Mini and Major Grant Application and Instructions

The goal of the Committee for Faculty Scholarship and Development (CFS&D) is to encourage faculty scholarship (e.g. research, creative activity), professional development, and training. The Committee also seeks to assure transparency in the allocation process for faculty support and to communicate the results of funding with the RIC community and beyond. There are two distinct awards based on the size of the funding request. Mini Grants are for requests up to $1500 and require a short application. Major Grants are for requests up to $4,000 that require longer proposals. Both Mini and Major grants will be awarded each semester.

All proposed activities must be completed within the grant cycle: July 1, 2023 to June 30, 2024. All receipts should be submitted no later than 30 days after the grant cycle is over. Any grant reallocations must be approved by the Committee Co-Chairs.

• Mini Grant Example #1
• Mini Grant Example #2
• Mini Grant Example #3
• Major Grant Example #1
• Major Grant Example #2

Travel reimbursements must be accompanied by a travel report.​ Virtual Conferences, workshops and all other forms of reimbursements, can be submitted using these Check Request templates: Regular Check Request and Conference Check Request. Please fill out and sign and email the appropriate forms, along with your original grant award letter and all original receipts to Stefan Battle at sbattle@ric.edu with a copy to facultyscholarship@ric.edu.

All proposed activities must be completed within the grant cycle: July 1, 2023 to June 30, 2024. All receipts should be submitted no later than 30 days after the grant cycle is over. For extenuating circumstances, please contact the Committee Co-Chairs.

Budget Justification. Describe how the requested items will support the project objectives. Justify both need and amount of the request, following all state and college regulations for travel, capital purchases, and student pay rates. Please provide information on other sources of funding that apply to any portion of the project costs and detail the items of the budget that would be covered by external funds.

Per Diem
Funds may be used for transportation and room and board during travel. Reimbursement for food is limited to $50.00 per full day of travel or $25.00 per halfday (leaving after 12:00 PM on the first day or returning prior to 12:00 PM on the last day). Normally, there will be no travel advances, with the possible exception of special airline fares or other expenses incurred sixty days or more prior to the travel. Evidence must be supplied in the budget justification explaining the necessity for travel. NOTE: Tips are not funded.

Travel

All travel budgets requesting air travel must be supported by estimates provided by the state travel agency, Direct Travel. at 1-800-238-3956 or e-mail them at corporatealo@dt.com. 

Airfare and hotel lodgings can also be booked through the college. Please contact Deborah Iannuccilli by phone at 401-456-8001 and by email at diannuccilli@ric.edu.

Please see the Out-of-State Travel Policy (A-22) for more details, including reimbursement for parking, ground transport, and other matters.

Overnight accommodations will NOT be allowed within a 55-mile radius of Providence. Distance from home cannot be used in calculating the 55-mile radius. The 55-mile limitation includes the City of Boston. Any request for an exception to this section must be in writing and submitted to the State Travel Administrator prior to booking travel.

Student Workers: Pay rates for student workers are set by the college based on experience. Use these rates when estimating cost of personnel.

Purchases and Supplies: Please work with Marc Lepore in the Purchasing Office by phone at 401-456-8527 and by email at mlepore@ric.edu. Researchers requesting funding for the rental or purchase of capital equipment are asked to ascertain whether such equipment, previously purchased with Faculty Research funds, is available for use in their project.

• Major Grant Final Report​​
• Mini Grant Final Report

• Scholarly and creative activities
• Activities leading to publication, performance, exhibition, or presentation
• Activities related to course or instructional development, including obtaining new skills relevant to instruction or research
• Travel to present at and/or attend conferences and other project-related travel
• Limited salaries for research assistants and/or student aides or assistants (application must include a clear rationale for these services and a statement of the duties to be performed by these personnel). The CFS does not condone the payment of students to do the faculty work, but rather to be assisting in the work.
• Allowable supplies. NOTE: Awardees will make equipment purchased by FSG funds available to other departments for loan when appropriate.
• Publication expenses, including subventions, copyrights, and page charges
• Other reasonable related expenses - please contact the Committee Chair if you are unsure.

• Proposals that are directly involved in contractual agreement between the applicant and another party that result in direct financial compensation to the applicant
• Funds to pay salaries or consultation fees to full-time Rhode Island College faculty
• Purchases of equipment in excess of $500 (any individual item) unless rental of the capital item is not available or the annual rental charge is greater than 120 percent of the purchase price divided by expected years of useful life.
• Applicants should be aware that computer time is generally available for faculty purposes at no charge through the College Computer Center.
• Student travel and full time staffing of grad assistants.
• Tips for services.

• You can apply for one grant Mini Grant and one Major Grant per call for applications. However, you cannot apply for two Mini Grants in the same semester, and you can only receive 1 Major Grant per fiscal year.
• All full-time members of the RIC-AFT are eligible to apply. Over the course of a fiscal year (July-June), faculty members are eligible to receive up to two awards, with no more than one Major Grant a fiscal year.
• As a general rule: each grant application should be for a coherent set of related activities. For instance, do not request funds in the same application to attend different conferences at different times and/or different locations. Do not bundle together research projects with related conferences in the same grant.
• However, due to COVID, the Committee is allowing bundling together of virtual conferences and membership renewals. For question, please contact facultyscholarship@ric.edu
• Multiple applicants: Proposals for group projects must be completed by individual applicants and by each person seeking funding, except when a group activities are proposed. In that case, the proposal preparer must be listed first as the responsible individual (who will be reimbursed and provide the final report). Proposals requesting travel expenses must be submitted by individual faculty members.

Deadlines: All deadline times and dates are EST.

