[ Grant Writing Fund ]

Goal

To provide funding to support and encourage faculty to seek external grant funding for research and scholarly activities

Objective

The Grant Writing Fund provides an incentive for faculty to seek external funds to support research, creative, and pedagogical projects. This program is open to all full-time, tenure-track/tenured faculty in all disciplines. Funding for this initiative is provided from allocated indirect cost funds.

Guidelines

The Grant Writing Fund will provide an award of $3,000 to a faculty member or team who makes a commitment to develop and submit a major proposal to an external funding source. The proposal should seek funds that equal or exceed $8,000.

Examples of appropriate expenditures include:

• Release time during the academic year, or a summer stipend
• Select travel expenses (visits to funding agencies, etc.)
• Office and computer supplies, including software
• Hourly wages for assistants

All funding must be used within one year of the grant award date; unused funds will be returned to the Grant Writing Fund. In the event that the principle investigator (PI) fails to submit a proposal to an external funding source, the PI will not be eligible to receive Research and Grants program funding for a period of two years. Faculty who intend to seek awards from this fund as well as the University’s Faculty Development Committee must note this in their application and may be asked for additional clarification about the concurrent use of these two funding sources.

Procedures

The application for the Grant Writing Fund should include the following:

• The Grant Writing Fund Application form
• Brief narrative describing the proposed use of the Grant Writing Fund monies (include the scheduling of release time if this is requested)
• Tentative budget for the use of the requested funds
• Letter of support from applicant’s division chair and dean
• Pre-proposal for external funding source that addresses the following: (2-3 pages)
• Rationale or objectives of the project
• Main idea to be pursued for the grant
• Description of how this grant is related to the applicant’s professional goals or to institutional goals
• Identify possible funding sources
• Preliminary budget outline

Applicants should submit one electronic version and one paper copy of the proposal (including letter of support and signed coversheet) to the Chair of the Sponsored Program Creativity Committee. There is no deadline for the submission. Applications will be reviewed on an open basis by the Sponsored Program Creativity Committee and a representative from the Provost’s Office. Recommendations will be made to the Provost who will make the final decisions for the awards. Funding decisions will be made no later than four weeks after the application is received.

The awardee(s) will be required to submit a copy of the completed grant proposal to the Office of Sponsored Programs within one year after receiving the award. The Office of Sponsored programs should be provided with a copy of the letter from the external agency that notifies the applicant of the funding decision.