Christopher W. Jones, Ph.D.
Associate Vice-President for Research &
New-Vision Professor
School of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering
Atlanta, GA 30332-0100, USA
EMAIL cjones@chbe.gatech.edu
PHONE 404-385-1683 FAX 404-894-4200
July 19, 2015
Chancellor’s Service Excellence Award - Individual
Letter of Support for Ms. Susan Roche
Dear Award Selection Committee:
I am writing in strong support of the nomination of Ms. Susan Roche for the Individual
Chancellor’s Service Excellence Award. I have had the good fortune to work with Susan over
the course of the past 18 months as part of a small team of individuals reporting to the Executive
Vice President for Research (EVPR) at Georgia Tech, Dr. Stephen E. Cross.
In November of 2013, I began an appointment has the Associate Vice President for Research at
Georgia Tech, spending 50% of my time working with Cross and the EVPR team on
coordination and facilitation of interdisciplinary research that cuts across our six colleges, the
Georgia Tech Research Institute, and the Enterprise Innovation Institute. Previously, I had
served for 13 years as a Professor of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering at GT, a position I
continue to hold with 50% of my time. Shortly after I began my position, Susan was added to the
EVPR team as the Institute’s first Research Administration Manager in the office of the EVPR.
At that time, I did not fully appreciate how fortuitous her hiring would be, but today it is clear to
everyone on our team how transformational Susan has been.
I would like to highlight Susan’s accomplishments that make her eminently worthy of this award
in the context of four of her most characteristic traits, as noted below.
Susan develops and implements efficient processes that streamline the execution of the
research operations at GT. In many cases, external funding and fellowship opportunities allow
for a single or limited number of nominations from the institute, and the EVPR office has
historically made these selections. Before Susan came into the Office of the EVPR, faculty
routinely complained that the “limited submissions” process lacked transparency. Further, as she
learned the responsibilities of her new position, she noted that the current process of collecting
internal proposals via email, tracking them on a spreadsheet, distributing them to reviewers by
email and then attempting to collect reviewer feedback was antiquated and worse, allowed for
significant human error. Susan worked with our internal technology team and an external vendor
to establish an electronic solution for managing this process, which now allows faculty to submit
their proposals online, receive electronic confirmation, and view reviewer comments when they
are notified of a decision. On the reviewer side, internal committees are also able enter ratings
and comments online, view assignments that they have pending, and offer feedback both to be
shared with the candidate and to be held confidentially. Now that Susan is able to easily monitor
A Unit of the University System of Georgia
An Equal Education and Employment Opportunity Institution
(and influence) the progress of various competitions online, she provides clear and timely
updates to relevant stakeholders. The process is now completely transparent and faculty
complaints in this area have been effectively reduced to zero. While Susan is the type of person
who made tracking of everything look easy even under the old, ad-hoc system, she recognized
that there had to be a better way for both her and everyone else involved in this process, and she
refused to rest until she found and implemented an improved approach. Now that she has
significantly improved the limited submission process within our office, she is reaching out to
others around campus that can benefit from running their own competitions using the electronic
system (seed grant programs are one good example of another use for the program), and is
training them on how to do so. As is typical of her personality, as noted below, Susan would
never be satisfied with changing just one process knowing that her innovation could help other
people and processes as well.
Susan has an engaging personality that she leverages to provide outstanding customer
service. In many ways, she is the “glue” that holds our small team together. As a friendly and
naturally kind and outgoing individual, she quickly makes connections with individuals in
organizations across campus and leverages these to improve communication as well as identify
and solve problems. Faculty and staff from across the Institute routinely comment to me about
the outstanding support Susan provides to inquiries and requests in a very friendly manner.
Despite the stress and frequently urgent nature of communications, Susan always responds
quickly with a balance of humor and respect. As an example, as the administrator of a program
where the office of the EVPR provides funds for groups of faculty to gather on a weekend to
intensively brainstorm and plan collaborative research proposals, she often has to adapt to
unusual circumstances created by faculty inclined towards planning at the last minute. In one
example, she was requested to find a venue for a research proposal planning meeting attended by
a dozen faculty over Memorial Day Weekend at an out-of-town location near Oak Ridge
National Laboratory collaborators, only one week in advance of the meeting. When she told me
of this request, I laughed and said it was impossible, yet she found a way to make it happen and I
am told the meeting went off without a hitch!
