When I found out about the most brilliant use of Complete Grant System yet, I knew I had to share it with you!

Thank you to this team from Louisiana Tech University’s Innovation Enterprise who sat down and told me about their student grant program:

• Dr. Donna Johnson, Chief Innovation Officer

• Ms. Kathy Wyatt, Director of Enterprise Development & Entrepreneurial Ventures

• Dr. Allie DeLeo-Allen, Supervisor of Student Grant Assistants (DKB Solutions)

• Ms. Katherine Cortez, Chemical Engineering Undergraduate Student

In only a year, their pilot program has WON OVER $1.5 MILLION (and counting) for projects in their own community.

Welcome to our conversation.

Can you tell us more about the Innovation Enterprise and where you are located?

Dr. Johnson: Louisiana Tech University is located in Ruston, Louisiana, a town that is largely centered around the university. When you look in any direction—east, west, north, or south—within a nearly 200-mile radius, we are the only research institution. Given our regional placement, we have established ourselves as a hub for innovation, research, and education.

At Louisiana Tech, we have a division dedicated to fostering this mission—focusing on our impact on the region and the lives we touch. We operate at the boundary of the university, both in terms of physical location and function. On campus, we manage facilities that are integral to our division, including two multi-story, multi-tenant buildings where corporate partners have office spaces. Our division, the Innovation Enterprise, serves as the interface between the university and these corporate partners, as well as external entities, agencies, and municipalities that choose to collaborate with us.

However, our work extends beyond supporting corporate partners on campus. Our collaborations are not limited to those within our 200-mile radius. In fact, we have international partnerships that allow us to work with researchers and institutions worldwide. While we are rooted in Louisiana—a rural region with a mission focused on research, education, and workforce development—our reach is truly global. The Innovation Enterprise is committed to bridging the gap between the university’s resources and the needs of external organizations seeking to work with us.

Because we operate at the boundary of the university, we are university employees, but we strive to be market-responsive. Universities are not always structured to respond quickly to market demands. External partners have different timelines, terminology, and goals, which can sometimes be misaligned with traditional university operations. Our role is to ensure that we effectively leverage the university’s assets and resources in a way that creates mutual benefits for both the institution and our external partners.

To be market-responsive, we must listen to the needs of those we work with—both outside and increasingly within the university. A recurring trend we’ve noticed is the availability of grant funding. Many external partners, as well as some faculty members, are interested in pursuing these opportunities but lack the insight, capacity, or expertise to identify grants, craft winning proposals, and manage awarded projects.

Securing and managing grants is something universities specialize in. We conduct research, write proposals, and oversee funded projects regularly. Given our role in connecting various stakeholders, it made sense to consider how we could build capacity to meet this growing demand. The student grant program is one initiative we believe directly addresses this need.

Great! Next, can you walk us back to the beginning of your pilot, around the end of 2023.  How did the program start, and what challenges were you responding to?

Ms Wyatt: So when this program was started, as you said, in 2023, that is when we made application to receive some funding that would allow our division with the university to deliver technical assistance to small businesses in the region that wanted to use grant opportunities to help their ventures. So we made application for those funds in August 2023. They were announced or awarded at the end of the federal fiscal year, which, you know, concludes at the end of September. And then we were allowed to begin going through the grant process of executing forms and documents and signing things. And that really took us through most of the first quarter of the fiscal year 2024. So our student grant program really got kicked off and operating, I would say, in January of 2024. So really we have been functioning as a unit delivering these services for approximately a year.

And when we talk about why we started this - we as a team within the University recognized both a need and an opportunity that would allow us to fulfill multiple objectives that we had, one being an opportunity to increase revenue flowing into our department and the university and to do this in a manner that would allow us to engage students as grant writers and in doing so, to use that student talent to in turn help us expand our capacity to deliver services in the community to these small businesses. And that's essentially how it started. 

Ok thanks. So a follow-up question - what are the pilot’s results so far?

Ms. Wyatt: So we are working with a federal agency. We were coming in and basically helping small businesses assess feasibility of an investment that they wanted to make. And then, if that investment proved feasible for them, then we had the ability to help them apply for funds to make that happen. And so in this program over the course of a year, we have basically been able to do that initial financial feasibility for 14 different business sites, or locations throughout North Louisiana.

Of those 14 different sites that were assessed for feasibility, there were six applications submitted. And the total value of the grant applications that were submitted is approximately $1.9 million directed toward helping provide investment for these small businesses.

Now, of those six applications submitted, there are five awards that have been allocated, and one is still in review. And so essentially we've already seen $1.5 million approximately come into our community and $400,000 is still under review.

But the other exciting thing is that these grants did not fund 100% of the investment, but they were the catalyst or the motivation for investment in larger projects. So the total project value that's been brought to our community is about $3.8 million in one year. 

We used a really good model, the Complete Grant System, which helped us find a way to do that. And because we had such a good system, we attracted great talent, which I know you're going to learn more about as you talk to Dr. DeLeo-Allen and one of our fabulous grant writing students, Katherine Cortez. 

Wow, that is amazing! Can you tell us what the program looks like? Who are the different players, and what’s everyone doing? 

Dr. DeLeo-Allen: Sure. There are several players depending on the specific grant opportunity. First our clients - in our pilot projects, our clients were small businesses. We also worked with technical teams, including engineering firms and vendors. We also communicated with the funding agency’s program directors, asking questions and for their guidance. And then of course, our student grant assistants.

As far as how the program was laid out - the student grant assistants communicated a lot with the client and some of the technical team, gathering the necessary documents and information, researching locations, and gathering the environmental information that was required in the application. Then they would take all the gathered information and compile it into the grant application so it was ready for submission. 

