-workers don’t know about you?
I like to do unusual things. For instance, I like to go see the world’s largest anything. I once made my parents drive 40 minutes out of the way so I could see the world’s largest strawberry. When we got to the town, they had a big strawberry sculpture and the water tower painted to look like a strawberry. I’m just not sure which one it was, but I can say I have seen the world’s largest strawberry. I also recently did a walking tour of the history of music in Richmond. It was really cool seeing all the influence Richmond has had on music. I also got to meet some of the history makers.
Categories Faculty and staff