Faculty Mini-Grant

Purpose

CAL mini-grant funds are designed to support faculty research and scholarship. Funds may be used to support non-conference travel, publication expenses (including subventions), equipment purchases, and other costs associated with scholarly and creative endeavors. In general, the maximum award amount is $1,500. Proposals requiring more funds may be eligible fo a higher award amount (up to $3,000).  

Application Criteria

  • Quality of the proposed project
  • Significance of the proposed project for the applicant’s broader scholarly and creative agenda
  • Ability of the funding to spark future external funding opportunities   
  • Demonstrated record of (or potential for) scholarly and creative productivity

Application Components

  • Brief description of the funding request (1,000 word maximum), highlighting how the requested funds fit into the applicant’s broader scholarly agenda
  • Itemized budget
  • Applicant’s c.v.

Deadlines

  • Applications should be submitted in a single pdf to calresearch@jmu.edu by 5:00pm on Friday, January 17, 2020.
  • Mini-grant funds must be spent by June 1, 2020. All expenditures must comply with state guidelines.
  • Recipients must submit a brief report to the College of Arts and Letters on the use of the grant by August 31, 2020.
Manuscript Development Workshop Mini-Grant

Purpose

The purpose of this grant is to provide faculty members with high-quality feedback on a full draft of a book manuscript or equivalent in preparation for submission to a publisher. The College of Arts and Letters will provide up to $5000 to bring together internal (JMU) and external (non-JMU) reviewers for 1-2 days to support the revision of a manuscript.

Applications Criteria

  • Quality of the proposal and likelihood that the manuscript will result in a high-quality publication
  • Value that a workshop would have for the applicant at this point in the project’s development
  • Feasibility of the proposed publication timeline
  • Impact on the broader JMU community; all proposals should include internal JMU reviewers in addition to external experts

Application Components

  • Project description (1,000 word maximum) that includes an overview of the project (including discussion of its current stage in the revision process and why the workshop is important at this point); timeline for publication (including the date when the applicant plans to submit the manuscript to a publisher); and a list of prospective reviewers (name, university, brief biography, relevance for workshop). The reviewer list should include JMU and non-JMU participants. The project description should be written in a style that is understandable to an interdisciplinary review panel.
  • Project outline and two chapters
  • Itemized budget: The grant will provide up to $5000 for eligible costs including travel for external reviewers, meals for participants, and honoraria for reviewers. All expenditures must conform to state policies.
  • Applicant’s c.v.

Deadlines

  • Applications should be submitted in a single pdf to calresearch@jmu.edu by 5:00pm on Friday, January 17, 2020.
  • Workshops must be held by June 1, 2020.
  • Recipients must submit a brief report to the College of Arts and Letters on the use of the grant by August 31, 2020.
  • Recipients are expected to participate in a CAL forum on scholarship support in the 2020-2021 academic year.
Scholarly Workshop Mini-Grant

Purpose

The purpose of this award is to promote faculty scholarship by funding small workshops that include JMU faculty members and external scholars working on a common topic/theme. The goal is to bring together a community of scholars for a 1-3 day workshop that leads to a scholarly or creative product such as a special issue of a journal, an edited volume, an exhibition, a film, or similar product.  Awards of up to $5000 support travel for external scholars, meals for workshop participants, and other costs associated with the event. All expenditures must comply with state guidelines. 

Application Criteria

  • Quality of the proposal
  • Likelihood of the workshop leading to a notable scholarly or creative product
  • Impact on the JMU community

Application Components

  • Short proposal (1,000 word maximum) that describes the academic content of the workshop, the likely participants, and the proposed scholarly or creative output
  • Timeline for the project: the timeline should include dates for participants to submit draft materials, the dates of workshop, and the target date for completion of the project
  • List of proposed participants with brief biographical information
  • Itemized budget: The grant will provide up to $5000 for eligible costs including travel for external participants and meals for participants. All expenditures must conform to state policies.

Deadlines

  • Applications should be submitted in a single pdf to calresearch@jmu.edu by 5:00pm on Friday, January 17.2020.
  • Deadline for workshop and spending money is June 1, 2020.
  • Recipients must submit a brief report to the College of Arts and Letters on the use of the award by August 31, 2020.
  • Recipients are expected to participate in a CAL forum on scholarship support in the 2020-2021 academic year 
Faculty Mentorship Grant

Purpose

The CAL Faculty Mentorship Grant is designed to promote and support faculty scholarship and creative activities by connecting faculty members interested in applying for external grants or fellowships with faculty members who have won similar awards. The mentor is expected to support the mentee throughout the external funding application process, helping the mentee identify appropriate funding sources, develop a proposal, and complete and submit the application. The mentee and mentor are expected to meet regularly throughout the proposal drafting and submission process. Upon submission of the external funding application, the mentor will receive a $1,500 grant.

Application Process

  • Project description (1,000 word maximum): The description should include a summary of the research proposal, a description of the target external funding opportunity, and a discussion of the proposed interactions between the mentee and mentor. The project description should be written in a style that is understandable to an interdisciplinary review panel.
  • Letter of support from mentor that discusses the mentor’s willingness to serve in this capacity and the mentor’s expertise. The letter should include information on the mentor’s familiarity with the funding opportunity. The letter should also include a description of the proposed interactions between mentor and mentee.
  • Applicant’s c.v.
  • Mentor’s c.v.

Evaluation Criteria

  • Quality of the proposal
  • Potential for the proposal to attract external support
  • Appropriateness of the mentor-mentee match and the design of the collaboration

Deadlines

  • Applications should be submitted in a single pdf to calresearch@jmu.edu by 5:00pm on Friday, January 17, 2020.
  • Recipients must submit a brief report that includes the grant/fellowship application and a brief discussion of the mentor-mentee collaboration to the College of Arts and Letters by August 31, 2020.
  • Recipients are expected to participate in a CAL forum on scholarship support in the 2020-2021. academic year

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