Faculty-Student Summer Collaboration Grants

Call for Faculty-Student Summer Collaboration Proposals

2017-2018 Academic Year

Due: Monday, February 20th 2017

The Faculty Development Committee (FDC), in cooperation with the Center for Scholarship and Teaching (CST), is pleased to offer stipends to support faculty-student collaborative summer research projects or creative projects. Grants are designed to support high-quality proposals that require substantial time and clearly meet the criteria outlined on the following page. 

The faculty-student collaborative team must consist of a full-time Elmhurst College faculty member collaborating with a student who has a clear commitment to the proposed project.  Generally, we expect students to meet the following criteria (though a case may be made for students in other situations):  The student:

• has at least a 3.4 grade point average,
• has held full-time student status at EC for at least 2 semesters,
• will have Junior or Senior class standing by Summer 2016, and
• intends to continue as a full-time EC student in Fall 2017.

The maximum grant is $6000.  $3000 is designated for a student stipend, and the remaining $3000 may be allocated to faculty stipend or other research costs.  To receive a full stipend ($3000), a student collaborator is expected to participate in the project for the equivalent of six to eight weeks of full-time effort. If this is not possible because of other commitments, participation at, for example, a 50% level with a reduced stipend ($1500) is also possible.  Although students are not paid hourly, consider 250 hours as a reasonable guideline for the student's time commitment. 

Proposals for less than the maximum grant amount are also allowed.  At least 50% of the funding requested should be designated for a student stipend. 

Proposals involving more than one student will also be considered, but the total funds should not exceed the total allotted for an individual grant.   For example, a faculty collaborator may wish to have two students working part time for a stipend of $1500 for each student.  

Awarded stipends will normally be available for Summer 2017. Faculty members who receive one of these stipends are not permitted to teach courses during the summer. Exceptions to this requirement must be approved by the Dean of the Faculty and the faculty member’s Chairperson.

Applicants should communicate the truly collaborative nature of the proposed project. An essential requirement is that the proposal demonstrates a significant impact on the scholarship or creative work of the faculty member and on the academic or professional development of the student. Successful applicants will be required to submit a short progress report one year following the grant award.

Successful applicants are expected to share the outcomes of their work with the wider college community at a Faculty Research Forum and the Student Research and Performance Showcase.  Presentations at conferences and other appropriate venues are encouraged. Presentation of the work to the Board of Trustees or to prospective students and their families may also be requested.

Proposals for work using human subjects must have applications submitted to the Institutional Review Board (IRB) at the time of submission of the grant application. This is in place to ensure that the IRB process has time to be completed and the project receives IRB approval prior to the dispersal of funds. IRB forms can be obtained from the IRB web site: http://public.elmhurst.edu/academics/irb . I encourage you to speak with Ruying Ding, Chairperson of the IRB, regarding the IRB process.  Please note this also applies to surveys and interviews with human subjects.

We welcome preliminary contact while proposals are being developed and will be happy to answer any questions. Inquiries should be directed to the Director of the Center for Scholarship and Teaching, Kimberly Lawler-Sagarin ( ksagarin [at] elmhurst [dot] edu or ext. 3202), or any other Committee member.

Full-time faculty members and their student collaborators who wish to apply for these stipends should submit a proposal in which the topics outlined on the following page are addressed in a clear and complete fashion.

Eligibility: Members of the 2016-2018 full-time faculty are eligible.  Faculty and student(s) must be planning to return for Fall 2017.

Faculty who wish to apply for one of these research grants should write a proposal in which the topics outlined on the following page are addressed in a clear and complete fashion. 

The completed proposal should be submitted electronically as one single pdf file to Brittany Ruiz, the Administrative Assistant for the Center for Scholarship and Teaching, (brittany.ruiz@elmhurst.edu).

Completed proposals are due no later than Monday, February 20th, 2017.

To apply, see the guidelines on the following page.