Jill A. Frankenfield, MSL, MS, joined the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) as the associate vice president (AVP) of Sponsored Programs Administration (SPA) in the Office of Research and Development on Feb. 13, 2023. The AVP for SPA works collaboratively with stakeholders across the University to grow sponsored research at UMB, an enterprise that totaled $654 million in federal, state, and other nonprofit grants and contracts in Fiscal Year 2022.
Frankenfield brings nearly 20 years of experience in the pre- and non-financial post-award areas of research administration and management, including proposal review and submission, award review and acceptance, contract negotiation, compliance, and policy development and implementation. The majority of her career has been spent at the University of Maryland, College Park (UMCP) where she rose through the ranks, most recently serving as associate director in the Office of Research Administration (ORA).
In her new role, she will use her expertise and passion for problem solving to provide strategic oversight and hands-on administrative and operational leadership for the pre-award research and scholarly activity across UMB’s seven schools. She will also work closely with UMB’s post-award financial administration, the Office of Sponsored Projects Accounting and Compliance.
Outside of her role at UMCP, Frankenfield is highly involved in the sponsored research community, serving in different capacities in membership organizations and presenting on a variety of topics including contract negotiation, intellectual property, subawards, and more at conferences and at other universities, including international institutions. She is an active member of the National Council of University Research Administrators (NCURA), currently serving as traveling faculty for the contract negotiation and administration workshop and previously serving as chair of the NCURA Education Scholarship Fund Select Committee as well as chair of NCURA Region II. In 2016, she received the Australian Research Management Society (ARMS) — NCURA Fellowship, traveling to the University of New South Wales in Australia for an immersion program of mutual learning and knowledge exchange. She also served as co-chair for the Federal Demonstration Partnership’s (FDP) Data Transfer and Use Agreement working group, which produced a standard format for Data Transfer and Use Agreements to assist in processing of data agreements.
During her career, Frankenfield spent two years as a contract negotiator at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, in the Corporate Contracts group of the Office of Technology Commercialization. In this capacity, she was responsible for negotiating complex agreements with industry sponsors.
She earned her Master of Science in Law, with a focus in patent law, from the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law. Additionally, she holds a Master of Science in Management from the University of Maryland Global Campus (formerly University of Maryland University College).
Thank you to the entire search committee, chaired by Cherita Adams, MBA, MS, the assistant dean for administration and strategic initiatives in the School of Social Work, and comprised of representatives from each of the seven schools, for their work, support, and guidance in selecting a candidate for this position.
Over the last several years, UMB’s SPA team has worked hard to navigate a higher-than-normal number of changes, both in staffing and workload. Each member has shown great dedication to maintaining normal operations, an often-challenging task. Particular thanks to Danielle Brown for taking on a dual role as executive director and acting AVP of SPA. Her above-and-beyond commitment to advancing UMB’s research during these unprecedented times has been remarkable.