Penn State Harrisburg: Office of Research and Graduate Studies

Welcome to the Penn State Harrisburg Office of Research and Graduate Studies (ORGS). The mission of the ORGS is to provide support, training and resources for faculty research/scholarly activities and for graduate student studies, including funding opportunities.

The mission of the Office of Research and Graduate Studies (ORGS) at Penn State Harrisburg is two-fold: to develop a well-funded research enterprise that spans the College’s disciplines and is integrated into the academic environment at both undergraduate and graduate levels; to provide high quality graduate training through a broad range of professional and academic degrees that reflect the talents of the faculty and serve the College’s regional, state, national and international constituencies.

We are proud of our faculty’s many accomplishments and invite you to take a look at some of their achievements in our new publication: "Penn State Harrisburg Research and Scholarship".

Research Activities: The ORGS is the point-of-contact with the Office of Sponsored Programs at University Park. We work with them to process all proposals through the relevant UP research offices as required prior to submission to outside agencies. We also provide the faculty with information on funding opportunities and assist in preparing proposals (particularly including budgets). Once a grant is funded, we assist in issues related to grant/contract management, again in concert with the relevant UP offices, and in budget management in concert with the PI’s School/unit budget administrator. Upon request, we can assist in planning and editing grant applications. We also offer numerous faculty grantsmanship training programs and administer the Research Council Grants and other internal funding initiatives. And we particularly like to help celebrate and publicize the many accomplishments of our faculty whenever possible.

Graduate Programs: The ORGS is the point-of-contact with the Graduate School, including requests for faculty appointment to the Graduate Faculty, requests for waivers of Graduate School policies, graduate program and course development, and other graduate student issues. We play key roles in seeking funding for graduate students, and in processing the paperwork for assistantships and other funding sources. We encourage the activities of the Graduate Student Association and work with that group to optimize programming for graduate students. We are advocates for the needs of our graduate students, and seek ways like to celebrate our students’ achievements as they progress through the programs.

Marian R. Walters, Ph.D.
Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies

Lisa Murray, M.Ed.
Senior Research Support Associate

Cyndi Morris
Administrative Assistant and Program Coordinator