Faculty Development Funding Opportunities

Full-Time Faculty

Part-Time Faculty

Undergraduate Student-Faculty Research Support

Full-Time Faculty
(appointments of 0.50 FTE or greater)

Faculty Enhancement Grants are administered by the Faculty Development Committee appointed by the Faculty Senate. The Committee supports a broad range of scholarly activities, including activities that promote the discovery, integration, or application of knowledge; develop community partnerships or have a significant professional or community service component; promote effective teaching or innovative curricular development; are of an interdisciplinary nature or have the involvement of multiple faculty; are in keeping with the major general initiatives in the areas of health, the environment, international affairs, educational reform, information technology, and organizational effectiveness; or have a significant impact on the professional development of the faculty members involved. Award amounts may change based on the Collective Bargaining Agreement with the Portland State University chapter of AAUP. Awards are effective July 1 of the succeeding year.

Faculty Professional Travel awards are a group of awards that will also be administered by the Faculty Development Committee. These awards match grant, contract, department or personal funds and assist faculty in presenting the products of their scholarly work. Award amounts may change based on the Collective Bargaining Agreement with the Portland State University chapter of AAUP. Awards must be used prior to June 30 each year.

Institutional Career Support awards support faculty development plans resulting from faculty peer review of post-tenure faculty. The procedures for review and plan development are outlined in Article 16 of the Collective Bargaining Agreement with the PSU chapter of AAUP. Awards are made in the spring. Award amounts may change based on the Collective Bargaining Agreement with the Portland State University chapter of AAUP.

The Provost's PSU Foundation Faculty Development Awards are small grants for supporting scholarly activities for tenure-related faculty who have not yet received tenure. Particular attention will be given to requests for activities that share scholarly work with a national/international audience and incoporate community partners and/or demonstrate positive impact on communities. Funds are provided by the PSU Foundation, and proposals are reviewed within The Office of Academic Affairs. Funds must be spent by June 30 each year. There is no application form. Application should be in the form of a letter that summarizes the proposed development activities and anticipated benefits. Please include a brief budget. Applications should be emailed to Donna Bergh. Note that faculty salary or release time will not be awarded through this funding program.

  • Annual funding available: $12,000
  • Awards: up to $1,000
  • Due date: October 30 of each year.  Because of the large number of applications, no late applications will be reviewed this year. 
  • Contact: Donna Bergh, OAA, 5-5256

The Diversity Mini-Grant Awards. For more information on these mini-grants, please call the contact listed below.

The Academic Innovation Mini-Grant Program (AIM) is administered by the Center for Academic Excellence to support faculty development and community-university partnerships. Four Mini grants (described below) are available this year in amounts ranging from $500-$1,500.

Converting a Traditional Course to a Hybrid Course (AIM). Eight PSU instructors will be selected to participate in a series of four workshops aimed at converting a traditional course to a hybrid course (i.e., 50% in-class and 50% online delivery). In addition, participants will receive design and development support for course delivery Spring term, 2010.

  • Funding available: $4,000
  • Awards: $500
  • RFP released: September 21, 2009
  • Due date: October 30, 2009
  • Contact: Patrice Hudson, CAE, 5-8327.

Faculty Fellow for Partnerships (AIM). Faculty who are interested in initiating community-university partnerships to develop curricular engagement and related scholarly opportunities for themselves and their students are invited to participate in the Faculty Fellows for Partnerships program. Participants can expect to be a part of a multi-disciplinary learning community of faculty who are all similarly interested and new to community-university partnership development. Resources and curricular development support will be provided.

  • Funding available: $5,000
  • Awards: $500
  • RFP released: September 21, 2009
  • Due date: October 30, 2009
  • Contact: Patrice Hudson, CAE, 5-8327.

