Faculty Research Grants

The Academic Affairs Small Grants Program at Georgia College is intended to provide small grants to support faculty scholarship and creative endeavors. The expectation is that the Academic Affairs Small Grant supported projects will lead to faculty publications or public performances and exhibitions of creative works and applications for external grant support.

Please read the following guidelines carefully before submitting your proposal. Key points to remember:

• There are 3 categories of Academic Affairs Small Grants.
  • Faculty Research: traditional subject research
  • Creative Endeavors: to support creative projects
  • Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
• proposals should not exceed $5,000. Proposals exceeding $5,000 will not be considered.
• IRB approval, if required, must be received prior to submitting a proposal. If your project is still under IRB review by the proposal deadline, include a copy of the IRB submission confirmation. Otherwise, without this, proposals will not be considered.

Proposals are accepted in the fall and spring of each year. All proposals should be submitted using the Academic Affairs Small Grants Program Course —» Assignment Upload in GeorgiaView.

Funds from awards received from Round I (fall term) must be expended by May 1 of the academic year of the award. Awards from this round are funded through state and foundation funds, which do not carry over from one fiscal year to another. If you cannot expend any funds awarded by this deadline, please wait until Round II (spring term) to apply.

 Funds from awards received during Round II must be expended by November 1 of the calendar year of the award.

What the grant covers

• Personal Services
  • Payment for student workers who are directly involved in the research and dissemination process. When hiring students, you will need to complete a student personnel action form for each student hire.
  • Stipend paid directly to a faculty member for services that support research. The faculty cannot be a part of the research team, PI/CoPI.
  • Honorariums/Speaker Fees

• Travel
  • Travel expenses directly related to the research project. Although funds can be applied for conference attendance where the grantee will present findings directly related to the research project, only $500 of the total grant can be applied for that purpose. Furthermore, proposals that include requests for funds for travel to conferences are given a lower priority than proposals that include requests for funds needed to conduct research.
• Supplies and Materials
  • Materials and supplies needed to conduct the research.
• Equipment
  • Equipment needed to conduct the research.
• Other Expenses
  • Transcription and translation services may be covered. The review committee considers such on a case-by-case basis and the applicant should make a strong case for why such services are not available from campus services.

What the grant does not cover

• Requests for faculty release time and/or stipends paid directly to a faculty member to support research.
• Travel to professional conferences unless applicant is presenting findings related to the funded research project.
• Travel for student workers supported by the grant. This includes travel to research sites and conferences.
• Hardware and software purchases when comparable hardware/software is available through Georgia College.
• Funding for non-Georgia College faculty who are participating in the project.

What to Include in a Grant Proposal

All proposals must include the following information: (Please review the general guidelines and rubrics for the appropriate application type prior to preparing your proposal.)

• Faculty Research Application and Rubric
• Creative Endeavour Application and Rubric
• Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Application and Rubric

Other Guidelines

If applicants are requesting funding for information technology hardware or software, they should first obtain a price quote from techquote@gcsu.edu and include the quote as part of the budget narrative. Applicants should also review the IT purchasing policy at http://www.gcsu.edu/technology/ITprocedures.

Faculty members may receive only one faculty research grant per year, regardless of whether the applicant is the primary or a secondary investigator. Faculty must sit out for one year after submitting the final report before applying for another Academic Affairs Small Grant.

Teams of faculty who collaborate on projects may apply for funding, but for travel-related expenses, priority is given to the principal investigator.

Proposals to fund attendance at a conference will only be considered where a paper has been accepted and the faculty member will complete the travel during the time the money will be allocated. Proposals that include requests for funds for travel to conferences are given a lower priority than proposals that that include requests for funds needed to conduct research.

Proposals that indicate that an attempt to utilize resources across the campus or with others will receive more favorable rankings.

Funding will not be awarded to any faculty members who have not reported the progress or outcomes and dissemination of their projects from previous allocations. Submission of a final report is required, and one should not apply for another faculty research grant before closing, through submission of the required final report, any previous faculty research grants received. Faculty members should submit their final reports to the Center for Teaching and Learning and OGSP.

Applicants should also note that, due to limited resources, their proposed project may be funded partially and they may wish to prioritize the items in their request with this in mind. Attempts to be cost-effective in accomplishing the goals of the research will be recognized.

Priority will be given to projects that involve students in the research and dissemination process. In cases of faculty/student research proposals, positive consideration will be given to proposals that clearly specify how the project contributes to the professional development of the faculty member.

All other things being equal, a proposal from a new faculty member (less than two years) who has not received funds in the past, will receive preferential consideration.

Positive consideration will be given to those who have not received funding within the last two (2) years.

Only proposals from full-time faculty, permanent or limited-term, will be considered, with priority generally given to permanent faculty. If funds are available, proposals from temporary faculty will be carefully reviewed to be sure the money is spent in a way beneficial to the University.

All proposals from eligible faculty members will go through a competitive review process by the faculty research grants committee. The committee will recommend awards to the Provost/Vice President of Academic Affairs, who will make the final approval of any award and provide notification to recipients.

Proposals that indicate (in the Probability of Project Leading to Outside Funding section) that the request is "seed money" for larger, future grants will receive positive consideration.

Faculty Research Grant Proposal Checklist

___ Proposal is ≤ $5,000.

___ IRB/Animal Subjects approval submitted (if necessary) and documentation included.

___ Proposal does not request funding for

• Release time or stipend for researcher;
• Travel support to attend professional conferences (unless there is a presentation on the funded project);
• >$500 for travel support to attend a professional conference to present research;
• Travel support for student workers;
• Hardware or software when comparable is available through Georgia College;
• Stipends for non-Georgia College faculty.