Sarah Saxton Joins the Division of Research as the new Assistant Vice Chancellor for Research Administration
The Division of Research (DR) welcomes Sarah Saxton to the senior leadership team as the new Assistant Vice Chancellor for Research Administration. Ms. Saxton comes to UNC Charlotte with over 17 years in higher education experience, focusing on research administration, policy building, process improvement, fiscal analysis, and community building.
“This is an exciting time to join the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, especially with its new R1 distinction,” shared Saxton. “It is my goal to combine my range of experience with my ability to make a positive contribution to enhance the Division and help build and grow UNC Charlotte’s research enterprise.”
For nearly the past 11 years, Saxton has worked at Drexel University in research administration in various positions, most recently serving as the Assistant Vice Provost, Sponsored Programs. Saxton oversaw all pre-award and non-financial post-award functions for the R1 institution that in FY24, submitted over 1,000 proposals, received nearly 800 obligated awards, and expended more than $170 M in research.
“We are thrilled Sarah Saxton will join our senior leadership team,” shared Dr. Deborah Thomas, Associate Vice Chancellor for Research. “Her breadth of experience in program administration and organizational strategy bring exactly the kind of insight and operational depth we were seeking for this Assistant Vice Chancellor for Research Administration role.”
DR is organizing a listening tour around campus starting in early August.
Sarah Saxton bio
Sarah Saxton began her research administration career as Fiscal Manager at the Maryland Breast and Cervical Cancer Program at the University of Maryland Baltimore. She analyzed and oversaw the annual operating budget for the program, as well as the CDC-funded Colorectal Cancer Control Program, totaling more than $9 million in federal and state funds for 75 grant and contract awards. She represented the program at local and state meetings, including the Maryland State Patient Navigation Network and Susan G. Komen Maryland Affiliate grant review committee. In addition, she assisted with grant writing and served as co-project manager of the program’s $249,000 Komen national grant to build partnerships between the state health department, local health departments, and federally qualified health centers throughout Maryland to decrease breast cancer deaths and health disparities among minority and low-income women.
At Drexel University, she began her career as the Humanities and Social Science Research Administrator in the College of Arts and Sciences overseeing day-to-day research operations to nine departments and three centers with more than $9 million in awards. In 2018, she moved from the College of Arts and Sciences to the Dornsife School of Public Health to provide research administration oversight as the school’s Director of Research Administration. At the Dornsife School of Public Health, she developed and maintained the school’s research infrastructure, with research expenditures over $22.5 million, supporting at the school-level, the research-related activities of faculty and student investigators. She created and implemented special programs and initiatives intended to enhance the research enterprise, including a grant-writing bootcamp, proposal review program, specific aims review, and new funding initiatives.
In 2022, Sarah made the transition of working at a school level position to move into a central office senior leadership role as the Executive Director, Sponsored Programs in Drexel’s Office of Research & Innovation. Within 18 months, she was promoted to the Assistant Vice Provost, Sponsored Programs. In this role, she was the senior expert on grants management for sponsored programs for the institution and oversaw the Office of Sponsored Programs which supports all pre-award and non-financial post-award functions. Working with the Office of Research & Innovation’s senior leadership, she developed cross-unit processes and training opportunities to build a stronger community within the office. In addition, she developed trainings for the research community across campus, and presented sponsored programs information, processes, and procedure to the University Research Council and Research Administrators’ Advisory Committee. She served on the CORE Implementation Team of Drexel’s 2030 Strategic Plan and the Drexel University Academic Transformation Academic Unit Integration/Alignment Working Group.