Faculty Excellence Grants
Applications for 2020-2021 - Round 2 - Due November 6th, 2020
Provost Robert Mokwa, through the Center for Faculty Excellence, invites applications from tenure track and non-tenure track faculty for the Faculty Excellence Grants (FEG) Program. The FEGs will have a maximum award of $5,000 each. The goal of FEGs is to enable faculty to engage in activities that will enhance scholarship. Faculty in all disciplines are eligible to submit proposals.
In 2020, We transitioned to asking for FEG proposals TWICE A YEAR to offer faculty more flexibility in planning for their success.
- Fall funding: The fall round of proposals are due from Deans on March 12, 2020. Faculty will be notified by the end of April and the funding will begin in September 2020. These grants will need to be spent by June 30, 2021.
- Spring funding: For spring, the announcement will come out at the end of September and proposals will be due from the Deans on November 15, 2020. Faculty will be notified by early December and the funding will begin in December. These grants will need to be spent by June 30, 2021 (~6 months).
Proposals will be evaluated by the impact on the individual’s scholarly activity and
career, and align with the goals in MSU’s Strategic Plan.
Examples of activities include, but are not limited to the following:
- Short-term (less than one month) visits to other laboratories or institutions for the purposes of acquiring new expertise or critical background knowledge.
- Attendance at and/or presenting at a conference that represents a significant change in direction of scholarship is allowed.
- This program is not intended to support attendance at conferences that have been regularly attended by the applicant in the past.
- Preparation and submission of a grant proposal in response to a request for proposals from federal, state or private entities with an emphasis in STEM fields.
- Completion and submission of a research paper to a peer-reviewed journal, or completion of a creative work with an emphasis in STEM fields.
- Completion of a book with an emphasis in STEM fields.
- Research into teaching, assessment, and/or pedagogy with a goal of public dissemination of the results (e.g., the scholarship of teaching and learning)
- Travel to access specialized or unique resources (e.g., library special collections)
- Attendance at and/or presenting at relevant workshops or programs (e.g., on pedagogical innovations or on research techniques)
FEGs can be used to fund any of the following as long as the activity is intended to enhance scholarship and aligns with the strategic plan. Highest priorities are to support activities that directly impact scholarship.
- Equipment and supplies
- Workshop registration costs
- Travel – If permissible by MSU, travel can commence starting July 1, 2020 for Round 1 and January 1, 2020 for Round 2.
- Per diem
- Course buy-outs*, while they can be funded as FEGs, are not as high a priority for these grants.
*Course buy-outs will be for Fall 2020 and Spring 2021 only; funds cannot be used for summer salary. Course buy-outs are for tenure track faculty only. The cost of a course buy-out is the salary for someone to teach the course (rather than based upon the faculty member’s salary). This actual cost must be supported by a letter/note from an official in the department and included as part of the application packet. The level of support for the buy-out will be provided in the information from the college’s Dean. For further details on conditions for course buy-outs, contact Dean Adams, deanadams@montana.edu.
A small portion of the funding is reserved to strengthen the research programs of women faculty in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) disciplines and underrepresented areas of Social and Behavioral Sciences (SBS).
ROUND 1 FALL 2020 - CLOSED
Note: Funds transferred to departments in September 2020.
Submission from the Dean are due to the Center for Faculty Excellence (CFE@montana.edu) by 5:00 p.m., Thursday March 12, 2020.
ROUND 2 SPRING 2020
Note: Funds will be transferred to departments in December 2020.
Submission from the Dean are due to the Center for Faculty Excellence (CFE@montana.edu) by 5:00 p.m., Friday, November 6, 2020.
Dissemination and Reporting requirements.
Faculty who are successful in securing a FEG will be expected to
- submit a one-page statement of accomplishments to their Dean by
- February 1, 2021 for summer and fall semester 2020 awards and
- July 1, 2021 for spring semester 2021 awards.
- The Dean will evaluate the statement and notify the Director of the Center for Faculty Excellence of what was accomplished and whether the accomplishment was acceptable performance.
- NEW! Present the outcomes of their project as a poster at the 2021 Faculty Symposium held in September.