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Deadline: Monday, February 26, 2024

• Faculty Mini-grant Program Application (Word)

Purpose

The ¾ÅÐãÖ±²¥ Faculty Mini-Grant Program provides awards up to $3,000 to encourage faculty to develop research, scholarly, or creative programs that provide the potential for sustained professional development and extramural support. Additionally, the program is intended to support faculty in areas that traditionally have difficulty securing funding to increase their research and scholarly activities output. Proposals to this program are encouraged from all five academic schools and Library.

Eligibility

Eligibility is limited to ¾ÅÐãÖ±²¥ employees only. Priority will be given to tenure and tenure-track faculty, but all faculty, researchers, scholars, and artists are encouraged to apply. Principal investigators (PIs) who have been awarded external funding (excluding start-up funds) totaling more than $100,000 since July 1, 2019 are not eligible. Also, if you have previously received a Mini Grant award, the outcome of that prior award may be considered in the evaluation of your application.

Types of Support

The Faculty Mini-Grant Program funds will be considered for items such as (but not limited to):

• Supplies and expenses necessary to complete the project (e.g., computers, equipment, software, payment to research subjects, etc).
• Domestic and international travel and other related expenses for field work, data collection, training, educational purposes and/or presentations on research, creative or scholarly activities directly related to the proposed project.
• Travel to conferences or other conference support if directly related to proposed work
• Consultant fee costs
• Stipends for research staff under certain conditions. Faculty stipends generally are not allowed but are reviewed on a case-by-case basis.

All requested support must be accompanied by a strong justification of how it would contribute to achievement of the purpose(s) of the project. Funds cannot be used for the following: classified staff salaries, publication of manuscripts, journal subscriptions, supplemental awards to existing projects, commercial licenses and/or memberships, or expenses incurred prior to the date of the award.

Terms and Conditions of Support

• Awards should benefit ¾ÅÐãÖ±²¥.
• Individual awards will be up to a maximum of $3,000; proposals for smaller amounts are encouraged and will be equally competitive.
• Appropriateness of the budget will be a significant factor in the selection process. Should the budget submitted to the URC be reduced during the course of conducting the research or project timeline, a revised scope of work/budget will be required of the PI.
• Protocols for human subjects, animals and/or biosafety activities do not need to be approved before the submission date, but must be reviewed and approved by the award start date.
• The awards will be funded for a 12-month period beginning May 1, 2024. Normally, a one-time only no-cost time extension request will be considered that has a strong justification.
• If the awardee leaves the university prior to the completion of the award, funding will be terminated.
• Awardees will be required to establish a measurable goal for evaluation by the URC. That is, what specifically will the awardee do with the money or the time, and how will it be determined that the project goal was met? Possibilities include: work on larger-scale federal agency proposal, write a book chapter, travel to collect data or build collaboration, conduct a pilot study, buy equipment for enhancing a lab, etc.

Review Process and Criteria

Complete applications will undergo preliminary review by Graduate Studies and Research, and then forwarded to the URC for evaluation before recommendations are provided to the Dean of Graduate Studies and Research. The URC recommendations will be based on the originality, creativity, scholarly and/or research significance of the proposed activities; its feasibility; availability of adequate facilities; appropriateness of the proposed project to the program’s purpose; appropriateness of the budget; and description of an evaluation plan or process. Proposals that have been judged to represent the beginning of a sound, significant, and long-term project and that have solid potential for significant external funding or portfolio development will be given highest priority.

Notification

Awards will be announced by early spring. Summaries of the URC reviewers’ comments for both awarded and denied proposals will be provided to the PIs per request.

Final Report

By accepting this award, the PI agrees to submit a final report to Graduate Studies and Research. This report will allow the university to evaluate the effectiveness of the program. The final report deadline is 12 months after the project period has ended. The report will document any publications, presentations, exhibitions, media coverage, sales or marketing, projects, papers, proposals/awards or other accomplishments that resulted from the Faculty Mini-Grant Program's original support. Subsequent Faculty Mini-Grant support is contingent upon receipt of all final reports from any prior Mini-Grant Awards.

Deadline

The deadline for 2024 Faculty Mini-grant applications is  Monday, February 26, 2024. Please forward all applications to Teri Herberger (HH261) at tlherberger@salisbury.edu.

Questions

If you have any questions concerning the application/guidelines, proposal or review process, please contact Teri Herberger, Director of Sponsored Programs, Graduate Studies and Research at 410-543-6066 or tlherberger@salisbury.edu.