the art of
Grantsmanship Lessons learned from a banner year in grantsmanship at the College of Agriculture | By Charlie Morrison
W
hen the dust finally settled on Tennessee State University’s (TSU) 2022-2023 fiscal year, the faculty, staff and administrators dedicated to the school’s pursuit of grant monies knew that they had accomplished something. They’d made a mark that year, like never before. And when the accountants finally put their calculators down, the figures bore that feeling out. It had been a banner year for TSU in terms of grant monies awarded, a record year. TSU brought in over $100 million in grants in the 2022-2023 fiscal year, a figure that establishes the University as a powerhouse in research among the nation’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). The figure places TSU in a great position to achieve its goal of getting to the $150 million per year in grant monies mark within the next five years. If the University can hit that goal, it will have satisfied the grant monies raised component of the coveted Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Learning’s “R1” designation, which if acquired would place TSU in the top tier of the nation’s research universities. TSU’s current R2 status makes it elite among HBCUs but pushing to R1 would place the University in the top echelon of universities period.
that establish the fact that TSUAg Dean Dr. Chandra Reddy and the team at the College of Agriculture have truly mastered the art of grantsmanship.
The Big Get In 2022-2023, the big get for TSUAg’s research funding program was the effort led by Dr. John Ricketts to capture some $18.1 million from the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture’s (USDA NIFA) $262.5 million “NextGen” grant program. The NextGen grant will fund full scholarships including tuition, room and board, books and other expenses for scores of students over the next five years. In addition, there are a slew of new programs and opportunities available to students in agriculture that owe their existence to the NextGen grant, including research programs, study abroad programs, internships, even scholarships for high school students to enroll in the TSU Extension’s New Farmer Academy. The NextGen grant represents perhaps the largest single grant award a member of the College of Agriculture faculty has ever secured on behalf of the school and its students. According to Ricketts, one of the keys to successful grantsmanship is first to simply find the right grant opportunities to apply for.
Dr. John Ricketts brought in the signature grant Powering TSU’s push to the $150 award of the 2022-2023 season, an $18.1 million million mark is the College of “NextGen” grant from the USDA NIFA. Agriculture (TSUAg), the most prolific of the school’s nine colleges in acquiring grant funding. In 2022-2023, TSUAg “It was made for us, it was made for me. I study people. brought in approximately $47 million. Figures like We’ve put a lot of time and energy and effort into
Winter 2023 | AgLINK 5
