Staff

Beth Hodges
Director

2023 Westcott North Annex
(850) 644-2257  |  bhodges@fsu.edu

As Director of the Florida State University Office of Research Development, Beth is responsible for the overall activities conducted by the office. Beth joined the FSU Office of Research in 1997, after serving for several years as a US Congressional staff member. Beth was brought on to assist with federal activities, and, as priorities changed, became increasingly more involved in faculty services.  Meeting and working with faculty to aid them with funding identification and bringing groups together to discuss research interests, she laid the groundwork for what was soon to be a research development effort by the Vice President for Research.  In 2013, Beth was tapped to become the director of the new Office of Research Development (ORD).  Since its inception until now, ORD has worked with hundreds of faculty to support their efforts to secure extramural research funding and initiate and nurture critical partnerships throughout the institutional research enterprise.

Rachel Goff-Albritton
Assistant Director

2020 Westcott North Annex
(850) 644-3044  |  r.goffalbritton@fsu.edu

Dr. Rachel Goff-Albritton serves as the Assistant Director of Research Advancement and Mentoring in the Florida State University Office of Research Development (ORD) and leads the FSU Research Mentor Academy. 

Rachel supports strategic research advancement at FSU by collaborating with institutional leadership to identify FSU research priorities (strengths and opportunities). Additionally, in ORD, she works primarily with early-career faculty, providing valuable resources to help faculty with individualized research development strategy. Rachel helps faculty across all career-levels navigate research services and contacts across campus and through external partnerships.  She works with colleagues from state-wide and national research development associations and agencies to develop resources and best practices to assist FSU researchers. Rachel earned a doctoral degree from the University of South Florida, a master’s degree at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, and her Bachelors of Arts at Florida State University, in Communication Sciences and Disorders.  Rachel also worked clinically as a speech-language pathologist for eleven years, providing rehabilitation and educational resources to individuals with aphasia, a language disorder acquired after a stroke or brain injury. She continues to support aphasia research. Rachel has a passion for laying a foundation for sustainable research growth at FSU. 

Grace Adkison
Program Manager: FSU Council on Research and Creativity

2020 Westcott North Annex
(850) 645-5751  |  gadkison@fsu.edu

Grace Adkison serves as the Council on Research and Creativity Program Manager, and has been with ORD since July 2016. As the CRC Program Manager, Grace is responsible for facilitating meetings of the Council, and assists them by educating faculty and staff on the research funding programs provided by the CRC. She also provides administrative oversight to awardees of these programs. Grace is your “go-to” person for all things CRC, be it submissions, revisions, no cost extensions, or any other issue or question you may have.  

Mike Mitchell
Assistant Director
Research Strategy and Impact

2025 Westcott North Annex
(850) 644-9511  |  mike.mitchell@fsu.edu

Mike specializes in the development and execution of programs that leverage the research strengths of a top-20 public university to promote societal impact. His focus areas include building new interdisciplinary teams, identifying opportunities for strategic growth, and connecting researchers and resources to advance creativity and innovation. 

Mike joined FSU in 2015 after serving as a Program Manager with the Florida Office of Energy where he led project teams working on alternative fuel vehicle and agricultural energy initiatives, and successfully pursued over $16 million in federal funding from the Department of Energy and Department of Agriculture. Mike earned his M.S. in Public Interest Communication and B.S. in Economics, both from FSU. He is a recipient of the FSU Alumni Association's Notable Nole Young Alumni (Thirty Under 30) Award, and was awarded the university's 2021 Jeffrey A. Gabor Superior Accomplishment Award for the Research division.

Evangeline Coker
Research Development Coordinator

2025 Westcott North Annex
850-645-9306  |  evangeline.coker@fsu.edu

As Research Development Coordinator at Florida State University’s Office of Research, Evangeline Coker uses her skills in writing, management, and directing to help strengthen FSU’s research portfolio. This includes leading the development of new interdisciplinary research teams as part of FSU’s Collaborative Collision program. She also provides consulting on grant proposals and creates multimedia content to help tell FSU’s research story.

