Carmen Arrigo has Bachelor’s degrees in English and Sociology and a Master’s degree in Student Affairs in Higher Education from the University of West Alabama, a predominantly undergraduate and minority institution, where she helped to grow a robust grant culture on campus. She worked at UWA in the Office of Sponsored Programs and Research from 2007 to 2020, earning the position of Associate Director for her last three years while also serving as the interim director of research compliance. From there, she joined the MSU ORD team as Research Development Specialist.  In addition to assisting researchers with qualitative proposal review and administrative tasks, she also handles the majority of ORD communications and publicity and manages office resource development. Carmen maintains long-time membership in NCURA, SRA, and NORDP and occasionally gets to perform community outreach in funding opportunities. Carmen, her husband, Brandon, and two dogs live in Starkville and enjoy the relaxed atmosphere of an SEC town.