Purpose
This grant was created to support professional development needs that are not eligible for coverage under the professional travel grants and that fall outside the timeline for Research, Scholarship, and Creativity Grants.
Process
Grant applications should be submitted via e-mail to Mark Pleiss in the Faculty Development Office. Applications received by the first of each month will be reviewed by the Faculty Development Committee. The committee will make a decision regarding whether to award each grant and communicate the decision to the applicant by the first working day of the following month. The money should be spent and receipts submitted to Mark Pleiss in the Faculty Development Office within 6 months.
Eligibility
All full-time faculty members are eligible to apply. Only one application per faculty member will be considered in any given year.
Projected Expenses
Each award will be for a maximum of $500. The funding may be used to pay for webinars, online courses, or professional travel not associated with conferences.
Faculty members may not use the money for any of the following purposes:
- A stipend for their time
- Conference attendance
- Memberships in professional organizations
- Journal subscriptions
- Projects primarily designed for course development
- Projects primarily designed to benefit students
CRITERIA FOR SELECTION
Money will be awarded each month until it runs out. If more applications are received in a particular month than there is money available, the faculty development committee will rank order the proposals based on the following criteria:
- The degree to which the use of the funding will contribute to the proposer’s professional development.
- The quality of the justification for the request for funding from this source.
Format for Applications
Please address your application to an interdisciplinary audience of your Simpson College colleagues, not to specialists in your field. Please submit your grant request to the faculty development office by the first of the month. The application should include the following:
- Describe the use for which funding is being sought. Include specific details such as travel and webinar dates.
- Explain how using the funding in this way will contribute to your own professional development.
- Provide a justification for your request for funding. For example, articulate the need for travel: why must you travel rather than contact someone over the phone or use an electronic database?
- Explain why you cannot apply for an RSC grant to cover this expense.
- Complete the budget for the project. The budget should be submitted using the standardized budget form on the next page.