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This section provides an overview of the councils and general guidelines
for preparing proposals for the Quality of Instruction Council, the Student Research Council, and the Public Service Council. Applicants should also
refer to the specific guidelines for the program to which they are applying.
Introduction
to the Councils
Proposal
Preparation Process
Criteria
for Review
Eligible
and Ineligible Expenses
Award
Conditions and Procedures
Instructions
for Competing the Cover Page and Budget Form
The programs of the Student Research Council (URC) are designed to
promote a vital and productive students. All operate out of the Office
of the Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs. The projects and
programs sponsored by the Vincentian
Endowment Fund seek to enhance the Catholic and Vincentian characteristics
of the University. The Endowment Fund is chaired by the Senior Executive
for Mission, appointed by the president, and other representatives of
the Vincentian and University community.
All programs are intentionally competitive in nature to ensure the best
use of available funds and to encourage the development of proposal-writing
skills. Because proposals generally are judged without regard to applicants'
identities and notices of unsuccessful applications are not sent to department
chairs or deans, students are encouraged to experiment with projects appropriate
to the purposes of each program. Samples of successful proposals are available
for review.
The Councils will serve as review boards for teaching and research projects
devoted to issues of multiculturalism. Richard Meister, Executive Vice
President for Academic Affairs, announced this five-year program in 1994.
Project budgets submitted to the Councils under the multicultural initiatives
may, in extraordinary circumstances, exceed the program guidelines, but
may not exceed $5,000. Multicultural initiatives are considered at the
same time as regular council programs.
The council guidelines are divided into two parts. This section includes
general guidelines about working with all three Councils:
- the proposal preparation process;
- criteria for review;
- eligible and ineligible expenses;
- award conditions and procedures;
- standard cover sheet and budget form.
For all information about grant opportunities supported by individual
schools and colleges, please write or call the staff members for those
programs listed under Deadlines.
.
1. At the beginning of each academic year, all students receive a copy
of the brochure describing all Student Research Council programs. If
you need another set of forms, please see your professor.
2. You professor is available to answer questions about making an application.
Draft proposals may be submitted for review to the profesor at least one
week prior to the due date.
3. Application due dates are firm, see Council
Deadlines. If a due date falls on a weekend, the due date will be
the first Monday after the normal date.
4. No more than one proposal per deadline may be submitted by any person
to a single program. Applicants may submit different proposals at the
same deadline date to different programs. Applicants may be the principal
investigator on only one proposal per program per deadline, but may be
co-investigators on other proposals submitted at the same time.
5. The length of URC proposals should be not more than 5 double-spaced
pages in no less than a ten point font. If the proposal contains technical
errors (length, signatures, missing parts), it will be returned to the
applicant for correction before being reviewed by the Council. Proposals
must be signed to be considered.
6. Proposals involving the use of technology benefit from prior consultation
with Academic Technology Development,
the Libraries, and/or the Office
of Distance Learning. Faculty are urged to work with these departments
in developing technology-based initiatives.
7. Submit one copy of the proposal to your professor. Proposals should
be posted to the drop box on the course site on Blackboard. If you wish
to submit any appendices or other support material to the Council, submit
15 copies of it. The Councils' staff has the capacity to copy only the
basic application materials. If you submit slides or other material that
you wish to have returned, please indicate this in a cover letter.
8. Remove all identifying information from the material to be distributed
to the Council. Applicants' resumes are not distributed to the Council
members but are available for reference by the chair of the Councils.
9. If the proposed project involves released time paid by another source,
special facilities, or cost-sharing by a department or college, the project
director(s) must submit written endorsement from the appropriate chairs,
deans, or directors. Funding may be requested contingent upon obtaining
those endorsements, but no funds would be released on a successful application
until the Council receives the endorsements.
10. Proposals are considered at the next Council meeting after the due
date, usually within five weeks of the deadline. Applicants may call the
Chair four weeks after the deadline to receive informal notice of the
Council's decision on their applications. Written notice will be sent
to all applicants within four weeks of a Council meeting. The members
of the Council and the Chair are available to discuss the Council's evaluation
of your proposal, whether or not it was funded.
The Councils review proposals according to the general criteria listed
below and any specific criteria described in the program guidelines. Applicants
should carefully read and understand these criteria before writing a proposal.
The members of the Councils, as well as the Chair of the Councils and
her staff, are available for discussion of these guidelines.
