CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT GRANT GUIDELINES

A. Curriculum Development Grants were established to support development of courses new to this campus or the university system or significant revisions to existing courses, which cannot be funded from existing divisional or departmental budgets. This grant may not be used for professional development or operating expenses of existing courses.

B. Grants: Up to $3,000 for one project requesting any combination of summer salary and expenses. The Committee must balance the demands of a large number of meritorious proposals against a rather limited amount of available funds.

C. Eligibility: Tenure or tenure-track faculty and appointed lecturers. Associate faculty may be participants in project but must have an eligible faculty member as project director. No proposal will be accepted from investigators who have an open Curriculum Development Grant at the time of application.

D. Deadlines: There will be two rounds for funding. Proposals are due at the Office of Research, Academic Affairs (sbres@iusb.edu) by 4:30 p.m. on 30 October 2009 and 26 February 2010.

E. How to Apply: A complete application will include:

1. Completed and signed Proposal Route Sheet

2. Proposal narrative answering the following questions:

a) What is the project intended to accomplish (objectives, significance)?

b) What activities/methods are planned to obtain the project's objective?

c) What qualifications do you bring to the position as grant director?

d) What previous IUSB curriculum grants have you received, what resulted from those projects?

3. Detailed budget and budget justification. Include all items necessary to complete the project, including but not limited to summer salary, audio/visual materials, equipment, and personnel assistance. Indicate budget costs supported by department/division or other sources. Travel rates and other items for budget consideration can be found online at http://www.iusb.edu/~sbres/research/Budget.html. Summer salary requests should be based on the salary rate in place at the time the proposal is submitted, and shall not exceed two months over the period of the grant. Include Fringe Benefits (22% of salary request) as a budget line item.

4. If your research involves human subjects you must include a copy of your IRB approval letter.

5. Two letters of support addressed to the Contracts & Grants Coordinator. Both letters may be from internal sources. One letter must be from the unit's director, dean, or chair indicating support, addressing the impact of the project on the unit's curriculum structure. This letter must explicitly note that this course is new to this campus or the university system or describe the ways in which this work is above and beyond departmental/divisional norms regarding course revisions. In the case that travel or equipment funds are requested, the letter should additionally address why this should not be supplied by the department or unit. Letters of support do not require original signatures but should be sent from the author's e-mail account.

6. Current curriculum vitae (electronic version preferred).

F. Format:

1. Electronic proposal submission is required (except for signed route sheet). Staff of the Office of Research (4181) are available to assist in proposal preparation.

2. Times, 12pt type, 1 inch margins, and page numbers are required.

3. It is recommended that the Project Narrative not exceed 5 pages.

4. It is recommended that the Curriculum Vitae not exceed 10 pages.

G. Decision Guidelines: Decisions by the Research & Development Committee will be made on consideration of the following:

1. Strength of applicant's proposal. Keep in mind that the committee is made up faculty members from different disciplines. You should write your proposal so that it can be understood by someone outside of your discipline.

a) Project's objectives are clearly articulated

b) Significance of project's objectives is clearly and convincingly articulated.

c) Method that will be used to address the objectives is clearly and convincingly articulated

d) Evidence that the resulting course is new to this campus or the university system or that the revision is significant in magnitude relative to departmental / divisional norms. It is incumbent upon the applicant to succinctly but clearly delineate both the relevant norms concerning revisions and how the proposal exceeds those norms (e.g., expansion of content; initiation of collaborative teaching methods).

2. Strength of supporting letters of recommendation. The committee attaches special importance to the letter from unit director, dean, or chair.

3. Faculty member's prior record of accomplishment.

4. No proposal will be accepted from investigators who have an open Curriculum Development Grant at the time of application.

H. Restrictions/Conditions:

1. Curriculum Development grants may be used to support the development of a course new to this campus or the university system OR a major revision to an existing course. Support is not provided for individuals preparing to teach courses already in the curriculum.

2. Proposals for development of online courses will only be considered for CDG support when accompanied by a letter of support from the Distance Learning Advisory Board indicating that they a) received and duly considered the same proposal for funding via their program, and b) consider the proposal to be of high merit, not funded by them only due to lack of resources in their budget.

3. Applicant must document having sought financial support from departmental / divisional / external sources and that sufficient funds are not available, even though the department or division fully supports the proposed curriculum development.

4. Any equipment requested (including books and other printed material) must be specifically for course development, not course implementation or general use. Material purchased with grant funds becomes the property of IUSB.

5. Faculty must not hold any teaching or other service-rendering appointments during a period for which they request summer salary support.

6. Faculty who receive summer support must continue at IUSB through the academic year following the summer of the grant. If the recipient does not remain at IUSB, the amount of the grant paid in salary must be repaid.

7. Grants will not ordinarily be made to fund attendance at professional conferences, unless the proposal demonstrates the conference's relevance to the curriculum development project. When requesting travel money, the applicant should clearly indicate that departmental and divisional resources have been pursued and are either not available or being used to partially fund the project.

8. When funding is obtained from other sources for projects also supported by these IUSB funds, the Curriculum Development grant may be reduced by an amount equal to the other funds provided, unless the application makes clear that different costs within the same project are involved.

9. Because some projects may yield royalties or other income to recipients of these grants, each applicant agrees, as a condition of the grant he or she may receive, to repay the University from such personal income whenever it exceeds $100 in any year. Each year that such income exceeds $100, the recipient is obligated to repay to the University one-half of the amount in excess of $100 until the grant is repaid.

10. Acknowledgment of the source of support should be included in any publication resulting from a project supported by these grants. Grant recipients are requested to provide the Office of Research with copies of publications or announcements of presentations or performances resulting from this grant

I. Notification of Action and Handling of the Grant Account:

1. Applicants will be notified by the Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs of the status of their proposal approximately three weeks after the deadline.

2. A grant must be expended within one year unless an extension is requested and approved by the Research & Development Committee or its designee.

3. Significant changes in project objectives, procedures, or budget cannot be undertaken without the approval of the Research & Development Committee or its designee.

4. A closing report must be sent to the Office of Research within one month of the account expiration date. Individuals who have not submitted a report on previous grants will not be eligible for future grants.

5. After the specified deadline unused funds will revert to a campus account.

6. These grants will normally terminate when their recipients' appointment at IUSB comes to an end.

Sample CDG proposals available at http://www.iusb.edu/~sbres/randd/samples.html

Updated: October 1, 2009

URL: http://www.iusb.edu/~sbres/randd/CDP.html
Comments: sbres@iusb.edu
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