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Ten years ago, Texas Christian University faculty researcher Emily Lund had a problem — a good problem but still a problem. 

The professor in the Davies School of Communication Sciences & Disorders had just earned her first National Institutes of Health grant, but no one in Harris College had experience managing one. When one question arose, the late dean Chris Watts didn't pretend to have all the answers. 
 
He picked up the phone.
 
Two men wearing sunglasses smile for a selfie while visiting a public tourist area in China, with other visitors and buildings visible in the background.
On the other end was a trusted colleague, Bernard Rousseau, then-associate vice chair for research and tenured associate Professor in the Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. 
 
The conversation solved an immediate problem. It also became the first link in a chain that continues a decade later. 
 
Today, Rousseau serves as Marilyn and Morgan Davies Dean of Harris College. Lund is one of TCU's most accomplished funded researchers. And this year, she helped mentor colleague Jean Rivera Pérez to Harris’ first institutionally awarded National Institutes of Health R01 grant, and he is investing in the next generation of researchers.