In my role, I helped guide the students through that process, communicated with the grant program director to keep a single line of communication with them, and then offered any feedback and support to the students so they could do their job well.

At the beginning, a lot of our focus was not only learning about the actual grant opportunity, but establishing a process - a process we could use each cycle of this grant funding and replicate with other clients and grants if that opportunity came about. It was a great process improvement exercise for the students and myself to go through a cycle and then at the end of it see where we could improve - what didn't work, what worked.  Though our clients were similar in some aspects, the students came across differences that required different resolutions, so understanding how our process needed to adjust to accommodate that was important. 

Yes, that is great. Continuous improvement. And now we get to hear from your student! Katherine, why did you do this program, and what has the experience been like for you?

Ms. Cortez: So I think part of the reason why I chose to do this program was because I wanted to get into a project while I was job searching. I wanted to do something that had value, that added something to me, to the community, and to the university that I could feel was worth my time and effort. 

I feel like this experience has truly been innovative because it's been bringing value to the local community. These small businesses we've been working with, with the federal partnerships, and tying it all back to the university - I think it's truly brought a lot of value to the local community. And driving around and seeing the effect of these changes has been amazing. Knowing that I have actually been part of something that made a change to the place that I'm living in is incredible. I'm grateful to have the opportunity to aid in that change.

And the Complete Grant System was so good. The videos and the guide were so helpful to narrow down what we needed and to provide guidance on other things. Not just the grants and the grant writing process, but also to narrow down things that we were looking for during these projects. So while we were researching for other grants or were narrowing down ideas for the roadmap, we really relied on these topics because they served as a good foundation for us. 

I’m so excited to hear that! Ok so my last question - What is your advice for other universities who want to try this model?

Dr. Johnson: I would recommend building something that is synergistic with your campus. What you don’t want is a bolt-on service that doesn’t integrate well with the university. If you don’t intentionally design it to fit within the campus ecosystem, it won’t function effectively. So, as you develop your plans, make sure either the initiative is tailored to fit the campus or that the campus is prepared to adapt to what you’re creating.

Another key consideration is establishing clear expectations when collaborating with external partners. Universities are well-equipped to handle the workload, pace, deadlines, and reporting requirements of sponsored projects. However, corporate partners, agencies, municipalities, or other external entities may not be as familiar with these processes. It’s crucial to create a shared understanding from the start regarding each party’s role in the project process.

While the idea of partnering with a university to pursue a grant may sound great in theory, it’s important to determine ownership and accountability within the collaboration. Who is responsible for managing the project on a daily basis? If there isn’t a dedicated champion on the external partner’s side, it can be challenging to get the necessary engagement and support to make the partnership successful.

Ms. Wyatt: I'll also try and give a little guidance and what motivated us. So first of all, I mean, I think it is exciting. This model follows the tenets of what matter to us in our division of the university, which is being very intentional about recognizing and pursuing opportunities that serve as force multipliers, you know, that allow you to leverage what you have to work with.

We're a small rural community. We could have a scarcity mindset and say there's nothing here to work with. But we are a small rural community with an amazing university that has high quality faculty and staff and excellent students. This gave us the opportunity to bring those components together to work in unison and achieve greater things.

We have our staff that supports the administrative and bureaucratic parts of getting this grant to occur as well as our expanded capacity force multipliers! We were able to include active alumni like the professional consulting services provided through Dr. DeLeo-Allen's business, DKB Solutions, and were able to engage the services of another local and alum-owned enterprise to help provide the technical component of delivering this project for these small businesses. And we were able to bring in students who gain some additional skill that can help supplement and improve their academic experience, while also, again, increasing our capacity by having a student perform work that they're perfectly capable of doing. From our perspective, it's a wonderful opportunity to engage our community, to help come up with a really good community solution and to do so in a way where everybody gains and benefits. 

So we did not view our share of the pie as being limited. We wanted to take the share of the pie that we received and figure out how do we produce the greatest potential impact to our community out of these dollars that we've been entrusted with using to help expand services and benefit to our community. And I believe that this program has allowed us to do that very well. And we thank you, Alicia, for actually being one of the thought leaders that helped us come up with a way to do this, using your Complete Grant System to train people who did not have this experience going into the grant writing process. So you're another great alum that contributed to this. Thank you!

Dr. DeLeo-Allen: To add on, I encourage others to look for the gaps at your university, in your community. How can you help fill those gaps? How can you employ students to not only contribute, but to gain professional experience? That's something unique that I don't think many undergraduate students get to experience in their higher education career. Right? Applying for grants, bringing in $1.5 million in one year. That's outstanding! So just trying to see where you can leverage your resources while also offering a valuable learning experience for students. 

Ms. Cortez: I believe this is a project that a lot of people can gain valuable experience from as an undergraduate. I feel like I've grown as a person through this experience and I think touching upon these facts and these things to cater to other students would be amazing. People don't truly understand. Well, I didn't even truly understand the level of change that this project is actually creating. Once things are put into perspective and you realize that these life skills will lead you forward to a better future, you find the merit in doing good for the community. I think a lot of other people would be very excited to try this once they realize the level of personal growth and societal advancement this project offers.

I love it. Well thank you all for your time today. I appreciate working with people like you, who see big things and want to make them happen. And I agree with Kathy, there's enough for everyone. Let’s maximize those opportunities for each other and for our communities. Thank you all!

Want to try a student grant program at your university?

You provide the guidance, I’ll provide the curriculum! Just reply, and we can talk more.