- Research
When Siobhan Fleming launched UTSA’s first Research Interest Groups (RIGs), her goal was simple: bring researchers together who might never have crossed paths. Four years later, more than 200 faculty members have joined the nine UTSA RIGs and created new collaborations with the City of San Antonio and the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI). RIG members come from 51 academic departments across all UTSA colleges. That impact is part of what earned Fleming this year’s UTSA Collaboration Champion Award at the University Excellence Awards ceremony earlier this month.
“This award recognizes individuals who go above and beyond to break down silos, foster partnerships and build a culture of cooperation and shared success,” said Jennifer Sharpe Potter, interim vice president for research. “Dr. Fleming shows up every day focused on helping others succeed, which is the real heart of this award. She builds real partnerships, connects people and ideas, and helps make our research community stronger.”
Fleming, senior director of Faculty Research Development (FRD), has served for more than five years in this role, where she helps researchers develop and enhance their research productivity and impact. She works with researchers from all disciplines to collaborate and address grand societal challenges through the RIGs.
“My goal is to create a research culture where no one feels like they're navigating alone. By providing robust faculty development programming, including societies, events and support programs, we’re helping researchers accelerate their work and expand their impact,” Fleming said.
In addition to the RIGs, Fleming and the FRD team provide professional development workshops to support faculty researchers at various junctures of their career. The workshops are designed to help navigate complex funding processes, identify funding opportunities, write grant proposals, publish and promote research and network with prospective partners in academia, industry and government.
“We built a curriculum that supports faculty members at all stages of their career,” said Fleming. “It is designed around three pillars: Generating Research, Enhancing Research and Developing Researchers.”
Each August, Fleming and the FRD team partner with Faculty Success and Academic Innovation to organize and host the Bold New Faculty Academy (NFA), a five-day orientation to introduce new faculty members to UTSA leadership and research. The program features two days of presentations and panel sessions on research-related opportunities and resources.
Feeback from new UTSA faculty members consistently shows that they find the networking opportunities with current UTSA faculty researchers during the NFA the most meaningful.
“We bring in junior and senior faculty members to meet the new faculty in a relaxed atmosphere where they can ask questions and get to know their new colleagues,” Fleming said.
Fleming has worked in higher education for more than 20 years as an administrator, researcher and adjunct faculty member. She received her Bachelor of Arts at the University of St. Thomas in Houston, Texas; a master’s degree in journalism from Pepperdine University in California; and a Ph.D. in Higher Education Research, Policy and Management from the University of Oregon.
Prior to joining UTSA in November 2019, Fleming served as the Associate Vice President of Academic Affairs/Institutional Effectiveness at the University of St. Thomas (UST) in Houston, Texas. Prior to that, she was the Associate Vice Chancellor of Research and Institutional Effectiveness at the Lone Star College System in Northwest Houston, and a research fellow in Ireland at the University College Dublin. She has taught at both the undergraduate and graduate level.