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Research Office announces leadership changes, Schneller named Office of Sponsored Programs director

An illustration of a microscope representing the Research category of E-News.

The WVU Research Office has named Katie Schneller the director of the Office of Sponsored Programs. 

Schneller has served in various roles with the OSP since 2010 and was most recently Director of Pre-Award, one of the three sub-departments of the OSP. 

“I have been so fortunate to have worked with such excellent colleagues over the past 12 years,” Schneller said. “OSP has undergone an unprecedented amount of change and growth in a short period of time, and I am honored and excited to work with our

OSP team members to continue to improve, grow and provide the highest level of service for our WVU faculty and staff.”

In addition, the Research Office has named Eric Divito and Rachel Humberson to serve as the interim assistant directors for the award negotiation sub-department. 

“I love my role at the university because I get to see all the impressive, groundbreaking research being done at WVU,” Divito said. “With the passion and creativity at this university, I can’t wait to see what the future holds. Our talented and dedicated Award Negotiation Unit is excited to continue to help facilitate this great work, and I am grateful for the opportunity to work in this new role.”

“Our Award Negotiation team possesses the experience, knowledge and enthusiasm necessary to promote the University’s expanding research portfolio,” Humberson said, “and I sincerely appreciate the opportunity to closely collaborate with our growing team, OSP and the University community to support our talented researchers.”

The search for the associate director for award initiation and management is underway. OSP is also seeking four staff positions for award initiation and management, two staff positions for award negotiation, with one focused on clinical trials expertise, and one staff position for pre-award. 

The primary mission of the OSP is to provide support to the University community in the acquisition and administration of externally funded projects for research, teaching and service. The department consists of three sub-departments, which includes pre-award, award initiation and management and award negotiation.

“On behalf of the WVU Research Office, we take great pleasure in announcing the appointment of the OSP leadership team," said Katie Stores, assistant vice president for strategy and research at the Research Office. "The current structure and talent that is represented within the entire team results in an organization poised to grow their high standard of service to the University community.”