College of the Liberal Arts

Research Guidelines

Guidelines

The application process for all faculty, both tenured and untenured, is as follows:

A. Research Expenditures Faculty will discuss with their respective department heads the project for which they seek college funding. The faculty member should provide a brief written project description (one page) and budget to the head. The head will then evaluate the request, and, if supportive of the project, will make the case to the associate dean. As needed, the associate dean might then consult with relevant experts in the area of research in question.

B. Publication Subsidies/Subventions The narrative should include a description of the research, its conceptual framework and its objectives; and a brief description of the research design, methodology, and data analysis procedures used to accomplish the objectives of the project (if appropriate). The following guidelines also apply:

1. Quality of Press: noting that it's a small, but well regarded press will usually not be sufficient, for example. Information on print runs, distribution, independent documentation of standing, standing list of authors and titles, proportion of books reviewed in top outlets, etc., are among the means available to address the quality issue.

2. Type of book: edited vs. original monograph; co-authored/co-edited vs. singly authored/edited books; translations; critical editions; conference proceedings, etc. If you are requesting support for a publication other than an original monograph, you will need to make an especially strong case. If it is co-authored or co-edited, cv's of all participants should be included, along with information on parallel requests being made at collaboration institutions. If any of the contents are reprints, explain what justifies this republication.

3. Importance of book: incremental contribution to the field of study and role of the project in the faculty member's research agenda.

4. How subsidy will be used: assist in producing camera-ready copy; maps, illustrations, photos; allow expansion of the volume; reduce price; general production subsidy, etc. Is the subsidy a non-negotiable condition of publication or is there some room to maneuver?

5. Tangible contribution the department is making toward the request.

The narrative should not exceed five pages, double spaced, 12-point font, one side of page only. Please include any ancillary material deemed important to the request (e.g., publisher’s reviews, commitment to publish, contract, etc.). The letter from the press regarding the requested subvention is required.

The faculty member should also submit one copy of the manuscript to the Research Office for review; it will, of course, be returned.

C. Symposia/Lecture Series/Conferences While we recognize that such initiatives can have significant payoffs for our programs, the considerable expense usually involved with such activities, existing budgetary constraints, and the primacy we must assign to supporting faculty research, require that we support only those proposals which can be shown to yield substantial dividends; to that end:

1. The event should have carefully formulated objectives, and should be designed to further research/scholarly inquiry (i.e., proposals for other purposes such as the celebration of a particular person or event, the discussion of specialized/narrow professional interests or the funding of annual meetings of a professional organization are unlikely to be funded).

2. The proposal should present a detailed project description, and should explain the importance of the event in terms of the current state of knowledge in the field or fields involved, the expected contributions of the event to the advancement of scholarly inquiry, and the benefit(s) that such an activity would bring the sponsoring department, the College, and the university.

3. Dissemination of results to a wider audience is an important element. Commitments to publish conference proceedings by leading journals/presses should be documented. If publication is not likely or appropriate, an explanation should be provided.

4. If the conference includes graduate students (or is actually a graduate student organized event), the questions of significance and contribution to the graduate program and the department should be carefully considered and addressed.

5. The proposal should explain the preliminary planning that has been conducted and the kinds of financial support from other sources (e.g., home department, other academic units at Penn State, etc.) that the event has already received or will receive.

6. The proposal should provide information on facilities that will be used, and on project staff charged with the organizational aspects of the event.

7. Those who will be presenting papers (topics should be listed, if possible) should be identified (with brief biosketches included) and their commitment to the event documented (i.e., an acceptance letter).

8. The proposal should provide all available detail on the event program.

9. A detailed line-item budget must be included with each proposal.

The narrative should not exceed five pages, double spaced, 12-point font, one side of page only.

Eligibility

To request funding through the Research Office, University Park faculty must be tenured or have been hired on a tenure-track appointment prior to Fall 2005. Campus college faculty who have elected to retain their tenure status with University Park departments are also eligible. Tenure-track faculty hired in Fall 2005 or later have been provided with a research fund as part of their hiring package; these faculty are not eligible to apply for an Research Office Faculty Grant during their pre-tenure period.

Types of Projects

Individual faculty requests may include seed grants (e.g., travel to collections, data collection or assembly, instrument development, and exploratory data analysis), released time from teaching to complete significant projects or prepare grant proposals, purchase of research materials, research assistance, etc. Requests for publication subsidies will also be considered.

Maximum Amount

The maximum amount of any award is $10,000. Funds cannot be used for travel to conferences, or for salary supplement (i.e., summer salary).

Deadlines

None. Proposals may be submitted at any time during the academic year and will be reviewed in a timely manner. Normally, award decisions will be made in two to three weeks. If additional information is needed in the process or review, more time might be necessary.

Expectations

Any faculty member returning to the Research Office for internal support within a three-year period since the last Research Office award must provide evidence of having submitted during that period a proposal for external funding either for the project previously supported, the current project, or another project. The faculty member must be the lead researcher (i.e., PI) on any submission cited.

Trish Alexander, our Coordinator of Grants and Contracts; Chris Bundy, our Assistant Coordinator of Grants and Contracts; Chris Woods, our Proposal and Grants Assistant, Robert Hill Long, our Grant Development Specialist focussing on the Humanities, and Ray Lombra, Associate Dean, stand ready to assist faculty in obtaining external funding. We can help find funding outlets, support various aspects of the proposal preparation process, and help administer the resulting grants. We know that funding is difficult in some areas. That said, many projects can be presented in a manner that could attract funding. Foundations must spend about 5% of their expanding portfolios each year to maintain their tax exemptions. We want to help them spend their money wisely and productively!

If you have any questions, please direct them to Cathy Thompson or call (814) 865-9555.