Faculty recognized for grant work in Elon College, the College of Arts and Sciences

Faculty members in Elon College, the College of Arts and Sciences were acknowledged during an annual grant reception on Oct. 27, 2025, for their dedication to research and scholarship. The event celebrated faculty who pursued grant funding and received external grant awards from summer 2024 through summer 2025.

Faculty across departments secured funding from major agencies such as the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, British Association of American Studies, American Council of Learned Societies, Mathematical Association of American and the National Endowment for the Humanities, among others.

“We put this event together because often grant writing is invisible labor. Faculty are doing grant work in the cracks of the days, early in the mornings and late at night,” said Hilton Kelly, dean of Elon College, the College of Arts and Sciences. “To those who received a grant or is writing one, we want them to know that we see them, know their work and support their efforts.”

The reception honored not only successful award recipients but also the investment in time, collaboration and innovation involved in developing grant proposals.

The Office of Sponsored Programs provides essential guidance and resources to help faculty navigate the proposal process, identify funding opportunities and strengthen applications.

“Faculty are always looking to push beyond where we are with research,” said Dana Clar, director, Office of Sponsored Programs. “The work our faculty are doing through grants is cutting edge, and it’s not done just in a lab.

“When faculty get grants, they almost always include undergraduates as part of their research team. Exposure to research in any fashion makes our students better at critical thinking and exposes them to the world outside of the classroom. When people get external grants, they are growing future leaders.”

Sirena Hargrove-Leak, professor of engineering, received funding from the National Science Foundation for Supporting Undergraduates from Community College to Excel and Succeed in STEM, a grant project aimed at creating programming to help Alamance Community College students transfer to Elon to pursue a bachelor’s degree in STEM.

Hargrove-Leak and her co-principal investigator, Jennifer Hamel, associate professor of biology, worked on the grant for four years before it was successfully funded as a planning grant with Jessica Merricks, associate professor of biology, as the evaluator.

“The most challenging part of seeking a grant is that it requires persistence because it is rare that you have a successfully funded project on the first try,” Hargrove-Leak said. “It is a process of learning, growing and adapting. Then there is the joy of receiving a grant, which makes it all worth it.”

The Office of Sponsored Programs works with faculty and staff in advancing research and scholarship through expert guidance on finding funding opportunities, crafting proposals, securing external funding, managing awards and ensuring compliance with policies.