Applicants from the Arts: Applicants from the arts may attach a PDF of up to five pages containing images in support of their application.

Regulations: Because funds are state monies, expenditures for travel, purchases of equipment, and other resources are subject to state regulations. Please review appropriate state and college policies and procedures for grant expenses when preparing your budget. For example, review state and college travel regulation.

Software and Book Purchases

• Software purchases for installation in computer labs can be proposed through User Support Services.
• If requests for these purchases are rejected, and the resource is necessary for your goals, please provide documentation for these rejections with your application.
• The CFS regards expenses such as book and periodical purchases, photocopying, computer services, and other items/services that ordinarily can be obtained without cost through departmental funding as low priority for funding.
• Book purchases for direct classroom use can be proposed through Adams Library (https://ric.libwizard.com/f/purchase-recommendation-form);

An applicant whose research deals with human or animal subjects or recombinant DNA, and/or hazardous materials, must submit an application to the Institutional Review Board (IRB), the Committee on Animal Care and Use (IACUC), and/ or the Institutional Biosafety Committee (IBC) for evaluation. Each committee has its own application form, which can be obtained through the respective Committee web page (see Application Instructions below).

You must upload proof of submission of the protocol to the appropriate Board with the grant application. Funds cannot be disbursed before the respective IACUC, IBC or IRB protocol is approved.

This does not mean that the entire Faculty Scholarship Grant application need be in a final polished form; however, the protocols of the proposed research cannot change from the time of compliance committee application and the submission of the proposal to the CFS unless specifically requested by the compliance committee. A proposal considered a continuation of a previously approved project must must provide documentation that this project is in good standing.

a. IACUC If your proposal includes the use of animals: Institutional Committee on Animal Use and Care

b. IRB If the research includes human subjects: Institutional Review Board 

c. IBC If the proposed research involves use of recombinant DNA or hazardous biological material

• Awards are dependent on the quality of the proposal, the budget request and justification, and the amount of money available for distribution.
• Support of sabbatical research/creative activity will be considered on the same basis as non-sabbatical research/creative activity.
• Funding level decisions are based on merit, budget and project justification, and applicant priority. The CFS will give special consideration to proposals from faculty members who fall into one or more of the following categories (not necessarily in this order):
  • Untenured faculty and assistant professors
  • Faculty taking their research in a new direction
  • Faculty whose projects encourage student involvement
  • Faculty whose projects are very close to completion
• The CFS considers proposals that are essentially the same as those funded for three consecutive years to be a lower priority for funding than first-time proposals.
• Use of Faculty Scholarship Grants is contingent upon continued employment at Rhode Island College. Requisitions for awarded funds submitted following the effective date of termination of employment will not be honored.

NOTE: Requests usually exceed available funds. Applications are competitive and every effort should be made to be follow instructions, include supporting materials, and complete the application fully. If you have received any counsel from the chair of the committee in relation to extenuating circumstances of your situation, please note that in your application.

Applications received will be evaluated by a committee made up of 10 members:

• Four faculty members appointed by Rhode Island College Council (the Committee on Committees).
• Four faculty members appointed by the RIC/AFT President with consultation by the RIC/AFT Executive Committee.
• One faculty member, the Director of the Center for Research and Creative Activity, appointed by the VPAA.
• The Director of the Office of Sponsored Programs as an ex officio, non-voting member.

The Committee will evaluate applications along the lines of the following review process:

• The nine voting members review and rate applications according to a standard scoring system for each grant (noted on the applications), recusing themselves from evaluating their own applications and applications from members of their department.
• As a matter of policy, the CFS shall endeavor to distribute funds in such a manner as to encourage as many faculty members as possible to engage in significant research/creative activities. In this regard, the CFS will endeavor to allocate all funds available. Funds left over from one cycle will be applied to the next.
• If it is deemed necessary, the CFS may invite competent authorities to assist in the evaluation of research projects and/or request the names of three qualified references who may be contacted to assist in evaluating a proposal.
• The CFS may, at its discretion, interview applicants before reaching final decisions.

The Committee's recommendations will be forwarded to the Provost/VPAA, who shall consult with the Deans. The Committee will list all of the applicants, project titles, requested amounts to be awarded, and reasons for refusals. The authority for awarding the funds shall be the Provost/VPAA's whose decisions regarding awards shall not be grievable.

• Appropriate college forms for expenses or reimbursements must be filed by June 30, 2023. To prevent undue burden on grants administration personnel, recipients are requested to submit requests for reimbursement in a timely manner (within one month of expenditure). For extenuating circumstances, please contact the Committee Chair.
• Award recipients are expected to remain within the approved budget category allocations of the original award unless special permission for internal reallocation is obtained in writing from the Chair of the Committee.
• Awardees who become aware that they will not spend the entire grant fund must inform the Chair of the Committee.
• Awardees will make equipment purchased by FSG funds available to other departments for loan when appropriate.
• The grant recipient shall acknowledge the funding support from the College in any publication supported in whole or part by grants from the Rhode Island College Faculty Scholarship and Development Grant.
• Faculty are requested to submit a copy of any publications resulting from this support to Molly Bruce Patterson, Digital Archivist and Special Collections Librarian, Adams Library. Faculty might also consider posting articles on Digital Commons https://library.ric.edu/faculty-publications).
• A final report is required of all grant recipients due by September 30, 2023. Until a report is filed, future grant applications will not be accepted by the CFS&D. Reports from previous years must be submitted by the stipulated deadline unless the grantee has requested and received from the CFS chair an extension in writing before the deadline indicating why the report will not be filed on time.