EI Curriculum Awards
OVERVIEW
The University of Oregon's Environment Initiative (EI) represents a campus-wide coordinated effort to create an intellectual and active hub focused on higher education's role and contribution to a just and livable future. The EI Seed Funding Program Curriculum Award is a vehicle to leverage curricular innovation that advances the EI Guiding Principles.
Proposals will be reviewed by members of the EI Faculty Advisory Committee. Final decisions will be made by the EI Executive Director.
Questions: Erin Moore, EI Director of Academic Programs (moore2@uoregon.edu) or Jill Elizabeth, EI Project Manager (jillf@uoregon.edu)
DUE: May 8th, 2023
PROGRAM GOALS
The EI Seed Funding Program requests proposals for new courses or new academic programs in the area of climate and environment that do one or more of the following:
- Build on existing academic program strengths for rigor, new challenges, and new tools;
- Raise academic program stature for national leadership and visibility;
- Meet existing demand and grow demand across campus in existing and new programs;
- Focus on teaching toward careers for real-world impact in building just and livable futures.
CURRICULUM AWARD CRITERIA
Successful award proposals will:
- Advance the EI Guiding Principles.
- Align with the award program goals described above.
- Build capacity in one or more curricular areas of interest: Climate studies, climate solutions, community resilience, renewable energy and energy decarbonization, environmental justice, environmental policy, food and water systems, environmental education, and/or ecology and environment.
We are particularly interested in proposals that connect leading-edge research and emerging knowledge with real-world impact by leveraging strengths across our professional schools, arts, and sciences and that connect the lived experiences of students with community-engaged impact.
TIMELINE
Dates Item Due
May 8, 2023 Full Proposal Due
Late May Faculty Review Panel
Mid-June Award Notifications
July 1, 2023 Start Date for Projects
Project Period: Project length is 1 year. Final reports are due June 15th, 2024.
ELIGIBILITY:
Applicants should be faculty at any rank who will be employed by the UO during the grant period. Proposals should include at least 2 principal faculty who are from different disciplines. Proposals are welcome from applicants who have previously received EI seed funding in the areas of research or curriculum.
BUDGET & USE OF FUNDS
Amount: $10,000 - $25,000 Length of project: Project period begins July 1st and ends June 15th. Note that 50% of the grant funds will be distributed at the time of the award; distribution of the remaining funds is contingent on a successful progress report after 6 months and a meeting with the EI to ensure work progress. Allowable costs: Funds may be used for costs necessary to develop a curricular proposal and move it through the University's approval process (consistent with university and state rules) including:
- Funding or replacing tenure track faculty salary or stipend, or for instructional release/course buyout
- Salary for non-tenure track faculty, graduate students, undergraduates, and/or technical personnel under the supervision of the curricular lead
- Travel: may include funds to support a planning workshop or faculty retreat, to host a distinguished speaker who will help initiate the project, or to travel for community engagement
- Equipment
- Materials and supplies
- Contractual services
- Other direct costs: e.g., core/shared facility use, speaker stipend
Ineligible costs:
- Replacing current funding from another internal or external source
- Renovation, remodeling, or alteration of research laboratories or core/shared facilities
APPLICATION COMPONENTS
Please submit a single PDF by email to EI Project Manager Jill Elizabeth (jillf@uoregon.edu), including the following components:
- Proposal Title
- Amount requested ($10 - $25k)
- Applicants: Name, rank, affiliation, and email address for each principal faculty
- Abstract: < 250-word proposal summary
- Narrative: < 3-page description of the proposal including background/rationale, interdisciplinary significance, relationship to Program Goals and Curriculum Award Criteria, scope of work, and projected outcomes
- Work plan: < 2-page work plan including fund use and budget justification, collaborator roles and responsibilities, other key personnel, plan for completing the work, and schedule of outcomes
- Documentation of support: Letters from unit heads for each principal faculty member that document familiarity with the proposal and endorsement of the proposal goals and work plan.
2023 Incubating Interdisciplinary Initiatives
The I3 program funds interdisciplinary teams and helps them navigate challenges, including leaving familiar research territory, learning to communicate in new ways with colleagues in other fields, and developing novel approaches. The program is open to faculty members from all academic disciplines and puts a priority on ideas with high potential to lead to future external funding.
As part of integration with the university’s academic initiatives, funding may be available to support projects via the Environment Initiative and the Sport and Wellness Initiative as a way to increase the number of meritorious proposals funded for this cycle. Projects considered for funding by Initiatives must directly advance key strategic goals of the program.
For more information, visit the I3 webpage on the Office of the Vice President for Research and Innovation website.