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Appendix H
Policy for Faculty Development Grants Committee
Purpose of Faculty Development Grants:
Individual Faculty Development Grants
Individual faculty development grants are to provide support for faculty to enhance their teaching, scholarship/creative activities or service. Because there is often support for scholarship/creative activity or service from other sources (e.g., departments, BFR), proposals directed at the enhancement of teaching will have the highest priority. Examples of activities that might be supported include, but are not limited to, attending workshops on teaching or workshops to update professional skills, the development of a new course or materials for an existing course, travel to visit libraries to gather information or to visit laboratories to learn a new technique, or attending a conference or workshop to enhance some service skill such as a conference on advising students, the evaluation of faculty or faculty governance issues.
Because there is typically support available from departments or other sources, individual faculty development grants are not intended to support attendance at meetings of scholarly societies, to purchase equipment, to purchase texts or references, to be salary supplements, to support individual research, or to supplement professional leave pay.
Department or College Grants
Departments or other units may be awarded grants for activities or programs that are directed to faculty to enhance their teaching, scholarship/creative activity or service. Examples of such activities include, but are not limited to, inviting speakers to update the faculty in a new area of their discipline, or to provide a workshop on diversity, the improvement of teaching, use of computer simulations and so forth.
Eligibility and Application
All faculty or departments or other units are eligible to apply for faculty development grants. An individual may receive no more than one grant during any calendar year and a department or other unit may receive no more than one grant every two calendar years.
Applications for grants can cover any time during the calendar year, but are typically limited to the two quarters following the quarter during which the application is submitted. The Faculty Development Grants Committee will request applications and review applications for grants once each quarter.
Amount of Grants
The committee may recommend to the Vice Provost for Research changes in the maximum amount to be awarded for individual faculty members and for departments or other units. Approval of the recommendations is subject to the availability of funds.
Grant Reports
Each faculty member or department or other unit must submit a report describing what was accomplished as a result of the faculty development grant. Where possible, the faculty member is expected to share the knowledge or expertise gained with his or her colleagues or the larger university community.
Committee Membership
The Faculty Development Grants Committee is made up of six tenured faculty members appointed by the Provost from a list of faculty nominated by the Faculty Senate Executive Committee. The Faculty Senate Executive Committee shall provide at least twice as many names as there are openings on the Committee. Whenever possible, Committee membership will include faculty representing the arts, business, education, the humanities, the natural sciences and mathematics and the social and behavioral sciences. It is not the intent that each college have a representative on the Committee. Committee members serve three year terms and may be reappointed for no more than two consecutive terms. The committee is appointed with staggering terms so that one third of the Committee is appointed or reappointed each year. The Committee elects its own chair from among those who are in their second or later year of appointment. [Alternative: The Provost appoints the chair of the Committee from among those who are in their second or later year of appointment.] The Chair may be reappointed for a maximum of five consecutive years.
Charge to the Committee
The Committee is charged to establish guidelines for grant applications, to set application deadlines and to serve as the review and recommending body for Faculty Development Grants. The Committee will make every effort to assure that faculty are informed of the availability of grants, the grant review process, and the criteria that will be used in guiding decisions for the awarding of grants.
Policies that guide the Faculty Development Grants Committee are reviewed by the FDETC and recommendations are made to the Provost or his or her designee.
Source of Funds
Funds for faculty development grants are provided by the Provost.
[Note to the Faculty Senate: The strategy of recommending policy to the Provost is similar to that used by the Senate Salary and Welfare Committee. That Committee recommends policy that is approved by the Faculty Senate for how salary dollars that are under the control of the administration are dispersed to faculty. The Salary and Welfare Committee works very closely with the administration so that a consensus on the policy has been reached before it is put to a vote of the Faculty Senate.]