General Information and Guidelines

Lock Haven University Annual Campus Grants are open to all full-time tenure-track faculty and full-time professional staff and administrators.  These are University funds not negotiated contract funds.  All proposals will be reviewed by the Faculty Professional Development Committee and recommendations made to the Vice President for Academic Affairs.

A. The following five criteria apply to all proposals submitted under the Lock Haven University Annual  Campus Grants Program.

1.   Significance and impact of the proposed project and its projected outcome(s) in relation to the purpose of the Request -for-Proposals category.

2.   Potential professional development benefits to be realized by faculty member(s) involved in terms of their particular professional objectives and stages of career development.

3.   Feasibility of realizing the project's objectives, given faculty member's training and experience, available expertise, financial resources, and proposed timeline.

4.   Clarity, completeness, and reasonableness of the proposal and the budget request, including adherence to these guidelines.

5.   Appropriateness for University funding, considering the nature of the project, items for which grant funding is requested, especially travel expenses, and the probable availability (or lack thereof) of other funding sources.

B. Only proposals that are in conformance with the guidelines and stipulations provided here will be considered.  In addition to fulfilling the requirements of a particular RFP, all proposals must adhere to the following guidelines:

1.  Title Page Format - The format on Application should be followed
                        Annual Campus Grants Proposal Application

2.   Project Budget - The format on the Application should be followed (see link above).  The project budget must include all anticipated expenses and revenue with breakdowns of subtotals explained in the budget notes.  Applicants are expected to exercise prudence and request funds only for essential costs that cannot be covered in any other manner.  The total grant amount requested is not to exceed $1500.  Requests for faculty stipends will not be considered in this grant program.

a. Equipment and Supplies - As a general rule, requests for equipment and supplies should be limited to project-specific items.  Strong justification will be required for requests for equipment, the life and usefulness of which can be expected to extend well beyond the project for which it is requested.  Any equipment purchased with grant monies will belong to the department.

b. Travel - Estimates of travel expenses included in project budgets should conform to state travel guidelines.  Funding requested to cover the costs of extended stays (more than one week) in another location should not include food costs (unless they are included in a seminar or institute "package" price).

c. Student Wages - Funding requests for the student hourly wages that exceed the minimum wage must include justification in terms of university policy and/or the nature of the work to be performed by students.  Lump sum requests for compensation for students must be accompanied by an indication of the anticipated number of hours that the student(s) will work.

PROPOSAL CHECKLIST

Grant proposals should be no more than five pages, single-spaced, including the title page and budget summary.  Where called for, faculty vitae may be appended; however, such vitae should summarize the information pertinent to the proposal and not exceed two pages.

Although some RFP's call for additional information, the following items must be included in all grant proposals:

____  1. Title page  (use format on page 6)  Signatures acknowledging proposals are required from department chairpersons prior to submission to the Faculty Professional Development Committee.

____  2. Body  (three pages)

a.   b.   c.   d.

Rationale, i.e.; need for and significance of the proposed project. Narrative description of objectives, methodology, proposed activities, and timeline. Expected outcomes, including but not limited to impact on faculty development, and means of evaluation and/or dissemination. Statement of willingness to share information about or outcomes of the project with other faculty at LHU and other System universities

____  3. Project budget  (use format on page 7)

DEADLINE -- The proposal should be submitted to the Chairperson of the Faculty Professional Development Committee by the following deadline.

Note: We encourage you to have your proposal prescreened (content, format, etc.) by a member of the FPDC prior to the deadline.

Receipt of an Annual Campus Grant obligates a faculty member to submit a brief written report within a year of the award describing how funds were utilized and the outcomes of the project.  If a final report is not submitted, the faculty member will not be eligible for any further grant funds provided by the LHU Faculty Professional Development Committee until the report is received.

Categories

Note:  The General Information and Guidelines apply to all of the following RFP's.

CATEGORY 1  -  SCHOLARLY RESEARCH

Purpose:  To promote and support faculty research projects in all disciplines where that research is intended to produce faculty development and result in an appropriate presentation, demonstration, exhibition, publication, and/or grant proposal.

Special Stipulations:

1.   Awards will be made on the basis of the significance of the project proposed, its proposals should include some indication of the faculty member(s)' relevant expertise (which may be provided by appended summary vitae - no more than two pages per faculty member); if the proposed research represents a new area of interest, that fact should be noted with whatever elaboration seems appropriate.

2.   If the proposal involves students in first-hand scholarly research experience, the proposal should include an explanation of how students will be selected and how they will work with faculty in the research and in the dissemination of its outcomes.

