
Greetings, friends of the OARS office. My name is Scott Berry and I am the new Grant and Development Writer for the Miami Regional campuses. I am thrilled to be joining the Regional Advancement team and serving as the OARS liaison for Miami Regionals faculty members and programs.
Before joining Miami, I was the Director of Community Outreach and Engagement and the Grants Manager at the Fitton Center for Creative Arts in Hamilton. In this role, I straddled the line between programming and fundraising, which provided me with a unique vantage point on the external funding process as a whole. I had the opportunity to write proposals for new community arts programs and then help manage and track the implementation of them. These experiences will certainly come in handy for my position with Miami.
Coincidentally, one of the Fitton Center’s public art initiatives, StreetSpark, will be creating a mural at Miami Hamilton this summer to help celebrate the 50th anniversary of the campus. I will be on fairly familiar ground as I help identify funding sources to support this project.
Along with my professional background, I also have some previous experience in academic writing and editing. I have both a master’s degree and a bachelor’s degree in English with a concentration in Irish literature and culture from Wake Forest and Notre Dame, respectively.
Though I am new to the Miami staff, I actually have lifelong ties to the university. My father, Dr. Stephen Berry, was a long-time faculty member in the Department of Psychology in Oxford. Much of his research was grant-funded, so he is very familiar with the role OARS plays in supporting faculty endeavors.
I am looking forward to working with Miami Regionals faculty and staff to advance their efforts in the laboratory, the library, the classroom, and the community.
By Scott Berry, Grant and Development Writer, Regional campuses, Miami University.
Photos courtesy of Scott Berry.