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Founders Endowment funding is provided through the Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs. The application and review process is conducted by the ad hoc Research Advisory Committee (RAC) of the UWT Faculty Assembly.
This year, the EVCAA has provided $40,000 worth of funds from the Founders Endowment to support faculty scholarship needs to start a project, continue a project, or complete a project. This year there are four main areas of activity identified by RAC for the 2024-25 funding cycle, with one grant of $10,000 awarded per scholarly theme. Project funds must be expended between 1 June 2024 – 31 May 2025. Applications are due 25 March 2024 11:59 pm PST.
Overview
Now in its fifth year of operation, the ad hoc Research Advisory Committee (RAC) of the UWT Faculty Assembly calls for applications for funding of scholarship (broadly conceived) from all academic ranks (assistant, associate, and full) as well as the two main types of full-time faculty appointment (tenure-track and teaching). This year, the EVCAA has provided $40,000 worth of funds from the Founders Endowment to support faculty scholarship needs to start a project, continue a project, or complete a project.
This year, we are increasing the award amount so that replacement instructors may be hired to allow for course releases, or faculty summer salaries (and associated benefits) can be included in proposed budgets. See the Budget Guidance section below for additional information.
Four of the main areas of activity identified by RAC for the 2022-23 funding cycle will be repeated this year, with one grant of $10,000 awarded per scholarly theme. Rather than being considered as a theme itself, interdisciplinarity will be considered in a section of the project description. Not all projects need to be interdisciplinary in nature, but interdisciplinarity is considered a strength. Project funds must be expended between 1 June 2024 – 31 May 2025. The four thematic areas are:
Humanities & Creative Works (1 award) - scholarship and related creative works in the areas of ancient and modern languages, literature, philosophy, religion, and audio and/or visual works, public art, and performing arts such as music and theatre.
STEM (1 award) - scholarship that advances fundamental understanding or practical applications in areas of natural or physical sciences, engineering, computer science, or mathematics.
Social Justice and Equity (1 award) - scholarship that centers on decolonial, antiracist, and/or social justice research and praxis. These should be community centered, collaborative, and inclusive in their approach and practices. Intersectional considerations are also considered strengths.
Social Sciences (1 award) - scholarship that uses qualitative and/or quantitative methods to better understand and predict human behavior, conditions, learning, or experience within individual, small group and/or larger society contexts.
RAC notes that UWT’s strategic plan for 2022-27 continues our focus on Scholarship. This includes the expansion and support of a broad range of teaching, research and creative innovation focused on the challenging problems of our time and place. Funds from the Founders Endowment to support faculty research, scholarship, and creative works specifically addresses this broad theme while also highlighting the importance of Goal 5, which calls for UWT to become “a national leader in community-engaged research, scholarship and teaching.”
All academic ranks (assistant, associate, and full) as well as the two main types of full-time faculty appointment (tenure-track and teaching) are eligible to apply.
PROPOSAL PROCESS – TIMELINE
Funding Opportunity announced to campus Late January/Early February 2024
Full proposals due by 25 March 2024 midnight
Review Committee meetings April 2024
Funding approval by EVCAA end of April 2024
Review/Award letters to applicants May 2024
Project Start Date 1 June 2024
Project End Date 31 May 2025
Project Report Due 30 June 2025
PROPOSAL
Please fill out the Qualtrics Founders Endowment Research Funds Application at https://uwt.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_eRJAQ8IHYJgLXgy by Monday 25 March 2024 at midnight (11:59 pm) PDT.
Contact Cheryl Greengrove cgreen@uw.edu if you have questions.
BUDGET GUIDANCE
Total budgets for proposed work cannot exceed $10,000.
- Summer salary
UW rules state that summer salary for faculty on 9-month appointments should not exceed 2.5 months total from all funding sources. - Replacement salary
The applicant may request replacement salary to hire an instructor to teach a course in the applicant’s teaching load during the academic year (course release). The budget should reflect the actual cost of hiring a replacement (salary plus benefits), not the PI’s salary. When requesting replacement salary, applicants must include a copy of an email from their Dean (or Dean’s designee) clearly stating that the course release has been approved and the replacement cost. Deans’ offices will have information about the cost of replacement. - Student salary
Graduate Student Researchers can be paid hourly only during Summer Quarter. Undergraduate students can be paid hourly any time during the year. Current rates can be found here: https://hr.uw.edu/comp/student-employees/ - Benefits
Current benefit rates can be found here: https://www.washington.edu/research/institutional-facts-and-rates/#benefit-rates
REVIEW CRITERIA
Applications will be reviewed using a rubric based directly on the Proposal Components. In particular, the rubric will weigh applications for projects that are well-defined, fit with the stated Theme, and are from applicants with a clear need for Endowment funding.
Because reviewers may not be specialists in the applicant’s subfield, applicants should craft proposals so that researchers from a wider audience may understand it. Although technical field-specific information will be expected, the major features of the proposal should also be accessible to non-specialists.
REVIEW PROCESS
Applications will be reviewed by the Research Advisory Committee. The committee will evaluate and rank proposals under each Theme using a scoring rubric based on the criteria listed above. The committee will make their final recommendations for funding to the EVCAA based on the quality of the proposals and will indicate the following: rubric scores; prioritized list of those proposals recommended for funding; bulleted list of strengths and weaknesses for each proposal. Regardless of funding, the Office of Research will provide each applicant with a summary of the committee’s feedback after the awards are announced.
REQUIREMENTS OF RECEIVING AN AWARD
- 2-page final report that summarizes project accomplishment funded by the award will be due by 30 June in the year that the award cycle is completed.
- Campus Presentations - Recipients of the Endowment Award will present their accomplishments at a meeting organized by the Office of Research.
- Any community partnerships that are part of the research must be entered into the Office of Community Partnerships database prior to the completion of the project.
TERMS AND CONDITIONS
UW Tacoma Endowment grants are subject to the following terms and conditions:
- All UW grant funding, expenditure and purchasing policies apply.
- If a funded project entails any compliance issues, such as those relating to IRB, EHS, hazardous material, and so forth, the grant recipient must certify that they will make the appropriate UW compliance offices aware of the proposed activities and obtain any necessary approvals before initiating any work. Spending funds for items relating to animal subjects or human subjects is not allowable until approvals are received.
- Treatment of intellectual property will accord with UW policy.
- Awarded funds must be spent by 31 May, 12 months after the initial start of funding for the award. Any unspent funds as of that date must be returned to the Endowment parent fund.
- Barring exceptional circumstances, there will be no extensions in the term of a grant.
- The expectation is that the successful applicants will share news of the investment and the results with both the campus community and externally to attract potential sponsors, students and collaborators.
- This program is subject to the availability of funds on an annual basis. The program will be evaluated by the Research Advisory Committee to determine if the overarching goal is met.
- The EVCAA reserves the right to modify aspects of the grant guidelines as needed.
