Curricular Innovation Grant

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Curricular Innovation Grant  

Call for Proposals  

Winter 2025 

With the generous support of an anonymous donor, the Faculty Development Committee announces a second round of the curricular innovation grant for 2025-2026 academic year focused on rejuvenation of the curriculum.  

This year, the grant specifically aims to support curricular development initiatives that address enrollment and retention challenges. This year, the FDC will prioritize applications that focus on revisions to low-enrolled courses, majors, minors, and programs, as well as updates to courses that have remained unchanged in content and/or format for many years (for example 7 or longer). Additional proposals for innovative ideas that could lead to increased enrollment and retention are also welcome, as are proposals for new team-taught, cross disciplinary courses with wide appeal.  

Approved expenses include up to $500 per faculty member for course revisions and up to $1,000 per faculty member for program revisions not to exceed $6000 per proposal. Additional funding may cover consultant reviews of programs, cross-disciplinary training required for new course offerings, travel to other institutions, and other strategies to enhance academic offerings. 

The Faculty Development Committee will hold a reception for those interested in learning more and/or applying, as well as those who are interested in connecting with potential partners for the grant on 1/17/25. 

Application guidelines:  

  • Title  

  • Project Collaborators (and project leader for correspondence)  

  • 50-word summary/abstract  

  • Rationale, need, and/or purpose for exploring the curricular innovation  

  • Objectives/Goals of the project   

  • Objectives/goals should include description of expected final curricular innovation and how it advances enrollment and/or retention of students in your courses/programs  

  • Proposed Activities, with estimated itemized budget    

  • Proposed timeline for implementation   

How to Apply:  

  • Attend a pre-proposal workshop on January 17, 2025. 

  • Complete online application to submit proposals. Note there are word limits built into some parts of the application.   

  • Deadline to apply is March 3, 2025.

  • Those awarded the grant must commit to attending two workshops on curricular innovation, one during the spring semester and another over the summer. 

Members of the Faculty Development Committee will review proposals and make final decisions on awards.  Questions should be directed to Ronnie Olesker (rolesker@stlawu.edu). 

Summer 2024  

The Dean’s office invites proposals for summer projects that will generate impactful, collaborative, and interdisciplinary curricular innovations (hereafter, “curricular innovations”). Through donor generosity, we will provide financial support to chosen proposals to allow participants to explore, study, design, and plan curricular innovations, starting in summer 2024. Curricular innovations may include efforts such as new majors, interdisciplinary minors, new “tracks” or “clusters,” skill development programs, academic restructuring, or reorganizing, and other related ideas.  

Each proposal should involve a minimum of three faculty/staff members who represent at least two different departments or programs. Project lead must be a faculty member. Our expectation is that most of the groundwork on these efforts will occur during the summer. Work may extend into the 2024-2025 academic year if summer projects lead to curriculum proposals to be shared with the Academic Affairs Committee, Academic Planning Committee, and other administrative/governance groups.  

As with other recent initiatives, we are aiming to increase enrollment, improve retention, and increase our institutional profile/reputation, while honoring our liberal arts mission and learning goals. All curricular innovations should aim to be resource neutral in terms of instructional (faculty-staff) lines although the curricular innovation may need additional resources (such as funding for experiential learning, physical space, additional training, travel and research costs, etc.). 

In addition, your potential curricular innovations should embody two or more of the following characteristics:  

  • Create opportunities for interdisciplinary teaching 

  • Foster curricular collaborations  

  • Expand curriculum with a focus on diversity and belonging and/or social or environmental justice 

  • Articulate clear career pathways and opportunities  

  • Build on current strengths while creating new opportunities for distinctive teaching and deeper learning 

  • Lead to the creation of signature programming that differentiates SLU from other residential liberal arts colleges 

  • Increase use of SLU’s location, physical spaces, extended campus 

  • Make use of opportunities made possible by emerging technologies 

Proposals for exploring curricular innovations should be organized as follows:  

  • Title 

  • Project Collaborators (and project leader for correspondence) 

  • 50-word summary/abstract 

  • Rationale, need, and/or purpose for exploring the curricular innovation 

  • Objectives/Goals of the summer project  

  • Objectives/goals could include description of expected final curricular innovation and which characteristics from above will be embodied in the innovation.  

  • Objective/goals should make clear whether proposed curricular innovation adds or replaces existing curricular offerings  

  • Proposed Activities, with estimated itemized budget (** See note below.)  

  • Proposed timeline for implementation  

How to Apply: Complete online application to submit proposals. Note there are word limits built into some parts of the application.  

Selection Process: Members of the Faculty Development Committee will review proposals and make final decisions on awards.  

Applications must be submitted for review by June 3, 2024, at noon. Questions should be directed to Ronnie Olesker (rolesker@stlawu.edu). The number of awards will depend on available resources and the quantity and quality of proposals received. Our current expectation is that the Innovation Fund will support as many as 4 or 5 major proposals for amounts up to $6,000. Applicants will be notified of the committee’s decision by June 12th. 

** Examples of qualified expenses: 

Meals/catering 

Faculty and/or academic support staff stipends for summer work (no more than $1000 per person) 

Honoraria for external collaborators  

Materials, books, and supplies  

Memberships 

Conferences/webinars/training for participants (not covered by other faculty travel or small/mini grants) 

Successful applicants must submit a report to Academic Affairs office on or before August 21st. Your report should include the following:  

Summary of your original proposal (1 paragraph) 

Goals of your project (enumerated) 

Description of process and summer work (no more than 500 words) 

Outcomes (no more than 250 words) 

Potential Impact (no more than 250 words) 

Future plans (no more than 250 words)  

August reports should be no longer than 2000 words.  

If your work continues into the fall, we ask that you submit a final report, similar in structure to the August report, on or before November 15th.