Meet Our Staff

Stephanie Arnold

Stephanie Arnold has been with Sponsored Programs Administration since 2021. She works as part of our post award team as a grants and contracts associate. She holds a B.A. in business administration and marketing.

Main SPA roles: Fiscal award monitoring, invoicing and cash management, financial reporting.

Kristin Bigelow

Kristin Bigelow has been with Sponsored Programs Administration since 2006. She works as part of our post award team as a senior grants and contracts associate. She holds a B.S. in education.

Main SPA roles: Fiscal award monitoring, invoicing and cash management, financial reporting.

Carrie Blackwood-Williams

Carrie Blackwood-Williams has been with Sponsored Programs Administration since 2011. She works as part of our post-award team as associate director. She holds an A.S., a B.S. in geography and an M.A. in human services administration. She is a certified research administrator (CRA) and has worked in higher education for 24 years, 22 of them at NIU.

Main SPA roles: Post award team lead, daily team operations and support, post-award reporting and financial accounting, indirect costs, audits. Carrie also serves as the post award liaison for the InfoEd budgeting and grants modernization working group..

Linda Carlson

Linda Carlson has been with Sponsored Programs Administration since 2015. She works as part of our administrative support team as an office support specialist.

Main SPA roles: Post-award intake, time and effort reporting and indirect cost assistance, daily administrative support for the award management team.

Melanie Cox

Melanie Cox has been with Sponsored Programs Administration since 2024. She works as part of our post award team as a grants and contracts associate. She holds a B.A. in philosophy.

Main SPA roles: Fiscal award monitoring, invoicing and cash management, financial reporting.

Jenney Ferris

Jenney Ferris has been with Sponsored Programs Administration since 2019. She holds a B.S. in environmental studies and a GIS certificate. She is a certified research administrator (CRA). She works as part of our award acceptance team as a national lab coordinator.

Main SPA roles: Proposal review and financial management for Argonne National Laboratory and Fermilab contracts, NIU joint lab appointments and guest lab user agreements.

Ashley Golz

Ashley Golz has been with Sponsored Programs Administration since 2022. She works as part of our award acceptance team as an award coordinator. She holds a B.A. in special education and a B.A. in disability studies.

Main SPA roles: Grant award review and acceptance, non-financial prior approvals and sponsor notifications. Ashley also serves as the award acceptance team liaison for the InfoEd budgeting and grants modernization working group.

Sue Gossman

Sue Gossman has been with Sponsored Programs Administration since 2016. She works with SPA as a post-award specialist. She is a certified research administrator (CRA), has a B.A. and M.A. in anthropology and Chinese studies, and holds a Ph.D. in higher education administration.  

Main SPA roles: General award management support, time and effort reporting, indirect costs.

Dana Hoefle

Dana Hoefle has been with Sponsored Programs Administration since 2021. She works as part of our pre-award team as a proposal coordinator. She holds a B.S. in community health and an M.P.H.

Main SPA Roles: Proposal preparation, review and submission.

Dara Little

Dara Little, AVP for research and executive director of sponsored programs, holds an MPA from NIU and is a certified research administrator (CRA). She has been with NIU since 2006 and has been a research administrator for almost 25 years. She is president-elect of the Society for Research Administrators International (SRAI) and an SRAI Distinguished Faculty.

Main SPA roles: Policy and procedures, team support and resource management, campus training, funding compliance, grants modernization.

Donna Martin

Donna Martin holds a B.A. in speech communication and theater and an M.A. in communication studies. She has been with Sponsored Programs Administration for over 20 years and is our associate director for the pre-award team.   

Main SPA roles: Pre-award team lead; daily team operations and pre-award support; proposal review, approval and submission.

Claire Mogren

Claire Mogren has been with Sponsored Programs Administration since 2019. She works as part of our pre-award team as a senior proposal coordinator. She holds a B.S. in Earth, society and environment and an M.S. in marine system science.

Main SPA roles: Proposal preparation, review and submission.

Katie Mowers

Katie Mowers has been with Sponsored Programs Administration since 2019. She works as part of our post award team as an assistant director. She holds a B.S. in economics.

Main SPA roles: Fiscal award monitoring, invoicing and cash management, financial reporting, indirect cost distribution.

Rai Nihei

Maria (Rai) Nihei has been with the Sponsored Programs Administration since 2018. She works as part of our pre-award team as assistant director. She holds a certificate in SE Asian studies, a B.S. in elementary education, a B.S. in history and an M.A. in history.

Main SPA roles: Pre-award team lead; daily team operations and pre-award support; proposal review, approval and submission. Rai also serves as the pre-award team liaison for the InfoEd budgeting and grants modernization working group.

Jeannie Peterson

Jeannie Peterson has been with Sponsored Programs Administration since 2022. She works as part of our administrative support team as an office support specialist. She holds a certificate in human resources and a paralegal certificate and has an A.A. in general studies. She is pursuing a B.A. in political science at NIU.   

Main SPA roles: Proposal intake and deadline reporting, daily administrative support for pre-award team. 

Vanessa Poling

Vanessa Poling has been with Sponsored Programs since 2023. She works as part of our pre-award team as a proposal coordinator. She holds a B.A. in anthropology.

Main SPA roles: Proposal preparation, review and submission.

Amy Schmidt

Amy Schmidt has been with Sponsored Programs Administration since 2022. She works as part of our post award team as a grants and contracts associate. She holds a B.A. and M.S. in education.

Main SPA roles: Fiscal award monitoring, invoicing and cash management, financial reporting.

Allie Rowland

Allie Rowland has been with Sponsored Programs Administration since 2024. She works as part of our post award team as a grants and contracts associate. She holds a B.A. in psychology.

Main SPA roles: Fiscal award monitoring, invoicing and cash management, financial reporting.

Sarah Senechalle

Sarah Senechalle has been with Sponsored Programs Administration since 2018. She works as part of our award acceptance team as associate director. She holds an SRAI Introduction to research administration and management (IRAM) certificate, a B.A. in economics and a J.D.

Main SPA roles: Award acceptance team lead, daily team operations and support, contract negotiation, award review and acceptance, non-financial post-award, subrecipient monitoring.

Ellen Smith

Ellen Smith has been with Sponsored Programs Administration since 2022. She works as part of our post award team as a grants and contracts associate. She holds a B.B.A. in accounting.

Main SPA roles: Fiscal award monitoring, invoicing and cash management, financial reporting.

Shelli Solfisburg

Shelli Solfisburg has been with Sponsored Programs Administration since 2023 and with NIU since 2006. She works as part of our pre-award team as a proposal coordinator. She holds a B.A. in project management.

Main SPA roles: Proposal preparation, review and submission.

Caitlin Teague

Caitlin Teague has been with Sponsored Programs Administration since 2021. She works as part of our post award team as a grants and contracts associate. She holds B.S. and M.A. degrees in accounting.

Main SPA roles: Fiscal award monitoring, invoicing and cash management, financial reporting.

Katie Thielk

Katie Thielk has been with Sponsored Programs Administration since 2020. She works as part of our award acceptance team as a senior award coordinator. She holds a B.A. in history and an M.A. in higher education.  

Main SPA roles: Contract review and acceptance, drafting and executing subawards, subaward reporting.

Whitney Wells

Whitney Wells has been with Sponsored Programs Administration since 2022. She works as part of our administrative support team as an administrative aide. She holds a B.A. in general studies and is pursuing a Certificate of Graduate Study in public management followed by her MPA at NIU.

Main SPA roles: Administrative support to AVP, daily office support for SPA operations.