Agency: Towson University Institute for Teaching and Research on Women
Deadline: October 31, 2007
The Towson University Institute for Teaching and Research on Women (ITROW) seeks to promote scholarship, course development and programming on issues related to women/gender, including the intersections of gender with race/ethnicity, nation, class, disability, and/or sexuality. To this end, ITROW is initiating a faculty mini-grants award program. Awards will range from $100 to $500, are limited in number, and will be awarded on a competitive basis. ITROW seeks to sponsor activities such as:
- New course development within the faculty’s department/discipline which will produce a course to be cross-listed (counted toward) the Women’s Studies major. Substantial restructuring/transformation of a current course with the goal of integrating women/gender topics throughout the syllabus will also be considered. Faculty receiving course development awards will consult with the Director of ITROW in the development or restructuring of a course and will be expected to offer the new or transformed course within a year of having received the grant.
- Scholarship focused on women/gender issues, or scholarship which contains a significant women/gender component. Faculty receiving awards for scholarship will be required to present their research/artistic creation in ITROW’s Women and Gender Faculty Colloquy series. Travel funds for presentation of such scholarship at conferences will also be considered.
- Campus-wide or departmental events focused on women/gender issues such as speakers, film series, and conferences.
During the academic year, grants may be requested to cover specified expenses e.g., books or materials purchases, travel expenses to conduct research, transcription costs, etc. (application Deadlines: October 31, 2007 and February 29, 2008).
During summer monetary awards can be granted (application Deadline April 15, 2008)
For further information contact Karen Dugger (kdugger@towson.edu). Application forms can be found on the ITROW website as shown below.
URL: http://www.towson.edu/itrow
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Institutional/University-Wide/Cross-Disciplinary Opportunity
Discovery Research K-12
Agency: National Science Foundation
Deadline: January 28, 2008
January 19, 2009
The National Science Foundation (NSF) Discovery Research K-12 program (DR-K12) seeks to enable significant advances in K-12 student and teacher learning of science, mathematics, engineering, and technology (STEM) disciplines through research about, and development and implementation of, innovative resources, models, and technologies for use by students, teachers, and policy makers. Activities funded under this program begin with a research question or hypothesis about K-12 STEM learning or teaching; develop, adapt, or study innovative resources, models, or technologies; and demonstrate if, how, for whom, and why their implementation affects learning.
The DR-K12 solicitation calls for proposals that are responsive to either the Contextual Challenges strand, which invites proposals that address the more immediate and pressing challenges facing K-12 STEM education at the national level; or the Frontier Challenges strand, which supports initiatives on the frontiers of knowledge which challenge existing assumptions about learning and teaching within or across STEM fields, envision needs of learners in 10 to 15 years, and consider new and innovative ways to reach learners. Contextual Challenges strand proposals are limited to one or more of the following topics only:
- How can assessment of relevant STEM content improve K-12 teaching and learning?
- How can the learning of significant STEM content be achieved to ensure public literacy and workforce readiness?
Frontier Challenges strand proposals are limited to one or more of the following topics only:
- How can all students be assured the opportunity to learn significant STEM content?
- What will support STEM teachers’ practice and development in an era of cyber-enabled learning?
- How can the impact of K-12 STEM classroom learning be enhanced by effective integration with local and global resources and systems?
Within each strand, the program calls for the following types of proposals:
- Full Research and Development Projects, focusing on design, implementation, and evaluation. NSF anticipates making about 15 -20 full Research and Development Awards for project durations of up to five years and budgets not exceeding $4,000,000.
- Exploratory Projects, focused on study and design. The purpose of these awards is to allow researchers and developers to undertake preliminary work to clarify constructs, assemble theoretical or conceptual foundations, or perform analytic or empirical preparatory work before requesting funding for a full-scale project. NSF hopes these explorations will produce empirical evidence that calls for further research or development. Exploratory projects test the reasonableness of ideas and feasibility of methods. Publishable papers are expected as an outcome. NSF anticipates making about 15-20 Exploratory awards, each ranging from $100,000 to $150,000 per year with a duration of up to three years.
