Call for proposals: Faculty Initiative Fund

Sept. 20, 2021

Note: The submission date has been changed to Oct. 8.

UA President Pat Pitney and the UA Faculty Alliance announce calls for proposals for the FY22 Faculty Initiative Fund. Proposals are due by Oct. 8, 2021. 

Summary and background

A $300,000 financial commitment by the University of Alaska for FY22 to promote inter-university collaboration in program development, scholarly endeavors and student engagement with the goal of reducing the cost to degree and promoting internship opportunities for students. The commitment is identified as the Faculty Initiative Fund and may also serve as seed money toward the procurement of external grants and contracts.

Systemwide projects that develop, facilitate and sustain effective and innovative efforts to meet the university’s academic mission and goals are also eligible for the FIF. These projects are intended to utilize the intellectual resources of UA faculty to address challenging issues of academic importance including educational accessibility, course content, cost effectiveness of course delivery, and other initiatives that enhance UA’s service to the state. Traditional professional development opportunities, as well as those focused on engagement and collaboration among faculty at all three universities are crucial to maintaining academic innovation, quality and rigor.

The purpose of this request for proposals is to provide an equal opportunity for FIF distribution to eligible faculty to 1) build the intellectual capital of UA through basic and applied research, 2) develop high-impact pedagogical practices, 3) generate new professional development programs for faculty that will establish and maintain collaborations across the system or 4) build on existing systemwide collaborative programs.

Request for proposal and project timeline

All proposals in response to this RFP are due to the Office of Academics, Students and Research no later than 5 p.m. Alaska time Oct. 8, 2021. The review period will end Nov. 1, 2021, with awards announced in November 2021. All applications must be submitted via Google Forms or by emailing a PDF to the Office of Academics, Students and Research Office at kajames6@alaska.edu. 

All submissions will receive an email confirmation of receipt within two business days of submission. Evaluation of proposals will be conducted from Oct. 9 through Nov. 8. If additional information from proposal authors is needed during this four-week window, the proposer(s) will be notified. 

Awards will be made no later than Dec. 1, and disbursement of project funds may begin Dec. 1. Award funds are to be expended by the deadline in the application. Project extensions may be granted through formal requests made to the appropriate college or school dean no later than 30 days prior to the original end date of the project. Project extensions may be no more than 12 months in length.

The full announcement (PDF) can be found here. 
The Faculty Initiative Fund AY21/22 submission form is here.
The rubric (PDF) is available here.

For more information, email Sandra Wildfeuer, Faculty Senate president, at sjwildfeuer@alaska.edu.