Faculty Research Expense Grants
Under the Research Expense Grants (FRG) program, faculty members may request support for up to two years. In order to make FRC funds as widely available as possible, the committee will ensure that all viable one-year proposals are funded before considering proposals for longer periods. The committee also reserves the right to fully or partially fund requests of more than one year’s duration. Please note that awarding of the grant is contingent upon timely submission of reports from previous FRC awards. Of particular interest to the committee are those proposals that serve to enhance the potential for faculty members to compete for external support for the continuation and development of their scholarly work.
Awards provide for reimbursement of a wide range of research costs. Examples of such costs include: expenses for travel necessary to perform the research or to visit archives; library and archive fees; materials and supplies; student assistance and other types of research assistance (e.g., translators, transcription services), acquisition of materials and certain types of equipment.
Costs that are not covered by Research Expense Grants include the purchase of capital equipment (capital equipment is any equipment valued at more than $5,000); publication preparation charges, such as indexing and page charges (these are covered by the Completion Grants); meals during travel; and travel to scholarly meetings—including travel to present research results (these are covered by travel funds from the Dean of Faculty’s Office). Faculty Research Committee awards may not be used for course buyouts.
The Faculty Research Committee will review proposals for the Research Expense Grant Program under two deadlines each year, one fall and one spring. The FRC requires that all proposals be submitted in full (including the budget form and any supplemental materials) via the online FRG proposal form on or before the day of the deadline. Late applications will not be considered.
PROPOSAL DEADLINES: October 24, 2023 (fall) and February 13, 2024 (spring)
AWARD NOTIFICATION: early December (fall) and mid-March (spring)
Click here for Grant Proposal Guidelines and click here for the online FRG proposal form.
Questions about Faculty Research Expense Grants should be directed to Faculty Research Committee Interim Chair Shane Ewegen.
Expense Grant Information
All tenured and tenure-track Faculty members and full-time non-tenure-track faculty whose employment contract extends through the grant period are eligible to apply. Please note that priority is given to tenured and tenure-track faculty who are employed full time. Funding is contingent on the recipient’s continued employment at the College during the period of the grant.
Ordinarily, grant periods will begin June 1. However, grants may begin as early as January 1, for awards made in fall, with permission from the associate dean for faculty development.
Proposals for Faculty Research Expense Grants will be judged on:
- the clarity of the proposal
- the coherence of the objectives
- the clarity of the methods of research
- the persuasiveness of the case made concerning the significance of the research
- the likelihood that the objectives can be achieved during the funding period
- the likelihood that the support will have fruitful results
- the likelihood that the proposed work will further the applicant’s scholarly program
- the justification for the budget in relation to the project
- the applicant’s history of receiving College funds
Decisions will be based solely on the written applications submitted to the committee. Because the committee expects to receive more deserving applications than it can fund, preference may be given to those who have not received internal funding in the recent past or do not have access to alternative internal funding sources.
The Faculty Research Committee has members representing each of the four divisions. Each proposal is read and judged by all members of the committee (six faculty members and the associate dean of faculty development). It is, therefore, imperative that proposals be written in language that can be readily understood by faculty members who are not specialists in the applicant’s field. Particular care should be given to avoid jargon and technical language; if the use of such language is unavoidable, it should be accompanied by a clear explanation.
Grant recipients must submit a final report of the work undertaken during the grant period to Mark Hughes, associate director of grants and fellowships by October 1 following the conclusion of the grant period. Faculty members holding multiyear grants must provide an interim progress report by October 1 in each year of an active grant. Failure to submit this report may impact future funding.
Click here for a list of previously funded proposals.
