Resources & Initiatives

Supporting the Strategic Plan for Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity
This page will list the sources of research support initiated by the Strategic Plan for Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity as more details become available to the A&S community.
See also: Strategic Planning - Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity in A&S and FAQ 

Flexibility in Teaching Scheduling 

Faculty identified increasing flexibility in teaching schedules as a potentially powerful way to support their research activities during the Arts & Sciences’ Strategic Research Planning initiative. We’ve worked with department leadership on a pilot program that enables faculty to redistribute teaching responsibilities across semesters to allow for intensive research, scholarship, and creative activities. This increased flexibility is intended to help faculty advance a significant project that would benefit from focused effort, and will be available to tenure-track faculty members no more than once every five years. It does not affect faculty service efforts and should not result in an overall reduction of curricular offerings.  
Like all matters of curricular scheduling, flexibility in teaching scheduling will be department-led and prioritize curricular needs. Each department will develop the criteria and procedures used to implement this pilot initiative. More information can be found here. 
Deadline: March 12, 2025, for Department submissions of teaching flexibility plans for the 2025-26 academic year. In future years, submissions will be timed to coincide with curricular planning.  
 

Enhanced Research Staff Support:  

Research Development 

We’ve hired two experienced staff members for Research Development. They will help faculty acquire sponsored program support, including advising faculty on funding opportunities, providing guidance to enhance proposal competitiveness, and working with the VPR’s office to facilitate development of complex proposals. Trish Dant will provide support for the Sciences, and Caitlin Charos for the Arts & Humanities and Social Sciences. 
 

Research Communication  

Russ Bahorsky’s position in the Arts & Science’s marketing team is now focused full-time on research communication. As many of you who have worked with Russ know, he does a terrific job developing pieces to announce and publicize successes in research, scholarship, and creative activities. If you have exciting news, please reach out to your Department Chair or Divisional Associate Dean who can let Russ know. 
 

Sciences Technical Staff 

Shared equipment enables faculty research programs to access resources and keep pace with change at a fraction of the cost. Arts & Sciences will contribute to the support of staff members who run and maintain shared equipment and facilities to encourage greater availability and affordability of shared resources. Typically, costs will be shared equally between the Dean’s office (1/3), departments (1/3) and users (1/3), recognizing that allocations may differ initially when the user base is being established. Please suggest ideas for jointly supported research staff with the Associate Dean for Research. 
 

Support for Developing and Executing Large-scale Grants 

Teaching release will be available for faculty members writing proposals for large-scale grants who don’t have an A&S Planning Grant. In recognition of the effort to establish new initiatives, teaching release may also be supported for faculty members with new center-scale or training grant funding. Reach out to the Associate Dean for Research to discuss possibilities. 
 

Expansion of Graduate Education in the Sciences 

Investment from the University’s Grand Challenges initiatives is increasing faculty numbers in several of the science departments. We are targeting graduate programs in these departments for growth as successful faculty recruitment requires a strong graduate program that has a surplus of students for new faculty members. Program growth is anticipated at 15 students/year for each of the next three years, resulting in an increase of ~50 students.  
 

Limited Travel Funds for the Sciences 

Funds will be available for conference travel for research-active tenure-track science faculty who do not have grant funds (or have modest funds). Calls for Travel Funds will occur twice a year, March and September, with $1,500 available annually per faculty member. Anticipate an announcement of the first call on February 15. Additional details can be found here. 
 

Sciences Research Infrastructure Upgrades 

The University’s Grand Challenges initiatives require increased capacity for animal research. Arts & Sciences is investing $500,000 in upgrades to our animal growth facilities to enable faculty recruiting and the growth of existing research programs. 

A&S Seed & Planning Grants Program – 2025 

Proposals DUE: January 15, 2025 at 5:00 pm 
 The A&S Seed & Planning Grants program is designed to enable new research projects, plan for externally supported centers, promote collaboration and increase sponsored research. There are two grant types, seed and planning. The program aims to enable faculty to undertake preliminary research needed for external proposals or plan for pursuit of major external funding opportunities such as center grants. Seed and Planning Grants will be awarded in the Sciences as well as in the Arts & Humanities and Social Sciences (A&H/SS). Awards will annually total approximately $750K for the Sciences and $80K for A&H/SS; the difference reflects the centrality of Annual Research Funds in supporting research activities in A&H/SS, while still encouraging the development of larger-scale, sponsored research activities in these areas.   
  • Seed Grants - Designed to enable faculty to undertake fundamental research, obtain pilot data, and leverage findings to secure external funding for research or creative activities. Successful proposals will have high potential for impact and concrete plans for pursuing subsequent extramural funding. Collaborative proposals are welcomed, particularly those involving new collaborations. 
    • Tenured/tenure track faculty with a primary appointment in A&S should serve as lead researcher or Project Investigator (PI); AGFM eligible as co-PIs.  
    • Funding requests may be up to $50K/project (Sciences) and $20K/project (A&H/SS).  
    • Project duration is 1 year with an interim report due in 6 months and a final report at year’s end. 
  • Planning Grants – Designed to allow time and resources for planning of institutional-scale projects, such as major center submissions. Projects should enable faculty to plan, assemble teams for, and write major center proposals. Planning grants should enable significant planning and preparation over the funded period. Example activities could include dedicated faculty time for planning meetings and proposal preparation, visiting and building relationships with collaborating institutions, and/or conducting research to obtain critical preliminary information.  
    • Planning grant proposals would typically include three or more faculty, and require the lead PI to have a primary appointment in A&S.  
    • Funding requests may be up to $75K/project.  
    • Project duration is 1 to 2 years with an interim report due mid-way through and a final report at the end of the grant.  

How to Apply

Annual research funding

All Tenure/Tenure-Track (T/TT) faculty in the Arts & Humanities and Social Sciences have access to $4,000 in annual research funding. 
  • Funds will be placed in individual accounts for each T/TT faculty member in these divisions annually and can be used for any activity related to research, scholarship, and creative activity. Accounts for jointly appointed faculty will be housed in their Primary Department. Address question about access and use of funds to Department Managers.
  • Annual research funds can be rolled over for one year, with a total allowable balance of $8,000 at year end. However, a balance of $8,000 cannot be maintained for multiple consecutive years. 

     

Dean's Research Fellows Program

The Dean’s Research Fellows program will recognize an annual cohort of exceptional mid-career scholars who are performing transformational research in their fields.  
  • Research Fellows will be recognized by receiving a salary supplement and additional research support. This is a limited-term program, with three cohorts of approximately six fellows each. 
  • Selection criteria include innovative and field-transforming research, scholarship or creative work, superb records of teaching, and strong records of service to departments, the university, and/or the broader field.  
  • The initial cohort is derived from the information collected in the A&S Promotion & Tenure process over the past several years. Future nominees will be identified by Divisional Associate Deans in consultation with departmental leadership and Promotion & Tenure and Peer Review information. 

     

Research Top-offs

T/TT faculty who receive significant and prestigious external research fellowships that cover some but not all of their salary are eligible for salary supplements, i.e. Top-offs. Top-off funds will be available following a review process. 
  • The updated top-off policy will apply to awards beginning in Fall 2025. More information about the updated policy on faculty top-offs can be found here.
  • (Professional Development Top-offs will be available to General Faculty who receive significant and prestigious external fellowships that support their professional development; again, these top-offs will be contingent on review. See policy)