Funding Opportunities

LES Pedagogical Development Funds

The Learning Enhancement Service has a small fund of money to support development and strengthening of pedagogical skills. Grants may be used to help faculty attend conferences, meetings and workshops* that focus on pedagogy, to support on-campus initiatives that will focus on development of pedagogical skills or to bring experts in pedagogy to campus for presentations.  Approximately half of the LES budget for grants is specifically earmarked for support of multicultural initiatives.

In order to maximize the campus benefit from these funds, any faculty member who receives a grant to attend an off campus event will be required to share the knowledge gained or skills developed with an on-campus audience.  These venues could include a general LES sponsored forum or a meeting or workshop with a specific group of faculty.  Those receiving funding are expected to file a brief report on the effectiveness of and expected outcomes from the activity.

Procedure:

1.  An applicant should submit a formal written request to the LES Office electronically which includes:

a. details of the proposed development activity including the name, sponsor and theme of the conference, meeting or workshop that the applicant wishes to attend or details of a proposed on-campus activity the applicant wants to organize or description/vita of a speaker the applicant wants to bring to campus;

b.  a statement about the ways the proposed activity will help develop, diversify or strengthen your pedagogical skills or in the case of an on-campus workshop or speaker, the pedagogical benefits for a wider group of faculty;

c.  a budget for the activity;

d.  for  attendance at off campus events, a specific proposal for sharing your learning with the campus community;

e.  name of  applicant’s department or program chair. LES will provide an electronic evaluation form to department or program chairs for each proposal received.

2.  Applications received by the last day of the calendar month will be acted upon and notification sent to applicant within five (5) business days.

3.  In order to provide a fair opportunity for all faculty members to access funding, grants will generally be capped at $500.  Proposals which provide benefit to a larger group of faculty such as an on-campus activity will be eligible for larger grants of up to $800.  If a request cannot be fully funded upon initial application, any unmet need will be carried forward into the next month’s review of applications and may receive funding then if it appears there are sufficient resources to cover both new requests and prior unmet needs.  The LES director will work with faculty members to help identify other funding sources if LES cannot meet a request in total.

4.  An applicant can receive a maximum of $1000 of LES funding in any fiscal year.

5.  LES funding may provide a supplement to other sources of funding.  For example, a faculty member attending a conference which includes the opportunity for pedagogical development may supplement funding from department, division and FDRC to close a funding gap.  Such requests should provide the same information as a primary request directly to the LES.

6.  Requests made to FDRC for funding during the fall and spring semester funding rounds which also have pedagogical improvement goals may be simultaneously submitted to LES along with a supplement that addresses 1. b & d above.  The LES director will coordinate such funding requests with FDRC in an effort to fully meet need.

 

*For a partial listing of pedgogical conferences, meetings, or workshops go to Conference Opportunities.