Leigh Botner

Leigh Botner is the Director of Research Development and Support in the Office of Research and Innovation at the University of Louisville (UofL). She has over thirty years of experience working in academia and over ten years in research development. In addition, she has a proven track record in strategic planning, managing internal grants and limited submissions, identifying relevant funding sources, grant development education, and proposal development and support functions.

As the Research Development Director at UofL, she provides a wide range of support for faculty, staff, and students across all stages of grant applications and serves as a central resource and leader for research support offices across the university. She has a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Eastern Kentucky University.

Prior to working at UofL, she served more than ten years at the University of Delaware as the Research Development Manager and seven years as Contracting Officer within the Office of Sponsored Programs at Rowan University. She also spent fifteen years at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia where she worked as a research administrator in the centralized Research Office and multiple departments/divisions. She is currently a member of the National Organization of Research Development Professionals (NORDP) where she previously served as Co-Chair of the NORDP Effective Practices and Professional Development Working Group and served as a prior liaison to the National Alliance for Broader Impacts (now known as Advancing Research Impact in Society (ARIS).