The Pott College promotes and encourages innovative recruitment, retention, and teaching/ learning practices through research and teaching-based strategies focused on undergraduate success. We encourage our faculty, staff and students to continuously work to research, update, develop, and implement new strategies to improve undergraduate enrollment and success. The Pott College Innovation Fund serves to support faculty, staff, and students in these endeavors and to develop a national reputation in effective student recruitment, retention, and success.
In the higher education landscape of today, we are continuing to re-imagine what it means to be a leading public university — and the newly-launched Pott College Innovation Fund is a key vehicle for that work. This fund will invest in initiatives that creatively fuel increased student
enrollment and success. Projects must focus on one or more of the following: student recruitment and retention; challenging students to take an active role in their education; and transforming classrooms into active learning spaces. In short, we encourage projects that promote “learning by doing” with a focus on recruitment, retention, and academic success. Interdisciplinary projects are encouraged but not required.
The Pott College Innovation Fund awards will be given to faculty who propose novel ways to approach recruitment, retention, and teaching and learning, with a particular focus on helping more students from all backgrounds to not only persist, but to excel.
This program is closely modeled after the nationally recognized Hrabowski Fund for Innovation at the University of Maryland Baltimore County. You can learn more about the UMBC program and a small sample of their funded projects here.
How to Apply
Award Amounts:
A total of $5,000 in funding will be available and allocated through the competitive review of
proposals by a selection committee. Awards of funding for a period of twelve months are available
in two types.
Innovation Seed Awards: Seed Awards will have a budget of less than $3,500 and will generally fund:
1) small-scale pilot projects in an individual or small number of classrooms;
2) small-scale recruitment or retention pilot projects in a specific academic major, student population, or geographic region. In some cases, Seed Awards are granted for initial projects where collected data can be generated in support of a larger Innovation Implementation and Research Award.
Innovation Implementation and Research Awards: These awards will have a budget of $2,500 or greater up to the maximum amount of $5,000. Innovation Implementation and Research Awards will generally fund large-scale recruitment, retention, and/or student success projects that have significant research basis and therefore a high potential for success. Innovation and Implementation Research Awards should be transformative in nature and upon completion, provide data/evidence for informed decision-making and/or possible adoption at the University level or beyond.
Recipients will be designated as a “Pott College Innovation Fellow” for the duration of the award. Individuals participating in a collaborative group project will be considered as members of a “Pott College Innovation Collaborative.”
Proposal Development and Criteria:
The proposal narrative must describe the: 1) Project background; 2) Project goals and objectives; 3) detailed methodology; 4) detailed plan to assess/evaluate/measure the effectiveness of the project in reaching the stated goals; and 5) detailed budget and narrative.
Proposals should address, and will be evaluated upon, the following criteria:
1. Clear description of a well-defined project or problem to be investigated.
2. Potential impact on student success and/or increased enrollment and the metrics that will be
used to assess this impact.
3. Where appropriate, the relationship between the proposed methods and/or concepts and relevant existing research (especially important for Innovation Implementation and Research Awards).
4. The feasibility of the project to be accomplished successfully during the granting period.
5. Plans for formative and summative assessment of the impact on student recruitment, retention, and/or success.
6. Plans for dissemination within the USI community including the potential of the transfer of
lessons learned to other courses, disciplines, programs, etc.
Proposal Submission Format and Review
Applications must consist of:
1. A cover page that captures essential information from the proposal narrative, such as: title of the project; names of faculty and departments involved in the project; a concise summary or abstract of the project including project goals; and overall cost. The cover page requires a
signature indicating endorsement of the entire proposal by the applicants’ department
chair/supervisor.
2. The proposal narrative develops these ideas fully, clearly addressing the criteria described
above. The proposal narrative must include a budget justification and include:
1) Project background
2) Project goals and objectives
3) Detailed methodology
4) Detailed plan to assess/evaluate/measure the effectiveness of the project in reaching the stated goals
5) Detailed budget and narrative
Proposal narratives for seed awards (budget less than $2,500) have a maximum length of four (4) pages including a detailed budget justification. Budget worksheet should be attached to the
proposal. Proposal narratives for implementation and research awards (budget greater or equal to, $5,000) have a maximum length of eight (8) pages including a detailed budget justification.
All applications will be reviewed and evaluated by a selection panel reporting to the Dean.
After an initial screening and evaluation of proposals, the review panel may require finalists who have applied for Implementation and Research Awards to make a brief presentation to the selection panel and answer questions about their proposal.
Selection Panel
Members of a selection panel will review and evaluate applications. The selection panel consists of:
• One representative from the Pott College Dean’s Office (Ex-Officio)
• Seven faculty, one from each Department within the Pott College
Budget
Expenses that can be covered by these grants may include, but are not limited to: supplies and
equipment, programming or research assistance, fees and expenses for student field trips,
benchmarking, school visits, honoraria for classroom guest speakers, fees and expenses for
conferences or workshops directly related to teaching, and summer stipends.
The maximum award will be in the total amount of $5,000, and all awardees are responsible for
appropriate use of, and accounting for, the funds provided. All awards will be made for one year
with no extensions or carry-over of funds not expended during the period of the award. Awardees who
wish to continue or expand their projects beyond the first year should submit a new proposal prior
to the end of the project or seek external funding avenues.
Proposal Submission and Deadlines
Applications will be reviewed once each year. Proposals must be submitted in Cayuse, USI’s grant
proposal software, by 4:30 pm on November 1st. Applications received after a deadline will not be
considered.
Submission Instructions
1. Submit an intent to apply for internal grant application form no later than October 25, 2019The
form can be found on the OSPRA website : http://www.usi.edu/ospra/internal-awards-and- grants
2. Once OSPRA has received the intent to apply notice, your proposal file will be created in
CAYUSE. You will be notified by email that you have been added as a user to a proposal and can
start filling in the application.
3. Access CAYUSE 424 through myUSI on the USI website www.usi.edu
a. Use your USI credentials to log-in to myUSI
b. Look for the CAYUSE 424 icon under USI Online Services:
c. Click on the icon to enter CAYUSE 424 and locate your project proposal shell.
4. Complete the R&R budget in CAYUSE detailing how the grant funds will be used. See CAYUSE budget
instructions on the OSPRA website at: http://www.usi.edu/ospra/cayuse-424
5. Attach a Budget Justification (see program specific budget worksheet for details) that supports
the line item budget. The budget justification should be saved as a .pdf file and attached on page
three of the R&R Budget in CAYUSE, section K. An example can be found on the OSPRA website:
http://www.usi.edu/ospra/internal-awards-and-grants
6. Attach separate .pdf files to the documents section under Proposal Summary in CAYUSE. See SEERGA
Proposal Outline on page 2 for a list of the items that need to be included in the documents
section. See more explicit instructions on loading documents in Cayuse at:
http://www.usi.edu/ospra/cayuse-424
7. Submit the proposal for routing through CAYUSE 424 no later than 4:30 p.m. on November 1, 2019.
Note: To submit your proposal you will need to approve the proposal in CAYUSE by checking the box
next to your name in the routing and approval section. The CAYUSE 424 routing feature allows your
department chair and dean to approve the proposal electronically following submission.
Start Date
Projects will officially start at the beginning of the following year (January 1 – December 30).
Expectations of All Awardees
Within three months of project completion, all awardees will provide a brief written report about
key outcomes. Awardees may also be asked to present at a fall or spring college
meeting.