- Does the abstract describe the project clearly and completely in non-technical
terms? Is the intended use of the funds stated? Abstracts of funded
proposals will be widely distributed, so please write them carefully.
- Does the statement of the project explain its significance persuasively
to an audience of academic readers most of whom are not expert in the
field of the proposal? Avoid jargon, acronyms, unexplained references,
and other bibliographic short cuts that might be appropriate to a narrow
readership.
- Does the description of the project offer a clear statement of goals
and objectives and a compelling argument for the project that demonstrates
the clarity of conceptualization?
- Does the statement of the project explain the place of this project
in the applicant's personal teaching, research, and/or service interests?
How does this work follow from previous efforts and how does it form
a framework and preparation for continuing work?
- Is the literature or bibliographic review appropriate to the project
and the field? Has the proposed work been situated in its field?
- In research proposals, does the review of the field persuade the readers
that this project would be a contribution?
- Does the plan of work address the objectives? Is the plan feasible?
- Are all aspects of the plan of work explained? Have you included any
assumptions which readers not in your field would not understand? Is
every choice explained (e.g., number of samples or tests, place, time,
product, method)?
- Have you included a realistic timeline?
- Do you describe specific outcomes (papers, articles, revised syllabus,
integration of new pedagogies) for your project?
- Is the budget clear, complete, well explained, and well documented?
Does the budget narrative explain the rationale for each figure? Is
each item of expense mentioned in the narrative accounted for in the
budget and each budget item discussed in the narrative?
- Are the sources of estimated costs provided?
- Are the duties of any requested personnel clearly defined, and the
wage or salary base provided? Are fringe benefits (7.65% for part-time
employees) budgeted for all requested personnel?
- Are the justifications for travel persuasive and the plans well developed?
Do they include specific dates and accommodation arrangements, and the
sources of the prices?
- Regarding equipment, have you provided the vendor and model, and comparative
information about other models which explain the basis of your choice?
If the equipment costs exceed $500, have you included cost-sharing with
your department, program, school, or college?
- If you have received DePaul funding in the past, how does it relate
to this request? How has your work advanced beyond that previously supported?
- If you have received external support for your work, or support from
other University organizations, how does it relate to the project submitted
to the Council?
- Have you consulted with the Office of Sponsored Programs and Research
about a long-range funding plan? What is your plan for supporting and
continuing your work after this proposal?
- Are the bibliographic references current and relevant?
- Regarding all requests for support for services, has there been appropriate
consultation with University offices to assure that the needs cannot
be covered with existing services? Are appropriate supporting documents
from University offices appended?
1. Expendable materials not ordinarily provided by a department, college,
or administrative office.
2. Temporary staff or contracted services necessary for research or creative
work (consultants, translators, laboratory assistants, clerical assistants,
typists, computer programmers, data analysts, editorial consultants, studio
technicians, fabricators, etc.). For DePaul part-time employees, include
benefits in your budget (7.65% for part-time, non-student employees and
for students employed during summer months).
3. Travel expenses (lodging, travel, meals) that are essential to a project.
Travel to conferences is not eligible except for student development as
part of a QIC project, or as a fully explained research need. All such
travel must be carefully justified.
4. Extraordinary telephone, word processing, photocopy, printing, or
postage expenses; extraordinary requests for library or archival materials,
including computer searches of bibliographic data bases.
5. Expenses associated with the production of a camera-ready version
of a completed manuscript as required by a publisher with whom the applicant
has a contract, and other expenses related to production under contract.
Indexing for books and texts published by not-for-profit publishers.
6. Equipment rentals, short-term leases, or purchases of durable equipment
essential for a project, and access fees to externally located equipment
that would be impractical for DePaul to acquire. Requests of over $500
for equipment require thorough justification as well as significant cost-sharing
from the department or college. The Department Chair or dean should provide
a statement of the department's level of support and a justification for
the equipment purchase.
7. External computing expenses when needs cannot be met through University
computing resources. In these cases, a letter from Information Technology
should be appended to your proposal, justifying the request to the Council.
8. Extraordinary library materials that cannot be purchased within current
budgets and cannot be obtained through usual channels. In these cases,
append correspondence from the Office of the Librarian justifying support
from the Council.
9. Other expenses approved by the Councils in accordance with University
policies.
1. Services or expendable materials ordinarily provided by a department,
college, or administrative office.
2. Compensation to participating faculty or full-time staff, or their
replacements (except the QIC Summer Stipends program and the PSC Service
Learning program).
