During this third round of grant awards, faculty were invited to compete for funds to undertake a project that would promote high academic achievement among all students with a focus on promoting success and satisfaction among students of color.  Faculty members, teaching in all disciplines, submitted proposals that focused on pedagogy and on enhancing the faculty’s role in promoting student success.  Both individuals and groups submitted.  Applicants were called upon to direct their projects at how we teach, or how we engage our colleagues in thinking about how we teach, rather than what we teach. This could involve pedagogical improvements to courses, what types of creative applications of faculty mentoring workshops were proposed, and what other efforts would enhance the faculty’s role in promoting student success. 

 
EXAMPLES of past awards include: 
 

·                      Best Practices for Advancing Diverse Students & Faculty  
                                 Seminar series for faculty focusing on teaching, advising, and
                                 mentoring in the sciences.


                         Eliminating Stereotype Threat Through Best Practices
                                Development of an online resource of research-based strategies to
                                reduce stereotype threat and boost student achievement

·        
              The Personal Narratives of Minority Women in Higher Education
                               A study of the dynamic between student and professor, including
                               documentation of minority student experiences in the form of
                               qualitative assessment and personal narrative

·        
              A Program for Student Research on Race, Ethnicity, and Urban Affairs
                               Promoting high academic achievement in research projects among
                               students of color, increasing the number of students engaged in researching
                               the fields of race, ethnicity and urban affairs

·        
              Critical Moments for Undergraduates in Pre-Medical Courses
                              Research on why students abandon pre-med preparation and what
                              works for them when they succeed

·        
              Access to the Economics Major for Women and Students of Color
                 Identify through surveys factors which will make the major more
                 accessible to underrepresented students        

 

Eligibility: All faculty members at CHAS institutions are eligible.

Deadline: The proposal deadline was JUNE 6, 2008, and another round of grants will be announced in 2009.

Award: A maximum award of $6500 was provided of which up to $3000 may be taken as stipends based on the budget submitted with the proposal. 

Instructions:  Each application, which could be no more than 2-3 pages, should include the following information:

1. A brief description of your project and its potential to effect institutional change and to promote student success and satisfaction
2. A budget, budget justification, and timeline for completion of the project.
3. A brief summary of your background in promoting student success and satisfaction and how this project relates to other efforts to promote high achievement among all students on your campus with special emphasis on students of color. 
4. Your commitment to share the project outcomes with the larger CHAS community including presentation at a meeting to be scheduled by CHAS.
5. An endorsement letter from the Chief Academic Officer.

All materials should be submitted by email to Patti Maisch patricia.maisch@trincoll.edu

The RFP was prepared and the submissions were reviewed by a committee consisting of:

Pamela Baker, PhD., Associate Dean of Faculty, Bates College
Elizabeth Boylan, PhD., Provost and Dean of the Faculty, Barnard College
Gretchel Hathaway Tyson, PhD., Director of Affirmative Action and Community Outreach, Union College
Adele J. Wolfson, PhD., Associate Dean of the College, Wellesley College