As we begin a new academic year, I want to extend a warm welcome back to all faculty, staff, and students. The start of the semester is always an exciting time, bringing renewed energy, new opportunities, and the chance to build on the incredible work already happening across our campus. At UNCG, research, scholarship, and creative activity remain at the heart of our mission.
Despite various changes in the funding landscape, our research community has continued to rise to the occasion and achieve remarkable results. In FY25, we collectively secured $60.3 million in research grants and sponsored projects for the third year in a row and reached a five-year high of $205 million in proposal submissions. These accomplishments demonstrate our commitment to advancing research, scholarship, community engagement, and innovation at UNCG.
Looking ahead, we are eager to maintain this momentum and strengthen it further. With new initiatives, expanded support for researchers, and exciting opportunities on the horizon, this is the time to build on our success and push our research enterprise to even greater heights.
This year brings with it several strategic changes designed to strengthen our support for researchers and further align our research ecosystem with UNCG’s institutional priorities, including
- New Division Name: The former Office of Research and Engagement has officially transitioned into the Division of Research and Engagement, reflecting the breadth of our programs, campus-wide partnerships, and university-wide impact in research, scholarship, community engagement, and innovation.
- Newly Unified Office to Support Faculty Funding: To streamline and expand services to faculty, we have merged the Office of Strategic Initiatives and the Office of Research Development. The newly formed Office of Strategic Initiatives and Research Development will serve as a one-stop hub for funding strategy, opportunity identification, and proposal development support. Dr. Chartanay Bonner serves as Director of the Office, and Dr. Anthony Dellinger joins as Interim Associate Director. Together, they are building new tools and collaborative services to support faculty across all disciplines in pursuing external funding.
- Connecting Community-Engaged Research Across Campus: We are thrilled to welcome Dr. Sharon Ghazarian, a proud UNCG alum, who has joined the Division to help bridge community-engaged research happening in our many Centers and Institutes with community-facing work occurring across academic departments. This will enhance collaboration, visibility, and impact of UNCG’s engaged research and scholarship.
- ARCADE: Applied Research in Esports and Digital Arts: Our nationally recognized Esports initiative has been formally rebranded as ARCADE (Applied Research in Computer Arts, Digitization, and Esports). ARCADE reflects an expanded scope that brings together interdisciplinary research, creative technologies, immersive media, and workforce development for the digital economy.
- The Plant and Pollinator Center: The UNCG Plant and Pollinator Center is now managed by the Division of Research and Engagement and is being repositioned as a shared university resource. The Center will support faculty research, applied learning, and interdisciplinary inquiry across science, environmental studies, education, and community engagement.
I encourage you to look out for announcements of upcoming funding opportunities and to stay connected with our division as we continue to roll out new tools and support systems. The future of UNCG’s research enterprise depends on our collective commitment to pursue new opportunities, submit competitive proposals, and expand our partnerships with our community and industry. Together, we will continue to elevate UNCG’s research profile and deepen our local, national, and global impact.
– Dr. Sherine Obare, Vice Chancellor for Research and Engagement