Evangeline earned her MA in Theatre Studies at FSU where she served as a teaching assistant. Afterward, she taught theatre courses at Tallahassee Community College. She has gained leadership and management skills through five years of running a 501(c)3 performing arts company, and she continues her involvement in the local arts scene as a sound engineer and theatre director. Four of her original plays have been performed in community theatres around north Florida.

Evangeline has presented research papers as well as creative pieces at multiple conferences, including Sigma Tau Delta, the National Council of University Research Administrators (NCURA), Rocky Mountain MLA, and Performance Studies international (PSi). She continually pushes herself as a manager, writer, and director.

Carolyn Bradley
Research Development Coordinator
Arts and Humanities Funding Specialist

2021 Westcott North Annex
850-644-7730  |  cbradley@fsu.edu

Carolyn Bradley serves as a Research Development Coordinator and the Arts and Humanities Funding Specialist at Florida State University’s Office of Research Development. Her responsibilities include facilitating limited submissions, promoting funding opportunities,  and coordinating mock review sessions.  She has a particular emphasis on growing grants and creative activity in the Arts and Humanities.  She is passionate about research, and is driven to help FSU faculty members make their research dreams a reality.

Prior to coming to FSU, Carolyn worked as a staff member for the University of Florida’s Southern HIV and Alcohol Research Consortium (SHARC) Center. She earned a PhD and Master’s degree in English literature from the University of Florida, and a BA in English from Vassar College. She loves to travel, and spent two years teaching English in southern Spain after college, and also studied abroad in Florence, Italy as an undergraduate. In her free time, she can be found reading fiction and poetry, taking long walks, and playing with her family’s cuddly puppy, Layla.

Nicole Fearnbach Viverito
Research Development Coordinator
Health and Life Sciences Funding Specialist

2021 Westcott North Annex
nviverito@fsu.edu

Dr. Nicole Fearnbach Viverito specializes in research development for the Health and Life Sciences, with an emphasis on increasing competitiveness of grant proposals to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and other health-oriented funding agencies. She also coordinates the Mock Review Panel Program.

Prior to joining the Office of Research Development, Nicole was an Assistant Professor in the Clinical Sciences Division at Pennington Biomedical Research Center, after completing a T32 postdoctoral fellowship. She was a USDA NIFA predoctoral fellow during her PhD in Nutritional Sciences at Penn State. She received her bachelor's degree in Exercise Science from Florida State. During that time, Nicole was a member of the Flying High Circus and now serves as the President of the FSU Circus Alumni Association.

Laurie O'Brien
Program Assistant: Council on Research and Creativity

2023 Westcott North Annex
lsobrien@fsu.edu

Laurie O’Brien serves as the Council on Research and Creativity Program Assistant under the leadership of Grace Adkison. Since joining the ORD team in January 2021, Laurie plays an active administrative role in the CRC grant submission and review process by ensuring applicants meet program pre-approval qualifications. Following grant funding final approval by the CRC, Laurie then ensures all award information is accurately uploaded to FSU’s OMNI system.

Before joining the CRC, Laurie served as Executive Assistant to former Florida Secretary of Commerce Gray Swoope at Enterprise Florida, Inc. (2012-2015) and most recently, Executive Assistant to the Chief Marketing Officer Martin Gray at Georgia Aquarium, Inc. in Atlanta (2015-2018). She stepped back from full-time C-Level administrative work when her son was born in 2018 and her family moved back to Tallahassee, Florida. Laurie and her husband John enjoy spending time as a family with their little guy and standard poodle pup. When Laurie has time, she enjoys gardening, traveling, and attempting to play guitar. 

Mahnoor Khan
Student Assistant

mk19f@fsu.edu

Mahnoor (Noor) Khan is a student assistant in ORD. She is a Senior majoring in Environmental Science, with a minor in Biological Science. Noor primarily works on special projects with Evangeline Coker. Noor has designed advertisements, helped film faculty interviews, aided Collaborative Collision teams, and authored articles for the Research Digest. Last Fall, Noor planned a workshop for faculty interested in International Research collaborations and Fulbright Scholarships at Florida State.