Susan is highly adaptable. Not long after joining the EVPR team, Dr. Cross’ executive
assistant moved to a position within GTRI, leaving an important vacancy on the team. This left a
huge void in his office, with nobody available to directly manage the interactions between the
EVPR office and the rest of the Executive Leadership Team (President, Provost, and other
EVP’s). Susan was the person who stepped up and coordinated these interactions, all while
continuing to do her “day job” of managing the interdisciplinary research meetings and “limited
submissions” processes noted above. To this day, I do not know how she managed to do all
these things simultaneously for a few months, but I have now learned to never under-estimate
Susan.
Susan has an unflappable “team spirit.” I noted above that Susan is the “glue” that binds the
EVPR team together, ensuring that we operate as an effective unit. But her interpersonal skills
have an impact far beyond the EVPR office. She routinely interacts with external customers
(funding agencies, foundations, personnel at other universities, etc.) as well as internal personnel
such as faculty, institute executives and staff, and her warmth and professionalism impacts
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everyone she encounters. Not only do I have complete confidence in her representing GT in any
situation, more often than not she is the person I would hand-pick from our team for an important
first interaction.
Overall, Susan Roche has had a tremendous impact on Georgia Tech in her role as the first
Research Administration Manager in the Office of the Executive Vice President for Research.
Both her tangible work product and the manner in which she conducts operations on behalf of
Georgia Tech are truly exceptional. She has my strongest, unequivocal support for recognition
with the Individual Chancellor’s Service Excellence Award.
Yours sincerely,
Christopher W. Jones, Ph.D.
Associate Vice President for Research
New-Vision Professor
School of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering
School of Chemistry and Biochemistry
Georgia Institute of Technology
Founding Editor-in-Chief, ACS Catalysis
American Chemical Society Publications
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College of Sciences
Atlanta, Georgia 30332 USA
Phone: (404) 894-0326
Email: julia.kubanek@cos.gatech.edu
July 20, 2015
re: Susan Roche for Chancellor’s Service Award
Dear colleagues:
I am very pleased to participate in the nomination of Ms. Susan Roche for an individual
Chancellor’s Service Award. I interact with Susan several times each month via email and in
person on issues of research administration related to her duties in the office of Georgia Tech’s
Executive Vice President for Research (EVPR) and mine as Associate Dean for Research in the
College of Sciences. In the last year and a half since Susan and I assumed our current positions,
I have had many opportunities to appreciate Susan’s work which has enhanced the research
capabilities of faculty and students at Georgia Tech. In particular, Susan has put in place
procedures that have increased the quality of research being selected for funding, the
accountability and transparency of the process, and the opportunity for researchers to gain
valuable feedback about their proposals. She and her colleagues in the EVPR’s office designed a
new peer review system based on the newly named Georgia Tech Research Administration
Committee (GTRAC), with an efficient online proposal review system. Each month, Susan
reports to the associate deans which calls for proposals are currently open, when the deadlines
are, who is eligible, what criteria will be used for evaluation, and the mechanisms by which our
faculty can apply (many of these are limited submission opportunities with the requirement that
Georgia Tech selects one or a few proposal to go forward to the funding agency for official
review). Susan then manages the incoming applications, matches applications with expert peer
reviewers from within the GTRAC, compiles the reviews, informs the applicants, chairs, and
deans, and makes sure that appropriate feedback. Susan also assists the associate deans and
members of the EVPR’s team in monthly meetings and in communication between meetings. In
doing so, Susan is committed to meeting the faculty’s needs, she favors open communication and
responds to questions and requests immediately, and she maintains a professional and friendly
demeanor that makes it a pleasure to work with her. Overall, I find Susan highly deserving of
the Chancellor’s Service Award.
Sincerely,
Julia Kubanek
Professor and Associate Dean