Nicholls continues to gain funding from state and federal grants through the efforts of the office of research.

There is one man in particular that is behind the operation, seeking out funds from which the University can benefit.

Patrick Marquette, director of research and sponsored programs, came to Nicholls in July 2000. Upon his arrival, he began his quest to form the office of research.

Marquette has done this type of work before at Louisiana State University for their Pennington Medical Research Center. After deciding to leave Pennington, Marquette was contacted by University President Donald Ayo about a position at Nicholls.

“I said, ‘Well, I retired one time, I retired two times.’ I think I have served society and it was time for me to take life easy,” Marquette said.

Marquette said Ayo convinced him to relocate in Thibodaux. This, Marquette said, was most important for him.

“I am back home. I started my career here in 1952. So, I felt an obligation to come down here and set up the office of research, which [Nicholls] did not have,” he said.

“I told them I would work no more than three years.”

Marquette promised to double the number of sponsored programs at Nicholls, and says he is well on his way to accomplishing that goal.

“I walked in this office with nothing. They could not tell me, without an abundance of work, how many proposals were submitted last year,” Marquette said.

The office operations are not completely run by Marquette. He has a student, Jace Duet, who sets up the databases and updates the information daily.

“I don’t try (to work with computers). I have too many important things to worry about to manage this thing. I don’t try to get involved, I tell them what I need. I let them go, I give them everything they need to do a good job for me,” he said.

Marquette says he enjoys the fact that he was one of the first employees in the administration to have a PC, which he bought himself.

“They made fun of me. They laughed at me. They said, ‘We did not hire you to come down here to buy a $4,000 machine to do your job, that is nothing but a calculator PC,'” he said.

During the first 11 months that Marquette set up the office (August 2000 through July 2001), there were a total of 87 proposals for grants submitted by the faculty. From July 2001 through January 2002, 70 proposals have been submitted. The first 11 months brought in 54 funded proposals, and this year there have already been 43 proposals funded.

The University was funded $1.65 million during the first 11 months of operation. From July 2001 until December 2001, the University has been funded $1.64 million.

A main part of Marquette’s job is to locate funding available for faculty use. The faculty members then submit their proposals to be considered for the grants.

“Once I locate these request for proposals, I try to associate them with the appropriate faculty at Nicholls,” he said.

He said he is not a grant writer, and that the faculty members write their own grants. He walks the proposal through the administration in order to gain approval.

“If there is anything wrong (with the grant) I do not want them to bother the professors,” Marquette said.

To help students, Marquette encourages the faculty members submitting the proposal to work with students on the sponsored projects and research.

Prior to his arrival, Nicholls was mainly concentrating on state grants, and although it continues to use state money, it is diverting

into the federal arena where more money can be found. To find the funding that is available, Marquette looks at government agency web pages in addition to the publication that he receives once a week, “Federal Grants.”

“I have been in this game for 23 years. It just comes naturally,” he said.

Obtaining grants is a very competitive process. Grants are funded if they are good and well-composed scientific presentations. They have to be well presented to convince the reader that they have an objective that they want to look at, he said.

Presently, Marquette said he is working on a proposal with St. James Parish and the college of education, arts and sciences. Only 20 of these grants will be provided through out the nation.

“It has to do with new mathematics and utilizing graduate students into the school system for teaching. We have what we think is a real prototype model that we want to propose to the federal government,” he said.

Marquette monitors what types of grants are available, and how much time there is for the proposals to be made.

“I enjoy my job very much, it was quite a challenge to set up this office, and I worked long hours to get it where it is right now. I am determined to bring Nicholls forward. That is my goal,” he said.