Employee Focus on Karla Gengler-Nowak
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Name: Karla Gengler-Nowak, PhD, CRA
Current Title: Grants and Contracts Administrator
Pronouns: She/Her
Hometown: Lismore, MN
Degrees and Institutions Attended: College of St. Benedict (BA) and The Ohio State University (PhD)
Years of Employment at the College: Nine short years!
Q&A
What brought you to the college of Optometry?
My previous positions at Ohio State were strictly focused on research administration, and being in Optometry offered me the opportunity to learn more about non-research operations. I also had heard great things about the people here!
Describe your typical day at work or describe your position/role.
I’m responsible for helping investigators with their grant proposals and with helping them manage their grants and contracts once they are awarded. I have run a university-wide research administration training program for many years, so I am regularly teaching my colleagues. Most people in the college know my name, however, because I assign BuckeyeLearn training!
What brings you the most joy in your work?
The people here are wonderful, and it always feels good to solve a problem for someone.
What advice would you give to a new employee at the college?
Stay curious! It’s the best way to deeply understand your own job and how it fits in with what everyone is doing around you, and that’s a good way to recognize opportunities to contribute.
What do you do for fun outside of work?
I really like hiking, even if I’m not serious about it. I like reading and puttering in my garden. I also lead a volunteer group that removes invasive plants from city parks in Upper Arlington - spending a Saturday morning hacking at honeysuckle and buckthorn is really satisfying.
What was your first job?
My first non-family job was working a swing shift in a small meat packaging factory. You know those individually wrapped sausages you find in convenience stores by the cashier? I put those sausages with cheese sticks in the plastic wells to be sealed by the machine, then had to rip them open to do it again if the cheese got twisted. If I didn’t already know it before that job, it taught me that I was not cut out for that kind of work!