The College offers several internal grants for faculty to assist in their continuing development as teachers and scholars. This section describes each of these competitive grant programs and the processes for application and review.
Generally, peer review is the process used to select proposals for recommendation to the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs. Review is performed by a panel of faculty from the various schools of the College. Grants that are awarded on a "rolling basis" are reviewed by the Office of the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs for timely funding (e.g., Small Grants).
Interested applicants are urged to discuss project ideas with colleagues, the Associate Provost, or experienced committee reviewers. Some awards have become highly competitive, making proposal rationale, clarity, and conciseness very important. Specific internal grant proposal procedures and formats are described in detail elsewhere in the Faculty Resource Guide, but some general comments apply to all.
The Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs invites faculty from different schools and disciplines to serve on review panels for Summer Research and IDF proposals. Some rotation of membership is attempted each year. The panels review each proposal and make recommendations to the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs for final approval.
The role of faculty review panels is to conduct a professional and objective appraisal of proposals. The variety of disciplines represented by applicants and among panel members and the formative purpose that underlies faculty development activity result in reviews that are sometimes more impressionistic and flexible than, for example, federal grant review. Because it is not possible for each panel to include specialists from each discipline, applicants must prepare proposals which not only withstand professional scrutiny, but describe projects in language that is comprehensible to non-specialists, avoiding reliance upon technical or dense professional vocabulary.
It should be noted that while panels make recommendations, those recommendations might not always be accepted. When the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs does not accept the panel's recommendation, the decision is based upon criteria, which may indicate a lack of suitability of the project to the College's needs and resources.
Awards for grant programs are recommended to the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs by review panels. These awards may be contingent upon the applicant complying with stipulated conditions or making specific changes in the project. Every effort will be made to expedite decisions on project funding, but delays are possible. Faculty may call the Associate Provost to determine the status of their proposal.
Notification of the award will be made in writing from the Office of the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs. Letters of notification are sent simultaneously to the awardee, the department chair, and school dean. At approximately the same time denial letters are sent to applicants whose projects were not approved.
Applicants who are advised to seek external funding, whether their project was awarded an internal grant or not, should seriously consider the advice. External funding is a desirable result of faculty development activities.
Internal award payment is arranged automatically in the case of salary awards. Where travel or the purchase of supplies or equipment are involved, awardees must follow specific procedures. Awards must be expended and reimbursement requests filed within the fiscal year that the activity of the award was conducted. The fiscal year begins June 1. Awards submitted after the end of the fiscal year may not be honored. The Associate Provost will assist awardees with this process.
The final requirement of a college-funded study or research is the completion of a report on the outcomes of the project. This requirement should be submitted to the officer who made the award within six months of the project completion date. In addition, faculty receiving awards are expected to cooperate with requests to share work-in-progress or results with the campus community through any of the faculty development venues (e.g., Faculty Colloquium Series) or a departmental colloquium. Publications should acknowledge the College's support. Patentable products, if any, fall under the College's "Intellectual Property Policy" (see Section 6.5).
For internal grants and awards, including IDF, Academic Project Grants, and Small Grants, grant funds are to be used for direct expenses of an approved project. Direct expenses include travel and related costs, and supplies.
Occasionally awards are made which include support for student workers to assist faculty with projects. All personnel/payroll arrangements involving students must be processed through the Office of Financial Aid, regardless of the student's financial aid status. It is suggested that as an inducement to participate in a research project that gift certificates be used instead of small stipends of money, i.e. $5. If, however, a researcher chooses to use money as an inducement to participate in a research project then personnel/payroll arrangements must be processed as described above.
Processing claims for payment of bills or reimbursement of travel should be done as soon as the expenses are incurred. The funds allocated for these projects are budgeted in the fiscal year for which the award is made and do not carry over to the next fiscal year. The Office of the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs must receive a request for reimbursement for travel expenses or a bill from the vendor for merchandise or the merchandise must have been received and the invoice processed at least two weeks before the end of the fiscal year (May 31)! Failure to process these expenses in a timely fashion could result in funds being unavailable for reimbursement.
Internal Grants - Forms and Information