Ron Splittgerber, whose technological savvy built the architecture that supports research at CSU’s Fort Collins, Pueblo and Spur campuses, will retire as director of Research Services for the Office of the Vice President for Research after 50 years at the university. His last day is March 31.
Splittgerber began as a student employee in the 1970s. He facilitated many technological transitions, including the massive shift from paper to digital, hand-wiring network cables in CSU steam tunnels, and personally delivering research proposals via plane when the U.S. Postal Service could not meet sponsor delivery deadlines.
“For decades, Ron has been dedicated to providing excellent IT services for researchers at CSU. Through his excellent leadership, he and his team have contributed more to the Kuali Research platform (open-source higher-education business application software) than any other team in the country, significantly benefitting both the CSU and the Kuali Research community,” said Pat Burns, the CSU System-level chief information officer.
Colleagues are invited to celebrate Splittgerber at one or both of his retirement events. A virtual event via Teams is scheduled for Wednesday, 1-2 p.m., March 29 and the in-person event is Thursday, 2-5 p.m., March 30 at Avogadro’s Number in Fort Collins. Use this link to register for either or both events.
OVPR Chief of Staff Christa Johnson described Splittgerber as a steadfast and empathetic person integral to laying the groundwork for a research enterprise that has grown sponsored project expenditures by 46% in the past 10 years.
“Ron is an unflappable, caring and authentic leader who values and welcomes diverse working styles, personalities and temperaments. His natural leadership skills reach beyond the CSU ecosystem, as he is a leader and mentor for many professionals locally and nationally,” Johnson said.
Splittgerber leads many research IT organizations, including collaborations that improved support and efficiencies for research beyond CSU. He co-chairs the Federal Demonstration Partnership reimagining meetings and serves as a program committee member. The organization aims to reduce the administrative burdens associated with research grants and contracts.
“Ron is an unflappable, and authentic leader who values and welcomes diverse working styles, and temperaments. His natural leadership skills reach beyond the CSU ecosystem, as he is a leader and mentor for many professionals locally and nationally.”
– Christa Johnson, OVPR chief of staff
Splittgerber also helped ease the grant proposal process by creating the collaborative Joint Application Design team. This was in response to a request from the Grants.gov Program Management Office, the federal office which centralizes federal grant opportunities. The team includes representatives from federal agencies, university faculty and research staff, research management software vendors, and Grants.gov staff who actively address opportunities for process improvement.
Splittgerber is also active with the National Council of University Research Administrators, co-chairing the Electronics Representatives Association VI conference, contributing articles and presenting several sessions at the conference and to the Society of Research Administrators over the past two decades. He represents CSU in the Internet2 InCommon Federated Identity effort to use common credentials among shared federal and state research portals. This effort resulted in the SAML (Shibboleth) authentication process, the single sign-on solution in use at CSU and with federal portals such as the National Institutes of Health’s eRA Commons and National Science Foundation Research.gov.
As an advocate for open-source software development, Splittgerber contributes to the Kuali governance community and is an active participant in projects to develop a Kuali solution for research administration and compliance. Splittgerber has helped co-develop and implement all 15 Kuali research modules at CSU.
Community Involvement
Splittgerber has long demonstrated a commitment to the community, especially through local youth programs. He served on the governing board for Rivendell School, TLC Preschool, and as the faculty advisor for the CSU Circle K student service club.
He is passionate about the outdoors and community safety. He founded the Diamond Peaks Ski Patrol in 1990, a search and rescue service to the Cameron Peak area that also provides avalanche education courses in Northern Colorado.
In reflecting on his time at CSU, Splittgerber said, “It has been my privilege to participate in the collaboration efforts of the many members of the Research Services team serving the CSU research community over the past 50-plus years.”
Candace Ramsey, director of Administrative Applications at CSU, has agreed to serve as the research strategy and operations interim director, where she will focus her time on strategy, structure, and the continued support of the many essential services Research Services provides.
Retirement events for Ron Splittgerber
A virtual event via Teams is scheduled for Wednesday, 1-2 p.m., March 29 and the in-person event is Thursday, 2-5 p.m., March 30 at Avogadro’s Number in Fort Collins. Register for either or both events here.
