October 10, 2016

 

MSUB’s Cindy Bell Appointed to Director of Grants and Sponsored Programs

 

 

Contacts:

University Communications and Marketing, 657-2266

Cindy Bell, Grants and Sponsored Programs, 657-2363

 

MSU BILLINGS NEWS SERVICES — Following a national search, Montana State University Billings announced that Cindy Bell has been promoted to serve as director of Grants and Sponsored Programs (GSP), pending approval from the MUS. 

 

“I am very excited and honored to be given this opportunity,” said Bell, who had been working as GSP coordinator since 2012.

 

The announcement follows the September retirement of Dr. David McGinnis, who had been with the university for 10 years.

 

Provost Robert Hoar indicated Bell’s leadership and tenure with the department made her an ideal candidate for the directorship.

 

“Cindy is the ideal person to take the helm following Dave’s retirement,” said Hoar. “She possesses strong institutional knowledge and the respect of the faculty and staff, which will make her transition to director seamless.”

 

The GSP office forges partnerships with university and community members to identify and pursue funding opportunities for the university. The office also monitors compliance, as well as keeping track of pertinent data and reporting needs.

 

Bell said the best part about her position with MSUB is interacting with a wide range of departments and people.

 

“I really like working with such a diverse group and learning what their interests are. In the same day I may learn all about antifungal molecules and then about best practices for our underprepared students,” Bell said. “That’s from getting to read grant proposals and I get to learn so much and something new every day.”

 

Prior to serving as the GSP coordinator, Bell was the CITE Coordinator for MSUB and managed and wrote grants from the Departments of Education, Labor, and Justice. The grants focused on areas such as education for women at the Montana Women’s Prison, the unemployed, and workforce development training. 

 

Bell received her bachelor’s degree in 1992 from University of California at Davis in English. She graduated from the University of Idaho, Moscow in 1997 with a master’s in English.

 

She began writing grants as an instructor and general studies department chair at Little Big Horn College, where she worked from 1998 until 2005.

 

“It really was by default,” she said. “No one else really wanted to write them so I did.”

 

From 2006 through 2008 she was a contractual grant writer for the college and then, “I took that experience to MSUB and became the CITE coordinator,” Bell said.

 

She looks forward to continuing that success as the university’s GSP director.