Office of Academic Affairs

Internal Funding

IMPORTANT REMINDERS AND UPDATES:

The Travel Policy and the Corporate Card Procedures should be followed when using awarded funds. Please familiarize yourself with the details of these documents.

  • Undergraduate Research and Creative Work Travel Award (UTA) - 2023-2024 (open on a rolling basis)

    Deadlines

    • 15 September (for travel in the current fiscal year July 1, 2023-June 30, 2024)

    • 15 January (for travel in the current fiscal year)

    • 15 April (for travel very early in the next fiscal year)

    This fund aims at supporting travel for students and, where appropriate, their faculty and staff mentors, to disseminate their work beyond SU.

    Tenured and tenure-track faculty members, 3-year visitors, and academic affairs staff members with faculty rank are eligible to apply once per year. Faculty and staff with endowed funds are ineligible to apply for funding for themselves but they can apply for funding for their students after endowed funds have been used. Students in good standing (not on academic or disciplinary probation) are eligible for support only once across their careers at SU.

  • Competitive Faculty Professional Development Funds - Application Deadline - 5:00 pm Wednesday, 21 February 2024

    Tenured and tenure-track faculty members, three-year visitors, and academic affairs staff with faculty rank may apply for competitive professional development funds for scholarly and academic projects. These funds may be used for any legitimate professional development expense including domestic and international research travel, books and supplies, subvention fees (subject to the Book Subvention Award Policy), journal publication costs, projects leading to permanent and/or public documentation of creative works in the Fine Arts, and other research related expenses. The deadline for the proposals is Wednesday, 21 February 2024 at 5:00 pm.

  • Professional Travel Award - 2024-2025 - Application Deadline - 5:00 pm Wednesday, 20 March 2024

    Each tenured and tenure-track faculty member, academic affairs teaching staff member with faculty rank and three-year visitor is eligible to apply for a professional travel award, except for those who hold Endowed Chairs. The categories included in the Professional Travel Award are - a.) special conference participation (up to twice per year), b.) one special conference participation and fees for one professional membership, c.) one international special conference participation, or d.) invited travel-based projects in the Fine Arts. Faculty must choose one of the four options outlined above for the period between July 2024 and June 2025. The deadline for proposals for 2024-2025 travel is Wednesday, 20 March 2024 at 5:00 pm.

  • Research Assistantship Program - 2024-2025 - 5:00 pm Wednesday, 10 April 2024

    The Research Assistantship Program supports faculty scholarship by funding students to assist faculty with research. Faculty may hire more than one student research assistant. We welcome your proposals for how a research assistant could benefit your work. Possibilities include: assistance with literature reviews, laboratory assistance, archival research assistance (for local or digital archives), field work support, qualitative data collection and assistance, such as interviewing or survey programming, assistance with data preparation and analysis, including transcription or coding, assistance with manuscript preparation, including copyediting and indexing, assistance with securing image permissions. Tenured and tenure-track faculty members, three-year visitors, and academic affairs staff with faculty rank may apply. All disciplines are welcome. 

  • Faculty-Mentored Research (FSP & SCOPE, 2024-2025) - Closed

    Southwestern values student engagement with faculty in original research and creative works. Two of our most innovative and successful programs—Faculty-Student Projects (FSP) and SCOPE—support that engagement and fall under the broader category of Faculty-Mentored Research.

    The FSP program funds a range of faculty-student projects including but not limited to laboratory research, archival research, research in preparation for honors theses or other significant student projects, and collaborative projects in the studio arts, music and theatre. The goal is to accommodate different types of faculty-student projects aimed at improving student learning and strengthening faculty teaching and/or scholarship. The program pays faculty and student project expenses during the academic year, for up to eight summer weeks, for student stipends, student housing, project expenses, non-conference travel and other items related to the particular project.

    The SCOPE program also involves faculty supervised undergraduate research and intensive collaborative projects in all disciplines from all academic areas. For eight summer weeks, the program pays faculty and student fellowships (stipends), provides student on-campus housing, funds project supplies, and provides a budget for non-conference travel.

    All proposals must include the following components:Google Form, project narrative, detailed itemized budget, and CV.

    Instructions: To decide if your project is better suited for FSP or SCOPE, please review this document. In addition, please review the appropriate call, fill out the google form, and consult the rubric below.

  • The Jessie H. and Mary Gibbs Jones and the Jack and Camille Garey Competitive Course Release Sabbatical Programs - Closed

    The annual Jones and Garey Competitive Course Release Sabbatical Programs are designed to give tenured faculty with an excellent record of teaching, scholarship and service additional time to conduct their scholarly work. One (1) Jones award and up to three (3) Garey awards will be granted in 2024-2025. Unlike regular-cycle sabbaticals, these awards are competitive and take a more holistic view of faculty contributions. Specifically, these awards are designed to reward tenured faculty who have achieved excellence and high productivity in research/creative works while maintaining excellence in teaching and service and provide them the opportunity to devote additional time to their scholarly work. Faculty may apply to have a release from one (two-course) semester of teaching responsibility or a release of two courses for the academic year (a 2-1 or 1-2 teaching load for one academic year). Each proposal must provide a justification for the type of course release requested. Jones proposals may include a budget of up to $5,000 for expenses related to the project; Garey proposals may include a budget up to $2,000. Please follow the guidelines for regular sabbatical applications in the Faculty Handbook , in the section titled Policies and Procedures for Full-time Faculty Sabbatical Leaves. The deadline for submission of the sabbatical proposal is 11 October 2023. A Jones - Garey sabbatical application Google form is required. All additional materials should be sent via email to Barbara Jean , no later than the due date.]

  • Sabbatical Leaves (2024-2025) - Closed

    The Sabbatical Leave Program supports the long-term professional growth of the faculty by funding semester-long leave for innovative, substantial research projects consistent with the faculty member’s plans for long-term professional growth and development. Faculty are encouraged to discuss potential projects with the Dean of the Faculty and their Department Chair well in advance of application. Policies, eligibility, kinds of supported activities, financial considerations, procedures for application, deadlines and timelines are all available in the Faculty Handbook , in the section titled Policies and Procedures for Full-time Faculty Sabbatical Leaves. The deadline for submission of the sabbatical proposal is 11 October 2023. A sabbatical application Google form is required. All additional materials should be sent via email to Barbara Jean , no later than the due date. Note: Some deadlines fall as far as two years prior to your anticipated sabbatical leave.

  • Sam Taylor Fellowship Awards - 2023-2024 - Closed

    The will of the late Sam Taylor set aside income from a portion of his estate to fund continuing education and development of faculty members at United Methodist-related colleges and universities in Texas. Grants may be used for graduate study or post-graduate research. The 2023-2024 internal submission deadline for the proposals for the Sam Taylor Funds is November 17, 2023. Please submit proposals via e-mail to Barbara Jean . To view the past recipients click here .

  • Institutional Review Board

    Southwestern’s Institutional Review Board for Human Research (IRB) was established to approve research projects involving the use of human participants. The Board exists both because Southwestern wants to ensure that research participants are treated with the utmost respect and safety and because federal law requires that all federally-funded research involving human participants receive Board approval.