Summary

The Faculty Development and Research Committee has established a limited number of competitive SOAR Grant Development Appointments to promote grant writing by faculty members of Central Washington University. The SOAR Grant Development Appointment provides reassigned time to develop a grant proposal for a clearly identified target funding source supporting research, scholarship, creative activities, teaching, and/or program development. This appointment is similar to the Faculty Research Appointment (FRA), but there are two fundamental differences: (1) the SOAR Grant Development Appointment has a specific focus on targeted grants, whereas the FRA requires only extramural potential for grants or dissemination, and (2) the SOAR Grant Development Appointment does not require that the grant-seeking work be directed towards traditionally-defined scholarly activity.

Eligibility

The applicant must have a full-time, continuing academic year faculty appointment at the rank of assistant professor or higher. Applicants on professional leave or unpaid leave of absence are not eligible for academic year appointments. It is expected that the faculty member shall return to the University for one academic year following completion of the SOAR Grant Development Appointment. Applications must be endorsed by the Department Chair and College Dean. Faculty may apply for both the SOAR Grant Development Appointment and the Faculty Research Appointment, but cannot be awarded both appointments for the same academic year.

Support

The SOAR Grant Development Appointment is for full-time or a percentage thereof for a maximum of three calendar months or ten weeks during summer quarter. For academic year leave, the Office of Graduate Studies, Research and Continuing Education will provide adjunct replacement funding. The stipend for summer research appointments will be $8,500. The usual employee benefits will be deducted from the amount. Appointees are faculty employees of Central Washington University regardless of their physical location, with the usual responsibilities pertaining to on-campus employment.

Stipulations

1. The applicant should expect to utilize the campus of Central Washington University as home base during the appointment period unless appropriate justification for off-campus activities is provided in the application.
2. No more than two appointments in a given quarter will be granted to any one department or program. Exceptions may be made for large departments (those with fifteen or more faculty). This stipulation does not apply to summer appointments.
3. Priority will be given to applicants who have not received a Grant Development Appointment or Faculty Research Appointment in the previous fiscal year. A faculty member can receive no more than one appointment in a given fiscal year.
4. For those applicants who have received previous Faculty Development and Research Committee funding, past performance, as judged by the quality of the final report and publications, will be a consideration.
5. Projects that can be interpreted as institutional or departmental research are not eligible.
6. Projects that are related to completion of degree requirements are not eligible.
7. All faculty who receive this award must submit an extramural grant proposal and be deemed the project director/principal investigator before applying again.

The application

The application with complete instructions is available from the faculty funding portion of the Forms and Documents page.

Additionally, you may find it helpful as you prepare your application to review both a successful SOAR grant application or some examples of common feedback from SOAR applications.

Review and Evaluation of Applications

The application must be approved by the Department Chair and the appropriate College Dean before submission to the Faculty Development and Research Committee (FDRC). Each member of the Committee will receive a copy of the submitted application for purposes of review and recommendation. In order to qualify for review, applications must provide a funding source name, contact name, and documentation of contact with the funding agency. In addition, the planned extramural grant must be for a minimum of $30,000.

Evaluation of applications will take into account the following criteria:

1. Abstract clarity (5 points)
2. Project description clarity and scholarship (20 points)
   1. merit (20 points)
   2. impact (20 points)
3. Action Plan/Methods (20 points)
4. Extramural Potential (5 points)
5. References cited (10 points)
6. Funding Source (judged acceptable/not acceptable)
7. Evidence of funding source contacts (judged acceptable/not acceptable)
8. Proposed grant budget (judged acceptable/not acceptable)

Additionally, special consideration will be made for submissions by applicants who have not received FDRC funding (CWU Research Appointments, Seed Grants) in the past five years.

Recommendations on proposals are made by a vote of the Committee. The FDRC Chair (Director of University Research) does not vote except to break ties.

Deadlines

Deadlines for submitting applications to the Faculty Development and Research Committee for review and recommendation will be October 15, January 15, and March 15. In the event one of these dates falls on a weekend or holiday, the due date will be the next business day. Applications must be delivered to the Office of Graduate Studies and Research before 5:00 p.m. on the deadline date; those received after the deadline will not be considered until the next scheduled review session. Applications must be complete at time of submission, including signed approvals by the Department Chair and College Dean. The Committee will review the proposals and notification to applicants will generally occur within one month following each announced deadline date.

Final Report

Within three months after the end of the appointment, the faculty member will submit a detailed report of activities and results to the Chair of the Faculty Development and Research Committee.