Competitive Awards

Collaboration with NCA

In January 2019 I began a collaboration with Laura Good, the Nationally Competitive Awards (NCA) coordinator in the University Honors  program to establish a program for consulting undergraduate and graduate students preparing applications for prestigious awards, including:

• Fulbright U.S. Student Program

• Goldwater Scholarship

• Truman Scholarship

• Udall Scholarship

• Rhodes Scholarship

• Knight-Hennessy Scholarship

During this time, I managed social media (Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram) accounts for both the CCE and the NCA program. I also prepared reports summarizing quantitative and qualitative data on who this program served and how they evaluated services.

Testimonials about the impact of CCE Consultants

Honors Seminar

As part of this collaboration, I submitted a plan for an Honors Seminar aimed at encouraging students to apply for competitive awards. The seminar was approved for Fall, 2021, and I co-taught the course with the interim NCA coordinator, Gene Newgaard. I also prepared semester reports for the CCE overviewing the students served by the program and their evaluations of the consultations. Anticipating expansion of the program, I created a specialization training course to prepare other tutors at the CCE to serve as NCA consultants.

My teaching

Competitive Funding Program Proposal

This collaborative program was discontinued when the funding for supporting undergraduate students was revoked. In October, 2023, I submitted a proposal to establish a program that would focus on the needs of graduate students pursuing competitive opportunities that necessitate a communicative aspect, such as a written application, video portfolio, or oral presentation.

Competitive Funding Program proposal

Since proposing the program, I have established relationships with representatives of the Iowa State University Graduate and Professional Student Senate, Chief Technology Officers, and Ames Laboratory. I have continued strategizing ways of collaborating with the University Honors NCA program, which is now coordinated by John Milstead. I plan to meet with colleagues from the International Students and Scholars Office and the School of Education during Spring, 2023.

Competitive Funding Database

Additionally, I developed an Access database that can be used to generate lists of appropriate awards for students based on their discipline, degree type, and U.S. citizenship status. The database currently lists over 80 opportunities and continues to grow. This database can also be used to generate reports on

• Individual students' opportunity applications

• Upcoming application deadlines and selection announcements

• Overall students served and opportunities applied for

I plan to deploy this database to help graduate students explore opportunities that fit their academic and professional goals. Additionally, I hope to convert it to a web-based tool for students to self-access, helping them not only find opportunities, but also manage their own application schedules. It will also be used to generate reporting data for the CCE.

Spot Award

In October 2023 I received Iowa State University's Spot Award. Spot Awards may be given to reward an individual for outstanding performance or a specific accomplishment that is beyond normal expectations. In my nomination for this award, my supervisor wrote:

Kristin’s initiative and determination led to conceptualizing, developing, and completing an innovative project for the Nationally Competitive Awards (NCA) program within the Center for Communication Excellence (CCE). She taught herself how to use Microsoft Access and leverage its functionality to create an effective database that streamlines how graduate students access information about available awards and scholarships. This one-of-a-kind database has improved the CCE’s consultation process for the NCA program since Kristin can shift her focus from tedious manual searches of applicable awards to providing targeted assistance to help graduate students refine their application materials and enhance their chances of success. She continues to expand and improve the database by actively identifying new awards and scholarships and ensuring that students have the most up-to-date information. Additionally, her outreach on campus to promote this tool will positively impact countless graduate students seeking funding for their scholarly careers. Kristin’s dedication, self-motivation, and ongoing contributions on this project exemplify her as an invaluable asset to the CCE and its mission in making a tangible difference in the lives of our graduate students.