VICRA - Pre-conference Workshop

John Sites is a Manager with the Higher Education practice at the Huron Consulting and has over 20 years of Research Administration experience. John specializes in assisting institutions with research strategy and proposal development, organizational reviews and assessments, research administration operations assistance, business process analysis and design.

John has significant experience with federal and non-federal sponsors as well as in the collaboration and negotiation with both industry and international entities, and addressing the unique intellectual property and cultural challenges common to these endeavors. Prior to joining Huron, he worked with Utah State University, the USU Research Foundation and the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Sharon McCarl is the Associate Dean for Financial Affairs for the Mellon College of Science at Carnegie Mellon University. Ms. McCarl holds a Master of Business Administration degree from Drexel University and has been a Certified Research Administrator since 2002. 

At Carnegie Mellon, Sharon’s responsibilities include strategic planning, and financial and administrative management of the activities of four academic units and three research centers including a research portfolio of $38 million and an overall budget of $87 million. Sharon also manages the Mellon Institute, a 352,000 square foot building housing several academic units and research laboratories. 

Sharon has over 25 years of experience in research administration. She has presented workshops and sessions for SRA International, the National Council of University Researchers, and at several universities in addition to Carnegie Mellon. Sharon has served as the Business Manager of the Journal of Research Administration and is currently on the Academic Review Committee (ARC) for the Journal of Healthcare, Science and the Humanities (JHSH). She is a member of the Council on Government Relations, the National Association of College and Business Officers and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Sharon is a Past-President of the Northeast Section of SRA International and of the Allegheny Chapter. She is a member of the SRA Distinguished Faculty.