Lessons Learned from Lynette

Our wonderful Director of the Office of Research Development and Education (ORDE), Lynette Michael, is retiring at the end of the month, and so I saw it fitting to reflect on the things that I have learned from Lynette in the almost nine years I've worked with her. She, herself, has been at CU Denver | Anschutz Medical Campus for 23 years!

How to use SPIN

Lynette has been a fund searcher for faculty for a long time. Before she came to CU Denver | AMC, she was at Washington University in St. Louis (WUSTL). She has told the stories of how she used to wait for the federal grants program books to come in the mail and then of her joy combing through them to find good fits for the WUSTL researchers. Here, Lynette has been able to use the Sponsored Programs Information Network (SPIN) to conduct these searches, and has taught me and several others how to design our own searches, including creating a one-pager of reminders for us when she is gone!

Understanding the context of agencies

Given Lynette's tenure in working with researchers and agencies, no one else I know has a better understanding of the history and context of a multitude of funding agencies. Lynette has taught me the importance of understanding the context and history of an agency as a researcher works to understand if they're a good fit for them. Knowing the mission of an agency and how it and priorities have shifted over the years is important to understand if you want to be competitive in the application process.

Being supportive of colleagues

Even when I've annoyed Lynette over the years (which hardly ever happens!), I never have to doubt that she will be supportive of me and that she is in my corner. But, I've also watched the way she's been supportive of particularly early career investigators (ECIs). ECIs often have a lot to learn and work on when they're new to the grants world, but Lynette has modeled how to always be supportive of our researchers, especially when they might be flailing. I have continued to watch green researchers over the years move from a place of confusion and frustration to one of confidence and productivity in their research. What we can learn from Lynette here is the importance of having grace for ourselves and others and to seek out and offer support to our colleagues.

Putting people first

I tend to focus so hard on getting something done or moving something along that I sometimes forget to pay attention to what's most important to me and my colleagues, and that's us and our families and communities. Lynette has taught me the importance of taking a break, spending quality time with friends and family, and making sure I'm encouraging my colleagues and team members to do the same.

Items of honorable mention:

• Lynette has taught me to use less commas.
• Double proofread outgoing messages.
• Lynette has taught me not to feel bad about eating lunch at 11 am or earlier.
• Lynette has not revealed what the 'G' stands for as her given first name! :)

Thank you, Lynette, for everything you've done for us! Congratulations on retirement!!!

Resources:

SPIN One-Pager

Research Funding for New Investigators e-book