Tuesday, March 17, 2026
The College of Science is proud to celebrate three of our outstanding Proposal Managers for being a part of the team selected to receive the 2025 Teamwork Award from the Office of the President. 
The College of Science is proud to celebrate three of our outstanding Proposal Managers for being a part of the team selected to receive the 2025 Teamwork Award from the Office of the President. The award recognizes cross-divisional staff work groups who collaborate outside their traditional reporting unit to meet institutional goals or needs.
Teamwork Award
The hard work, commitment, and dedication of this team, which includes Shantelle McDonald, Sam Cahill, and Kelly Basinger (who also received this year’s Staff Excellence in Research Award), provides critical support for researchers across our labs and institutes and solidifies UNT’s success as a Tier One Research University.
 
“I really appreciate that the award symbolizes how integral teamwork is to UNT achieving excellence in research, workforce development, and opportunities for our students,” said Sam, who has been with the BioDiscovery Institute for two years and recently became a Certified Research Administrator (CRA) through RACC. “I love learning about and facilitating interdisciplinary discoveries!”
 
Sam said she is grateful to the DRI Research Development team, specifically Dr. Aaron Roberts, Katie Herring, and Terisa Bostic, for their guidance and giving the proposal team opportunities to bond as a professional community.
 
“I love that I get to interact with different stakeholders in the North Texas network that has emerged from the convergence of the thriving DFW biotech industry, world-leading STEM research experts, and our fantastic next-generation of STEM scientists and workforce contributors,” she said. “And I get to work with teams across the College of Science and the College of Engineering!”
 
This annual award is bestowed to a team whose collective results increase productivity and efficiency, boost morale, improve customer service, support retention, or have made other notable accomplishments in alignment with UNT's strategic goals.
 
“One of my favorite things about being a part of this team is helping foster interdisciplinary creativity in research proposals. Being a teammate is a central component of my role because I help wherever I'm needed in the process to best support faculty and graduate students,” said Shantelle, who has been the College of Science Proposal Manager for five years. “I would like to specifically thank Kelly Basinger, the first proposal manager at UNT, for teaching and supporting me in this role and consistently fostering team spirit.”
 
Kelly, who has worked in the Advanced Environmental Research Institute (AERI) for more than seven years and has over twenty years of experience in grant and proposal writing, said it feels great to be recognized, especially after the team worked so hard on the Texas University Funds (TUF) proposals for UNT.
 
“I appreciate being part of a team that enhances research opportunities at UNT by creating competitive proposals and helping communicate ideas,” said Kelly. “The best parts of this work are the thrill of someone receiving funding and teaching new faculty how to approach funding.”
 

UNT's Institutional Effectiveness Awards and UNT Staff Appreciation Awards recognize faculty and staff who have gone above and beyond in their efforts to advance UNT’s mission and enhance student outcomes. We are proud of all our College of Science awardees: