Deadline: 4 February 2019
Bringing Theory to Practice (BTtoP) has announced a new funding opportunity for colleges, universities, and other higher education organizations.
Grant awards of up to $7,000 will support multi-institutional collaborations that advance—through innovative practices, programs, policies, or research—the core educational purposes to which BTtoP is committed. These grants are relatively modest, but their aim is ambitious: to catalyze innovation projects that bring institutions together in sustained collaboration.
Potential Themes and Activities of Grant Projects
- Within this general mandate, they invite proposals with a wide range of potential themes, activities, and modes of institutional partnership. Successful projects may focus on any of the four intertwined core purposes to which BTtoP is committed:
- Active and integrative learning
- Student well-being
- Civic engagement
- Preparation for meaningful work
- They especially welcome proposals that model the interdependence among these goals. Proposals may focus on the collaborative development of innovative practices among partnering campuses, on the co-creation of curricula and/or co-curricula, on research that tests and demonstrates the value of shared innovations, among other possibilities. Possible proposal initiatives, for instance, might include (but aren’t limited to):
- a summer institute for faculty and staff at partnering institutions, which designs programs or courses linking academic inquiry with students’ work aspirations
- an examination of and report on best practices for supporting the well-being of underserved students in institutions with diverse missions and student bodies
- the planning of a community education center by colleges and universities from different sectors within the same community
- the development of faculty-to-faculty partnerships that support transfer between two- and four-year institutions
- a training institute that prepares graduate students from research institutions for teaching and mentoring in non-research institutions
- the convening of faculty, staff, and students from diverse sectors to develop a shared, cohort-based student leadership program
- a research project that investigates the barriers to high-impact practices for adult, working students
Eligibility Criteria
Multi-Institutional Innovation Grants are open to non-profit colleges and universities from all academic sectors. Associations and consortia are eligible to apply, but not for the support of their normal, ongoing collaborative activities. Proposed projects must include at least two partnering institutions, but larger partnerships are encouraged. They especially welcome proposals that bring together institutions from different academic sectors or with diverse educational missions.
How to Apply
Proposals should include:
- an information sheet listing all participating institutions or associations and the names and contact information of Principal Investigators (PI) or Co-Principal Investigators from each partner. These will be the primary point of contact for funding decisions, grant management, and other communications
- a proposal narrative of no more than 5 pages, laying out the project, its goals, activities, timeline, key participants and stakeholders, hoped-for outcomes or products, and plans for sustaining the collaborative project beyond the limits of the grant
- a project budget and budget narrative, including sources of matching contributions and categories of expenditures
- letters of endorsement from the President or relevant Chief Academic Officer of all partners, speaking to the partner’s commitment to the project and the collaborative relationship
- relevant biographical or organizational materials about key participants and stakeholders
How to Apply
Project proposals should be submitted by electronic attachment at the address given on the website.
For more information, please visit https://www.bttop.org/grants-funding/funding-opportunities