About Division of Research and Innovation Partnerships

At NIU, Mocarski is responsible for the strategic and operational leadership of the research and innovation enterprise portfolio. As such he oversees campus-wide planning efforts for research facilities, fosters collaboration with external partners, provides support for intellectual property and technology transfer, and promotes an innovative research environment that fosters multidisciplinary research projects. Mocarski provides strategic guidance and decision-making on matters relative to resource planning, policy development, promotion of research, scholarly and creative activity, and exploration of innovative interdisciplinary, transdisciplinary and cross-disciplinary collaborations in a shared governance environment.

Mocarski holds bachelor's degrees in English and psychology from the University of Michigan and a master's degree in communication studies and Ph.D. in communication and information sciences from the University of Alabama. His own research has been funded continually for over a decade by the National Institutes of Health and focused on lowering barriers to health care.

In her role, Dara leads the Division of Research and Innovation Partnerships' research services arm, overseeing pre- and post-award administration, compliance, core facilities, shared services and research intelligence. Her leadership has supported significant growth in external funding and the evolution of administrative structures to meet the demands of NIU's expanding research and creative enterprise.

A recognized leader in the field, Dara has presented nationally on topics ranging from regulatory compliance to organizational strategy. She is published in the Journal of Research Administration, holds distinguished faculty status with the Society of Research Administrators International (SRAI) and currently serves as president of its board of directors. Dara also chairs the State of Illinois GATA/Illinois Grants Management Working Group and has secured NIH funding to strengthen research administration capacity at NIU.

Prior to joining NIU, Gordon spent over two decades at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) where she was a tenured professor of sociology and served as chair of social science research, as well as chair of the executive committee in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and was associate director for the social sciences at the Institute for Health Research and Policy. She was also a tenured professor, associate director and senior scholar at the University of Illinois System's Institute of Government and Public Affairs, where she chaired the System-Wide Working Group on Education and Learning. Gordon additionally spent the 2021-2022 academic year as director of the Picard Center for Child Development and Lifelong Learning, Loyd Rockhold Endowed Chair in Child Development and a professor of sociology (with tenure) at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.

In her current leadership role, Gordon provides strategic leadership in advancing the university's global engagement and faculty members' development and success including through research capacity-building efforts. Bridging divisions, Gordon supports alignments among faculty success initiatives, international education and research development. This includes engaging faculty in a culture of internationalization across the university and aligning faculty success initiatives with the full research, creative activity and innovation agenda of the university.