Community-engaged Research Scholars (AIM) *. Experienced faculty who are actively engaged in scholarly projects that intentionally bridge campus and community are encouraged to apply to participate in the Community-engaged Research Scholars program. Participants can expect to be a part of a multi-disciplinary learning community of faculty who are involved in community-engaged research projects that regularly interface with community members outside the academy. Participants will develop a case study of their research project as a means to help PSU develop common metrics for excellence in community-engaged research. * This program is jointly sponsered by the PSU Office of Research Administration and CAE-CUP

  • Awards: $1,500
  • RFP released: September 21, 2009
  • Due date: October 30, 2009
  • Contact: Patrice Hudson, CAE, 5-8327.

Academic Portfolio Development (AIM). Faculty anticipating review of their academic work will benefit from participating in the learning community, which investigates the purposes served by academic portfolios and the advantages they offer. Faculty will explore the academic portfolio and its practical expression at PSU through developing their own portfolio, as well as through reviewing literature on portfolios, tenure and promotion review processes, and on the scholarship of teaching and learning.
Members of this AIM group will participate in a campus-wide forum on portfolio development in May, 2010; and must also attend at least three of four AIM group meetings during winter and spring terms 2010.

  • Funding available: $5,000
  • Awards: $500
  • RFP released: November 16, 2009
  • Due date: December 15, 2009
  • Contact: Patrice Hudson, CAE, 5-8327.

Internationalization Mini-Grant Awards support the University's Internationalization Strategy. The Strategy seeks to broaden the understanding and involvement of the campus community with the global community through curricular integration, travel abroad opportunities, increasing the international presence on campus, and engagement with others throughout the region, state, nation and around the world. Award funds must be spent by June 30th each year.

  • Funding available: $15,000
  • Awards: Approximately $1,000
  • Due date: October 30, 2009
  • Contact: Gil Latz, International Affairs, 5-5350

Part-Time Faculty
(appointments less than 0.50 FTE)

The Faculty Education Fund provides support for tuition when part-time faculty enrolled in Portland State University courses. Fees to faculty are limited to a per course credit per the Collective Bargaining Agreement with the Portland State University Faculty Association. (See appendix D at the end of the Agreement.) The fund is available to support instructional fees for one Portland State course per term; other fees are not covered. Eligible part-time faculty are those who have worked at Portland State for at least two terms and who have been members of the Portland State University Faculty Association (PSUFA) bargaining unit in the current or previous academic year. PSUFA and the University certify eligibility for these awards.

The Professional Development Fund for Part-Time Faculty covers the cost of research, travel, and conference attendance related to responsibilities at the University. Eligibility is limited to faculty who have taught for at least six terms at Portland State University, are members of the PSUFA bargaining unit, and have reasonable expectations of continuing university employment. Funding decisions are made by the Provost.

Undergraduate Student-Faculty Research Support

Scholarly and Creative Activity Grants for Undergraduates are designed to encourage students in every discipline across the campus to be involved in substantive ways in scholarly research or creative activities with a Portland State University faculty member. The emphasis of this initiative is to provide a high quality experience for undergraduates by introducing them to the research or creative paradigms and practices of a discipline through close working relationships with faculty. The collaborative faculty-student interactions and mentoring that occur as part of involvement in research or creative endeavors constitute a valuable and rich source of learning and contribute greatly to students' educational experiences. The Undergraduate Scholarly and Creative Activity Grants are designed to encourage faculty and students to initiate substantive student involvement in research or creative activities. Any undergraduate Portland State University student who is in good academic standing and is enrolled for a minimum of 8 credit hours is eligible. This year we are fortunate to have support from the Maybelle Clark Macdonald Foundation (a grant through the Center for Academic Excellence) for projects related to research on participatory action community issues, especially marginalized populations, homeless, at-risk youth and other social issues, and from the Rose E. Tucker Foundation.

  • Funding available: Up to $25,000
  • Awards: Up to $1,000 of support
  • Due date: November 30 each year
  • Contact: Robert Halstead, OAA, 5-5252