Faculty Excellence Grants

Call for Applications for 2021-2022

Provost Robert Mokwa, through the Center for Faculty Excellence, invites applications from 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.

Round 1 - Submitted in the spring: The call for proposals comes out in early February and proposals are due from Deans on March 12, 2021. Faculty will be notified by the beginning of May and the funding will begin in July 2021. These grants will need to be spent by June 30, 2022.
Round 2 - Submitted in the fall: The call for proposals comes out at the end of September and proposals will be due from the Deans on November 5, 2021. Faculty will be notified by early December and the funding will begin in December. These grants will need to be spent by June 30, 2022 (~6 months).

See past recipients

Detailed Guidelines

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.
Completion and submission of a research paper to a peer-reviewed journal, or completion of a creative work.
Completion of a book.
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 for tenure-track faculty will be for Fall 2021 and Spring 2022 only; funds cannot be used for summer salary. 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, [email protected].

Please note: Faculty that have received FEG funding in the last 2 years will be considered less of a priority.

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

Note: Funds transferred to departments in September 2021.

Submission from the Dean are due to the Center for Faculty Excellence ([email protected]) by 5:00 p.m., Friday March 12, 2021.

ROUND 2

Note: Funds will be transferred to departments in December 2021.

Submission from the Dean are due to the Center for Faculty Excellence ([email protected]) by 5:00 p.m., Friday, November 5, 2021.

Learn more about the submission process

Dissemination and Reporting requirements.

Faculty who are successful in securing a FEG will be expected to submit a one-page statement of accomplishment to their Dean

by July 1, 2022.

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.