3.   Applied research and public service projects which will produce faculty professional development may also be submitted in this category.  Applied research is defined as research that has the potential for useful application beyond the scholarly community.  Projects may involve or result in presentations, exhibitions, scholarly publications, reports to appropriate public agencies or other organizations, grant proposals to external agencies, and/or some other recognized form of dissemination for scholarly work in the particular field.

CATEGORY 2  -  THE CREATIVE AND THE PERFORMING ARTS

   
Purpose: To support those activities in the creative and the performing arts with demonstrated relevance for professional development.

                     Special Stipulations:
1.   Projects are expected to result in juried presentations or exhibitions, public performance, publications, or some other recognized form appropriate to the particular field.
2.   Proposals should include some indication of the faculty member(s)' relevant expertise (which may be provided by appended summary vitae); if the proposed area of activity represents a new interest, that fact should be noted with whatever elaboration seems appropriate.

CATEGORY 3  -  IMPROVEMENT OF TEACHING AND LEARNING

  
Purpose:  To enhance student learning through faculty training in, experimentation with, and/or adoption of alternative or innovative teaching strategies.

Special Stipulations:

1.   Individual faculty members, teams of faculty/students, academic departments or colleges, interdisciplinary programs, or university committees may submit proposals in this category.
2.   Projects to be funded in this category must be designed to have a direct impact on teaching and learning within a particular course, a sequence of courses, or across-the-curriculum.  Following are some examples of activities that would be considered appropriate:
-- Utilization of an external consultant with expertise in teaching and learning to work with faculty on improving particular aspects of instruction.
-- Development of informal seminars or on-going discussion groups for interested faculty from different departments on effective teaching strategies.
-- Classroom research projects designed to test particular approaches to teaching and/or assessment.
-- Development of media or materials intended to improve instruction, e.g., videotapes, software, etc.
-- Projects designed to integrate course sequences with instruction, to adapt instructional techniques to curricular goals, and/or to develop assessment instruments to determine the relationship between teaching goals and learning outcomes.
-- Development of innovative co-curricular or field-based learning experiences to enrich or expand classroom activities.
-- Attend workshops or short courses which will lead to experimentation with alternative teaching strategies, enrichment of courses, or development of new courses.  This is not intended to fund attendance at brief workshops (day or less) that are part of a larger conference or to present at a conference. (Note:  This applies only to workshops and short courses that will not be used towards completion of an advanced degree.)
3.   Requests for equipment and materials will be considered only if the items requested are essential to the project and not normally available at the University.  Projects involving purchase or rental of films, videotapes, other media aids, or software will not be considered unless these items form part of a broader innovation in teaching strategy.
4.   Preference will be given to projects that show promise of having lasting positive impact on classroom teaching and student learning and that are designed to benefit a significant number of students over time.  Proposals should address the matters of evaluation, follow-up and anticipated impact.

5.   Applicants seeking fund to travel must clearly articulate why travel is essential to the  proposed project. Travel to professional conferences to present or to attend short workshops will generally not be funded.

-- This is not intended as an alternative avenue to secure funding to attend conferences or workshops that would typically be funded as a FPDC travel grant (Financial Support for Professional Presentation).
 

CATEGORY 4  -  FACULTY ENHANCEMENT

Purpose: To assist faculty in research which will be used in their teaching.

Special Stipulations:
1.   We will not support workshops for certification credit or licensure.
2.   Projects to be funded in this category must be designed to have a direct impact on teaching and learning within a particular course (new or revision of existing course), a sequence of courses, or across-the-curriculum.  Following are some examples of activities that would be considered appropriate:
-- Attend workshops or short courses which will lead to enrichment of courses, or development of course material.  This is not intended to fund attendance at brief workshops (day or less) that are part of a larger conference or to present at a conference. (Note:  This applies only to workshops and short courses which will not be used towards completion of an advanced degree.)
-- Travel to libraries or specialized research facilities to gather information for generating/revising lecture and/or laboratory material.
-- Utilization of an external consultant to work with faculty on improving particular areas in curriculum (departmental projects or a set of related courses).
3.   Requests for equipment and materials will be considered only if the items requested are essential to the project and not normally available at the University.  Projects involving purchase or rental of films, videotapes, other media aids, or software will not be considered unless these items form part of a broader innovation in teaching strategy.
4.   Preference will be given to projects that show promise of having lasting positive impact on classroom teaching and student learning and that are designed to benefit a significant number of students over time.  Proposals should address the matters of evaluation, follow-up and anticipated impact.

5.   Applicants seeking fund to travel must clearly articulate why travel is essential to the  proposed project. Travel to professional conferences to present or to attend short workshops will generally not be funded.

-- This is not intended as an alternative avenue to secure funding to attend conferences or workshops that would typically be funded as a FPDC travel grant (Financial Support for Professional Presentation).

                     Click here for an Annual Campus Grants Proposal Application