The Dean's Research and Scholarship Fund was created to provide funding for faculty research activities. The fund was created in 2019 to help facilitate faculty research development.

A committee appointed by the Dean serves in an advisory capacity reviewing proposals and making recommendations to the Dean regarding the amount of funding. The committee's goal is to provide substantial supplementary funds to support Arts and Sciences faculty who need additional funds to create or complete a research project.

PRIORITIES for this fund are:

• Original research to be defined as inquiry leading to peer-reviewed publication in appropriate journals, presentation, artistic creativity, patents, or licensing research that advances the state of knowledge or applications within a specialized field or academic discipline.
• Undergraduate research that engages students and faculty in shared inquiry.
• K-12 or community outreach activities.
• At the time of reviewing applications, the committee will follow University guidelines regarding research travel and activities. Travel guidelines are subject to change throughout the year as a result of the pandemic. Please be cognizant of these guidelines when writing your application.

FUNDING LIMITS

Individual funding awards to a faculty member will be $5,000 or less and can be used for archival research, lab equipment, laboratory exploration or analysis, data sets, oral history or interviews, or other such purposes common to research across the disciplines of the College of Arts and Sciences. As the funds will encompass primarily or exclusively state dollars, appropriate restrictions of use and accountability measures will be applied. Note that paying or incentivizing people to participate in research studies cannot be done with state funds. Therefore, if your project budget includes participant payments, please make that explicit in your application and the committee will work to identify non-state funds if approved. IRB approval may be required where appropriate.

ELIGIBILITY

The committee will give higher priority to tenure-track and tenured professors who have not yet reached the rank of professor, since these faculty have greater need for professional  opportunities to complete, publish, and present their research.

APPLICATION & APPROVAL PROCEDURES

To request supplemental funding, faculty should provide a:

• 1 page Detailed Research Budget and Budget Justification
• 2-3 page Research Plan to include:
  • Goal(s) of the research proposal
  • Explanation of planned activities
  • Potential of funding to make an impact beyond the life of the grant
  • Expected timeline to peer reviewed publication or other such outcome
• Curriculum vitae

Applications that do not include all requirements will not be considered.

Proposals will be evaluated by the Dean’s Research and Scholarship Committee, which will make recommendations to the Dean.

DEADLINES

Priority will go to requests submitted by September 22, 2023. Expenses will be expected to be incurred within 21 days of the close of the fiscal year. Faculty members are strongly encouraged to submit requests by the September 22 priority deadline to allow the committee to allocate funds early in the academic year. If there is money remaining, the committee will review requests on an as-needed basis.

NOTIFICATION OF DECISION

The dean’s office will arrange appropriate notification for the department chair and faculty member.