Congratulations to Cathleen Danheiser on being selected as one of the Administrative Faculty of the Month Award recipients for September 2026. Cathleen serves as a Grant and Research Coordinator within the Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine at UNLV. The nominators wrote: 

“Cathleen built the pre-award grant support function at the Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine. When she joined the Office of Research in July 2023, there was no coordinated pre-award pipeline; faculty who wanted to submit an external application learned federal submission mechanics on their own time, usually in the last week before a deadline. She built a process instead of a help desk. That process now serves investigators across the school and is documented and repeatable rather than living in one person's head — which is why it scaled. Faculty who had never submitted an NIH or HRSA application now do so with real infrastructure behind them. Cathleen leads without a title that requires it. She is not a supervisor; she is the person faculty and staff call when a deadline is at risk. Inside the Office of Research she is the steady one during deadline clusters. She absorbs overflow without being asked, onboards and orients newer team members into the process she built, and supports the team in preparing and presenting the monthly research seminars. She is patient with people who are new to grants and does not make anyone feel foolish for asking. That matters more than it sounds — it is a large part of why early-career faculty submit at all.”

The Administrative Faculty of the Month awards recognize outstanding colleagues who go above and beyond in their duties in advancing UNLV’s mission. The winning recipients receive a certificate and $150 in recognition of their contributions. Nominations for the October 2026 awards are due by October 31, 2026.