Jennifer Ivey serves as a grants coordinator in the College of Pharmacy at the University of Georgia, where she supports researchers during the pre-award process. Her main responsibility is to ensure that grant proposals are accurate and comply with sponsor guidelines.
“The most important thing is accuracy and making sure I’ve followed that RFP to the letter,” Ivey said. “I strive to follow the instructions as accurately as possible so that the principal investigator has a good chance of having that proposal reviewed and awarded.”
Before joining the College of Pharmacy, Ivey worked for 17 years at Madison County Library, part of the Athens Regional Library System. She started in children’s services and later became branch manager, handling programming, events, and some grant writing.
When an opening for a grants coordinator appeared at the College of Pharmacy, Ivey saw it as an opportunity to continue supporting important work in a new way. She has been in her current role for four years.
“I was public service in the library, and I’m still public service here, helping faculty with proposal review and submission,” she said. “I’m still doing things to make society better, just in a different way.”
Faculty members write their own proposals while Ivey reviews them for compliance with all requirements. She also answers questions about topics such as budgeting throughout the process. Once everything is complete, she submits the proposals through appropriate portals.
“Being able to catch something, even the small things, might mean the difference between them getting the grant or not,” she said. “I’m a small part of making it the best it can be.”
Attention to detail is central to her approach.
“It scratches my organizational itch,” she said. “Everything has a place, and I can put everything in that place.”
Her tasks include checking adherence to page limits, word counts, margins, fonts—even counting characters per inch when needed—to ensure compliance with application rules.
Once notified by faculty about an intent to submit an application, Ivey reviews requests for proposals (RFPs), creates checklists of required documents, sends reminders during preparation stages, and finally reviews and submits applications. If a proposal is awarded funding, her office organizes a kickoff meeting with investigators and grants administrators from both pre- and post-award teams.
“Our job as research administrators is to reduce the administrative burden on the faculty,” she said. “They know we’re going to catch something that’s related to formatting, and they can focus on the scientific aspects of the application.”
Ivey pursues professional development by seeking out training opportunities. Since receiving decentralized limited signature authority (DLSA) status—earned through training under another DLSA holder followed by testing—she has submitted 68 proposals. She is also working toward certification as a research administrator specializing in pre-award activities.
She earned her bachelor’s degree in sociology from UGA and is currently pursuing a master’s degree in public administration from University of North Georgia.
Outside work hours, Ivey participates in a book club for leisure reading and serves on Madison County Library’s Friends of the Library board. She enjoys hiking in mountain areas or exploring old cemeteries during travels with family.
Reflecting on her role supporting faculty efforts through careful review processes every day: “I know how hard these investigators work to get these applications together,” she said.
