CALL FOR PROPOSALS:

HarwardCenterGrants forPublicly-Engaged Academic Projects

Contact: David Scobey, Director (), HarwardCenterfor Community Partnerships (786-6202)

The HarwardCenterfor Community Partnerships is pleased to announce a new round of its grant program to support publicly-engaged research, curricular, teaching, artistic, and culturalprojects. The HarwardCenterseeks to foster the integration of civic and community engagement with the scholarly, pedagogical, and creative work of Bates faculty and staff. We invite intellectually innovative and ambitious proposals that will enrich both community life and the College’s educational mission.

Goals

Harward Center Grants are intended tosupport a wide array of publicly-engaged academic projects. These may include (but are not limited to) community-based research, public scholarship and non-scholarly writing, curriculum and course development, the development or deepening of community partnerships, and public art and cultural projects. We invite proposals not only for local partnerships and projects, but also for regional, state-wide, intercultural, national, and transnational initiatives that need have no immediate link to our local community. Along with projects that extend student learning and undergraduate research, we invite proposals for research, creative, and communicative workthat do not involve Bates undergraduates. Grants are open to all intellectual and artistic fields. They are meant to encourage bothexisting work by service-learning “veterans”and new areas of public work by Bates faculty and staff.

Eligibility

Harward Center Grants are open to all Bates faculty (both tenure-track and non-tenure-track), as well as all staff working on educational, creative, and scholarly projects. Faculty and staff may apply individually or in project teams. Students may participate as members of project teams, but the Principal Investigator(s) must belong to the College faculty or staff. Proposals developed with strong community participation are especially encouraged.

Funding

Harward Center Grants will be awarded twice a year, selected by faculty committee. It is anticipated thattwo to four grants will be awarded during in each selection process. Grants will generally offer a maximum of $6000, but as many as two grants annually may be awarded to fund replacement costsfor single course reductions for individual faculty members. Grant support can be used in the academic year, including Short Term, or in the summer. Funds may be requested for an array of activities, including (but not limited to):

  • Transportation, equipment, and other project expenses
  • Publication, production, or fabrication costs for public “deliverables” (such as reports, exhibitions, and websites)
  • Hiring of project support staff (student or non-student) or “special skills” staff (such as a graphic designer or statistician)
  • Conference or research travel
  • Summer stipendfor curriculum development, research, or scholarly writing generated by community projects

As specified in the application form, proposals should include a detailed budget (and where appropriate, a timeline) explaining the types and amounts of funding requested. Please include information about other funding sources from which the proposed project is seeking or has received support. Funding requests must work within College guidelines for computer purchase and support, work-study, and other existingareas of support for faculty development. Grantees may be given smaller awards than they requested. Because proposals for course reductionsmay be highly competitive, applicants seeking a course reduction are strongly encouraged to include an alternative plan andbudget for other forms of grant support.

(In addition to Harward Center Grants, the Service-Learning Program of the HarwardCenter continues to offer smaller Discretionary Grants, formerly called Faculty Service-Learning Grants. Usually up to $1000, these are available on a rolling basis to support service-learning activities in existing courses, including honoraria, travel, and project-related expenses. Faculty may also request Discretionary Grants as seed funding for the planning and development of larger community projects. For more information, contact Holly Lasagna of the Service- Learning Program.)

ProjectGuidelines

The HarwardCenteraims to stimulate and support projects of many types and across many issues and fields. Grants might support, for instance:

  • courses and projects that meet the needs of local cultural institutions, social service agencies, or environmental organizations
  • action research or public scholarship that creates significant knowledge with, or help to build capacity for, public partners
  • action research, service-learning, or public work with community collaborators in international settings
  • public art or cultural projects, such as exhibitions, performances, installations, place-making or website design
  • scientific, mathematical, technological, and environmental projects that meet community needs
  • curriculum development that integrates community-based work within departmental curricula, general-education clusters, or pathways to senior thesis research
  • projects that integrate community-based work or service-learning into Short Term, summer study, study abroad, thesis, or other non-classroom educational experiences
  • scholarly or public writing that grows out of faculty research or teaching in and with communities
  • community partnerships that enable new interdisciplinary formations in the Bates curriculum, such as public health or community media
  • research projects that bring scholarship and liberal learning to bear on significant issues of public policy or social justice
  • projects that develop new assessment or documentation practices for service-learning or community partnerships

We are mindful that differentprojects and settings require various models of public work; we invite proposals with diverse geographies, issues, disciplines, and goals. Generally, however, the Harward Center Grants aim to encourage work that isgrounded in an ethos of collaboration and dialogue between campus and community; work that emerges out of genuine partnerships or serious civic participation; work whose academic and civic benefits are sustained and long-term.

Criteria for selection include:

  • quality, rigor, and feasibility of proposed work;
  • quality of collaboration with, orbenefit to,the larger community;
  • benefit to curriculum, pedagogy, and student education;
  • benefit to faculty research and intellectual development;
  • sustainability of project partnership;
  • tangible product (either public or scholarly);
  • plans for documentation and assessment.

Proposals for course releaseshould demonstrate ongoing benefit to the scholarly, educational or civic mission of Bates through the development of new research, curricular opportunities, or sustained project partnerships.

Building a Community of Practice

Grantees will be expected to report on their work to the HarwardCenter and to present their work in the Center’s Public Works In Progress series,open to the campus community and the public.

Application Process

Applicants should submit six copies of their proposals to the Harward Center for Community Partnerships (161-163 Wood Street) by the end of business on Friday, December 1, 2006 (first selection round), or Friday, March 2, 2007 (second selection round). An additional copy should be given to the applicant’s chair or supervisor. Applicants will be notified of the Selection Committee’s decision approximately one month after submission deadlines.

Please contact David Scobey () at the Harward Center For Community Partnerships (x6202) with any questions.

APPLICATION MATERIALS

HarwardCenter Grants forPublicly-Engaged Academic Projects

  1. Name, department, and contact information for applicant(s). If departments, programs, or other units are applying, please list the faculty or staff who will be serving as Principal Investigator(s).
  1. Title of proposed project, with 50-100 word abstract.
  1. Proposal statement. In no more than three single-spaced pages, please describe the proposed work, its goals or rationale, its planned outcomes or products, and its public and/or educational significance with respect to the criteriafor the Harward Center Grants.
  1. Chronology. Either in the proposal or on a separate sheet,please specify the period for which you are seeking support. Where appropriate, include a timeline of the proposed work or the longer-term project of which it forms a part.
  1. Budget. Please include a 1-page budget statement specifying how the requested funding will be used to accomplish your proposed work. Please include information about other funding you have received or are seeking. Applicants seeking replacement funding for a course reduction are encouraged to consider submitting an alternative budget request in the event they are not successful.
  1. Supplementary materials may be (selectively) included as appropriate. Proposalsforwork with community partnerships shouldinclude letters of support from partners.

For questions, feel free to contact David Scobey () or Holly Lasagna (), HarwardCenter for Community Partnerships (786-6202).