- Synthesis Projects are small grants for the synthesis of existing knowledge on a topic of critical importance to K-12 STEM resources, models, or technologies. Synthesis proposals should identify areas where the knowledge base is sufficiently robust to support strong scientific claims, identify areas of importance to education research and development, and propose rigorous methods for synthesizing findings and drawing conclusions from a range of relevant literatures. NSF anticipates making about 10-15 Synthesis awards, each with a budget not exceeding $250,000 and with a duration of up to two years.
- Conferences and Workshops related to the mission of the DR-K12 program will also be supported. NSF anticipates making about 5-10 Conference and Workshop awards of up to $100,000 with durations of up to two years.
In addition, pending the availability of funds, a DR-K12 Resource Network will be funded as a cooperative agreement to support the goals of the program in fiscal year 2008. The Resource Network will provide assistance for projects on research and development methods and analysis procedures, synthesize findings across the DR-K12 portfolio of projects, and promote national awareness of research and contributions to of the DR-K12 program. DR-K12 Resource Network proposals may request up to $1,000,000 per year for a duration of up to five years, under the January 2008 deadline only. DR-K12 proposals will not be accepted under the January 2009 deadline.
URL: http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2008/nsf08502/nsf08502.pdf
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Undergraduate International Studies and Foreign Language Program
Agency: United States Department of Education
Deadline: November 26, 2007
The United States Department of Education invites applications for projects designed to plan, develop, and carry out programs to strengthen and improve undergraduate instruction in international studies and foreign language. Funds awarded should be used primarily to revise and update curricula and to develop additional faculty expertise. Eligible activities may include:
- Development of a global studies/international studies program which is interdisciplinary in design.
- Development of a program which focuses on issues or topics, such as international business or international health.
- Development of an area studies program and its languages.
- Creation of innovative curricula which combines the teaching of international studies with professional or pre-professional studies.
- Research for and development of specialized teaching materials, including language materials (i.e., Business Chinese).
- Establishment of internship/study abroad opportunities for faculty and students in domestic and overseas settings.
For the fiscal year 2008 competition, the Department of Education is particularly interested in applications that meet the following program priorities:
- Competitive Preference Priority 1 (applications meeting this priority will be awarded an additional five points) – Applications that:
- Require entering students to have successfully completed at least two years of secondary school foreign language instructions;
- Require each graduating student to earn two years of postsecondary credit in a foreign language or have demonstrated equivalent competence in the foreign language; or
- In the case of a two-year degree granting institution, offer two years of postsecondary credit in foreign language.
- Competitive Preference Priority 2 (applications meeting this priority will be awarded an additional five points) – Applications for projects that support activities to enable students to achieve proficiency or advanced proficiency or to develop programs in one or more of the following less commonly taught languages:
- Ararbic
- Chinese
- Korean
- Japanese
- Russian
- Languages in the Indic, Iranian, and Turkic language families
- Invitational Priority 1 (applications meeting this priority will not be given a competitive or absolute preference over other applications) – Applications that propose projects that provide in-service training for K-12 teachers in foreign languages and international studies in teacher education programs.
- Invitational Priority 2 (applications meeting this priority will not be given a competitive or absolute preference over other applications) – Applications that propose projects that include a plan for assessment of student foreign language competence. A plan of assessment should include clearly defined student-learning outcomes and externally validated assessment approaches. The applicant should describe procedures for utilizing the assessment data to improve foreign language program effectiveness.
The Department of Education anticipates making 19 new awards with an average size of $78,840 for single institutions of higher education and of $110,000 for consortia/associations/organizations. The funding range for each budget year is $50,000 to $90,000 for up to two years for single institutions and $80,000 to $140,000 for up to three years for consortia/organizations/associations. Maximum Award: Note that the Department of Education will reject any application that proposes a budget exceeding $90,000 for a single budget period of 12 months for a single institution application and $140,000 for a single budget period of 12 months for a consortia/organization/association application.
This program has a matching requirement. Program grantees must provide matching funds in either of the following ways:
- Cash contributions from private sector corporations or foundations equal to one-third of the total project costs; or
- A combination of institutional and non-institutional cash or in-kind contributions including State and private sector corporation or foundation contributions, equal to one-half of the total project costs.
URL: http://www.ed.gov/programs/iegpsugisf/index.html
Program Page
http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/01jan20071800/edocket.access.gpo.gov/2007/pdf/E7-20762.pdf
Federal Register announcement
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