Minigrants
Minigrants are cash awards given to faculty who have plans for projects that will improve their scholarship and/or enable them to gain knowledge or skills beyond the normal growth expected of faculty in order to improve teaching and support the college's core values. The minigrant should be used to support those projects that are beyond the scope of a department's budget and are too small for external funding. All voting faculty may apply. Reimbursement is made upon presentation of receipts and corroborating evidence.
Minigrants are limited to a maximum of $2,000 per faculty member per academic year.
Priority will be given to individuals submitting their first requests and individuals whose proposals most clearly meet the additional guidelines set forth below. The actual grant will be contingent upon the committee's recommendation and available funds. When project expenses exceed the size of the award, the committee recommends that the applicant seek other forms of financial support. Please try to apply for minigrants before spending money because FDC cannot guarantee the funding of every proposal.
Funding possibilities for minigrants include:
- Travel expenses to present a paper (or the equivalent) at a recognized professional meeting
- Purchase of research materials or equipment that are not typically purchased by the college or department and that are essential for the individual's scholarly project
- Travel expenses to a conference, workshop, or training program
- Costs incurred by a faculty member whose manuscript has already been accepted for publication
How to Apply
Submit application form as an electronic file to the Faculty Development Committee Chair (luding.tong@marietta.edu). If your application includes materials that can not be sent in an electronic format forward 10 hard copies to Luding Tong, c/o Modern Languages Department (if sent through campus mail) or Thomas 308 (if hand delivered).
Failure to follow the proposal format or guidelines may exclude the applicant from being recommended for funding. If time permits, promising proposals that need more work will be returned to the applicant for revisions.
Criteria for Selection
There are generally too many qualified projects for the limited funds available for faculty development. Therefore, FDC has developed the following guidelines to allow it to determine priorities of qualified projects.
| Strengthening Factors | As Opposed to . . . |
| Publication in a juried venue | Self - Publication |
| Chairing a session or a panel, or being a presenter at a conference | Attending a conference as a participant or as a self-selected presenter |
| Serving as an officer of the hosting group at a conference | Attending the event without holding an office |
| When better teaching is the goal, learning and techniques beyond the normal growth expected of faculty | Revising existing courses or developing courses as part of the faculty member's routine responsibility |
| New projects | Projects that have received repeated FDC funding without evidence of progress (Faculty needing long term funding for the same project are encouraged to seek external funding) |
| Projects part of a clearly delineated, long-term faculty development plan | Projects unrelated to the faculty member’s other activities |
| Projects identified by the chair as supporting the goals of the department | Projects of interest to the faculty member but considered by the chair as unrelated to the plans of the department |
| Proposals demonstrating commitment to the project | Proposals not demonstrating such commitment |
| Projects involving students collaboratively, with a clear indication of faculty development | Projects involving student research but with little or no faculty development |