The Salisbury University Faculty Mini-Grant Program provides awards up to $2,500 to encourage faculty to develop research, scholarly, or creative programs that provide the potential for sustained professional development and extramural support. Additionally, the program is intended to support faculty in areas that traditionally have difficulty securing funding to increase their research and scholarly activities output.

Researchers, scholars, and artists from all academic disciplines, who have been appointed as tenure track faculty (assistant professors or higher) are encouraged to submit their proposals to the Office of Graduate Studies and Research for initial consideration. The University Research Council awards grants based on creativity, scholarly and/or research significance of the proposed activities. Awards may be used for supplies, equipment computers for field data collection, domestic and international travel, consultant fees and more.

Eligibility

Eligibility is limited to Salisbury University employees only. Priority will be given to tenure and tenure-track faculty, but all faculty, researchers, scholars, and artists are encouraged to apply. Principal investigators (PIs) who have been awarded external funding (excluding start-up funds) totaling more than $100,000 since July 1, 2009 are not eligible.

Types of Support

The New Faculty Mini-Grant Program funds will be considered for items such as (but not limited to):

· Supplies

· Equipment

· Personal computers for field data collection

·         Domestic and international travel and other related expenses for field work, data
          collection, training, educational purposes and/or presentations on research, creative or
          scholarly activities directly related to the proposed project

· Travel to conferences or other conference support if directly related to proposed work

· Consultant fee costs

· Faculty salary equivalent to one Fall/Spring course overload

All requested support must be accompanied with a strong justification of how it would contribute to achievement of the purpose(s) of the project. Funds cannot be used for the following: classified staff salaries, publication of manuscripts and journal subscriptions, supplemental awards to existing projects, commercial licenses and/or memberships.

Terms and Conditions of Support

· Awards should benefit Salisbury University.

· A subgroup of 2 or more members of University Research Council (URC) will evaluate and
rank applications to determine awards.

· Individual awards will be up to a maximum of $2,500; proposals for smaller amounts are
encouraged and will be equally competitive.

·         Appropriateness of the budget will be a significant factor in the selection process. Should
          the budget submitted to the URC be reduced during the course of conducting the research
          or project timeline, a revised scope of work/budget will be required of the PI.

·         Protocols for human subjects, animals and/or biosafety activities do not need to be
          approved before the submission date, but must be reviewed and approved by the award
          start date.

·         The awards will be funded for a 12-month period beginning May 20, 2013. Normally, a
          one-time only no-cost time extension request will be considered that has a strong
          justification.

· If the awardee leaves the university prior to the completion of the award, funding will be
terminated.

·         Awardees will be required to establish a measurable goal for evaluation by the URC. That
          is, what will the awardee do with the money or the time? Possibilities include: work on
          larger-scale federal agency proposal, write a book chapter, travel to collect data or build
          collaboration, conduct a pilot study, by equipment for enhancing a lab, etc.

Review Process and Criteria

Complete applications will undergo preliminary review by the Office of Graduate Studies and Research, and then forwarded to the URC for evaluation. The URC recommendations will be based on the originality, creativity, scholarly and/or research significance of the proposed activities; its feasibility; availability of adequate facilities; appropriateness of the proposed project to the program’s purpose; and appropriateness of the budget. Proposals that have been judged to represent the beginning of a sound, significant, and long-term project and that have solid potential for significant external funding or portfolio development will be given highest priority.

Notification

Awards will be announced by early spring. The URC reviewers’ comments for both awarded and denied proposals will be provided to the PIs.

Final Report

By accepting this award the PI agrees to submit a final report to the Office of Dean of Graduate Studies and Research. This report will allow the university to evaluate the effectiveness of the program. The final report deadline is 12 months after the project period has ended. The report will document any publications, presentations, exhibitions, media coverage, sales or marketing, projects, papers, proposals/awards or other accomplishments that resulted from the New Faculty Mini-Grant Program's original support.

Deadline

The deadline for 2013 Faculty Mini-grant applications is March 15, 2013. Please forward all applications to Jessica Scott at jlscott@salisbury.edu

Questions

If you have any questions concerning the application/guidelines, proposal or review process, please contact Dr. Clifton P. Griffin, Dean of Graduate Studies and Research at 410-548-3894 or cpgriffin@salisbury.edu.