Andrea Anderson is the new executive director of sponsored projects for the Office of Research and Sponsored Projects. Her appointment took effect Nov. 1.
Anderson has taken on the newly expanded role and responsibilities, reporting to Shandra White, assistant vice president for research-sponsored projects.
In this new structure, the ORSP executive director will lead the day-to-day management and oversight of administrative processes for pre-award activities, award management and closeout.
She also will oversee compliance with federal and other relevant regulations for sponsored research, grants and contractual agreements for all U-M’s sponsored research and sponsored projects.
As a unit of the Office of the Vice President for Research, ORSP is responsible for the University of Michigan’s sponsored project administration in the areas of pre-award, non-financial post-award and contract negotiations.
U-M reported a record $1.86 billion in research volume for the 2023 fiscal year, which involved overseeing $6.5 billion in proposal submissions, along with administering the non-financial post-award activity for approximately 9,000 active research awards by U-M investigators.
“Andrea Anderson brings a wealth of experience and expertise, and I am confident that she will provide strong oversight for sponsored projects operations,” White said.
“In an evolving research enterprise, Andrea will play a critical role in our vision to enhance and elevate operations to ensure they are responsive, compliant and best in class.”
Anderson was ORSP’s associate director since April 2020, directing a “team of teams” including the managers of multiple project representative teams, support staff, communications, training, business intelligence and electronic research change management.
She also was acting director of ORSP during U-M’s recent search for a new assistant vice president for research-sponsored projects to ensure a stable transition.
Prior to joining U-M, Anderson was executive director of the University of North Texas Health Science Center’s Office of Sponsored Programs, overseeing the central office handling pre-award, contract negotiations, post-award and sponsored-project accounting for the institution.
She has extensive experience in change management and systems implementation, having overseen large-scale changes at prior institutions.
