FACULTY SCHOLARS PROGRAM

Introduction

Precisely because Eastern is dedicated to excellent undergraduate education, it is essential that Eastern's teaching faculty maintain an ongoing commitment to their discipline through the creative pursuit of knowledge, truths, and beauty. Eastern's Faculty Scholars Program is an important means by which the University assists teaching faculty in their ongoing dedication to professional development.

The Program

There are sixteen full stipends and ten partial stipends. Effective for the summer of 2003, the award for a full stipend is for $11,232 in salary; partial stipends are $5,616.

All members of the teaching faculty, both junior as well as senior faculty, are encouraged to apply for these Faculty Scholars Program summer salary awards and the professional opportunities that they provide. Awards are available to fixed-term faculty as well as to those with annual or indefinite tenure although such appointment status will be weighed as criterion 3, below, is applied.

The Process

1. Interested teaching faculty members should, using the form obtained from the Office of Grants and Sponsored Programs, submit a short proposal outlining proposed projects (along with summary of prior objectives and accomplishments--including copies of papers, articles, grant proposals--if awards were received in either of the preceding two summers) to their School Dean. The deadline is announced by the Provost's Office at the beginning of each academic year. The proposal must clearly specify an outcome or product of the project and show the relationship of that outcome to criteria for the award of the stipend. Proposals must make clear whether a full or a partial stipend is sought.

2. After review, the School Dean's will forward all proposals to the Assembly Personnel Committee for review.

3. A committee comprised of the School Deans, the Provost, the Director for Research and Sponsored Programs, the chair of the Assembly Personnel Committee and the President will select awardees. The results will be announced by the President.

Guidelines and Selection Criteria

The following guidelines and criteria will be employed in reviews of proposals:

1. The importance of the project to the proposer's development as a scholar or creator is the primary criterion that will be used to select successful proposals.

2. While the emphasis is upon scholarly or other creative development, the scholarship and creativity of teaching is also recognized. The stipend will not be used to fund curriculum development alone; however, pedagogy within every discipline may be approached in scholarly ways: i.e., through experimentation with new and creative methods that permit systematic analysis and conclusions regarding the results, the experiment and those results finding wider distribution through professional papers and publications. Pedagogically oriented proposals would be appropriate if they included each of these key elements of scholarship: creative experimentation, systematic analysis of findings, and professional presentation or publication of results.

3. The Faculty Scholars Program awards are a major investment by the University in the professional development of its most important resource: its teaching faculty. In making awards, the returns to the University and its programs must be weighed. Expectations concerning the extent of the continuing relationship between Eastern and the proposing faculty member will be considered. Matters of employment status -- e.g., clearly temporary fixed-term or fixed-term with an expectation of future contracts; full-time or part-time; nearing the date of a retirement commitment -- are relevant under this criterion. In all cases, awards will be contingent upon the recipient being an Eastern employee for the academic year following the summer award.

4. The proposal should succinctly describe the project in sufficient detail to indicate that it has been well conceptualized; maximum page limit for the body of the proposal is three pages. The page limit is firm. If, full or partial stipends have been received during either of the previous two summers, then a page must be attached, that page restating the objectives as originally proposed for each of the previous awards and the accomplishments for each of the previous awards, including any efforts, perhaps with the assistance of the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs, to obtain extra-mural support for the continuing support of projects initially funded through previous Faculty Scholar Program stipends. Include copies of articles, papers, grant proposals, or other results associated with the prior Faculty Scholar Program award.

5. The project should have a clearly identified and realistic set of objectives (including a tangible product) which may be reached by the beginning of the next academic year. Projects taking more time must still produce, by the beginning of Fall term, a tangible product which demonstrates appropriate progress toward the project's objectives. Preparation of a proposal for extra-mural support of a larger undertaking does constitute a "tangible project" and could, conceivably, be the only tangible project where a partial stipend is proposed.

6. The proposal should clearly indicate how the project will contribute to the faculty member's professional development by maintaining or increasing currency in the faculty member's discipline, thereby making the faculty member a more valuable employee of Eastern.

7. Past performance will be taken into account as an indicator of future potential in the review of proposals.

8. Lower priority is attached to proposals that involve converting elements of a dissertation into an article or book, proposals that continue previously supported efforts, and proposals focusing on the preparation of articles or other reports on data previously acquired.

9. The University uses other means to support attendance and scholarly presentations at professional meetings. Partial stipends will not be used to support such activities.

10. All preceding criteria equally apply to partial and to full stipends with the expectations for the benefits of the full stipend being proportionately greater, of course.

11. The professional effort associated with full stipends should be equivalent to 8 to 10 weeks of full-time commitment; the comparable figure for partial stipends is 2 to 3 weeks.

12. Faculty who have received full awards in the two preceding summers are not eligible for a full award in the third consecutive summer. Faculty may receive awards in three consecutive summers as long as at least one of the awards is a partial award. Faculty who receive awards in three consecutive summers are not eligible for any award, partial or full, in the fourth consecutive summer."

13. While funding is almost always for research or other creative activity to be undertaken during the summer, research that can ONLY be done during other periods of the year could be considered (e.g., research involving children in classrooms). Any faculty member interested in such a possibility should discuss it with the appropriate school dean to consider whether teaching and other commitments might allow an adjustment from the usual pattern of stipends being taken in the summer.

The Faculty Scholars Program stipend, because of the source of the funds, may only be used for salary and associated salary benefits. The funds cannot be used, for example, for supplies, equipment, or travel.

Proposals which are funded along with summary reports or tangible products will be made available each year for faculty through Eastern's Web.

Report

At the completion of the proposed and funded activity, the faculty member files a report with the Provost's Office. This report should detail the accomplishments of the activity, specifically in terms of the criteria for awards listed above (e.g., "professional development," "tangible product") and the specific activities proposed in the original proposal. The report should be presented by the middle of the academic term in which the faculty member resumes normal responsibilities.

[Responsible for Accuracy: Chip Ettinger, Research and Sponsored Programs Director.10/27/00 - Last Verified: Not Yet]