3. Travel to conferences or for purposes not directly connected with
the project.
4. Acquisition of hardware or software for word processing or other routine
computing activities.
5. Expenses related to self-publishing.
6. Computer support provided by Information Technology.
7. Library support provided by the University Libraries.
8. Support for any other materials or services available through the
University.
9. Charges expended or encumbered before the announcement of a grant
from the Council. Awards are usually announced approximately one month
after the submission date.
10. Tuition waivers or expenses associated with obtaining a degree or
with acquiring basic knowledge in a field directly related to the field
of the applicant.
11. Sales tax (tax-exempt forms should be used).
12. Membership dues.
13. Expenses associated with the routine completion of an externally
funded project.
14. Other expenses prohibited by University regulation, or the Councils.
1. All grants will be administered by the project directors, in exactly
the same way as external grants are administered. One of the purposes
of the Councils is to give faculty members experience in the grants process,
both the preparation of applications and the administration of grants.
Awardees will receive a letter from the Associate Vice President for Academic
Affairs explaining the process for disbursing funds. In addition, grants
management workshops will be held in several times a year in order to
provide training to the new grantees on the management of their grants.
2. The Councils may recommend funding only a portion of the amount requested.
3. Awarded funds may be expended only for purposes stated in the proposal.
Budget reallocations must be approved by the Chair or Director of Academic
Support. Any substantial modification of the project itself must be approved
by the Council as a whole.
4. Principal investigators are responsible for any expenses that exceed
the terms of an approved grant.
5. All funds are disbursed and accounted for according to the University's
standard procedures, as supplemented by Council policy. Expenditure guidelines
are provided to awardees.
6. Grant funds must be expended within the specified grant period (see
individual program descriptions for length of grant period). After this
time, or in the event that a funded project reaches completion before
all authorized funds are expended, unused funds are retained by the Council
for redistribution.
7. If a project funded by the Councils receives duplicate funding from
an outside source prior to completion of the project, the duplicated DePaul
funds will be retained by the Council. External grants that provide supplementary
or related support will not affect the Council's awards.
8. Equipment and other durable items purchased with Council funds become
property of DePaul University, but ordinarily may be retained for further
on-campus use by the principal investigator(s).
9. Within one month after completing the funded portion of a project,
the principal investigator(s) are required to submit to the chairperson
of the Council a brief final report. The report should describe the activities
conducted during the grant period and address the achievement of the outcomes
outlined in the proposal (papers, articles, new syllabi, new pedagogies,
service projects).
All proposals submitted to the Public Service Council, Quality of Instruction
Council and Student Research Council should include the standard cover
page and budget form. Please photocopy each page and complete it. These
forms are also available in WordPerfect 6.1 and Microsoft Word 97 format.
Please e-mail John Burton, Director of Academic Support, to receive an
electronic copy of the forms or single click on the appropriate FORMS
LINK included at various points in these guidelines. All programs
except the Paid Leave Program are reviewed anonymously. The cover page
with applicant's personal information will not be sent to the Councils.
If more than one person is submitting the application, each person should
complete and sign a cover page. One person should be designated as the
project director.
The title should be brief and descriptive. Titles of Paid Leave applications
should refer to the project that will be occupy the leave time, not merely
the dates of the proposed leave.
Circle the name of the program to which you are applying. If the project
falls under the Multicultural Initiative, make sure to indicate which
Council should review the proposal.
For Competitive Grants, Summer Stipends, Departmental Initiatives, and
Conferences enter the total funding requested. For Paid Leaves, enter
the percentage of full salary you wish to receive while on leave.
For Competitive Grants, Summer Stipends, Departmental Initiatives, and
Conferences enter the project dates. For Paid Leaves, enter the requested
leave period in quarters or semesters.
All applications must be signed. Signature of the cover page indicates
acceptance of all applicable conditions and regulations described in this
book, as well as all applicable University regulations.
All proposals except applications for Paid Leaves and QIC Summer Stipends
should include the budget form. If the total project cost is greater than
the funding available through the Councils, indicate the source of the
additional funding in the appropriate column. Conference proposals should
also include any registration income. The budget form should be accompanied
by a budget narrative describing the source of the figures and short explanations
of each budget item.
All applications should include an abstract of not more than 10 lines
on a separate page.
The forms below may not appear correctly on your screen. You can either
download the forms by double-clicking on the Forms link, or you can receive
a hard copy of the forms from your professor.
FORMS
LINK
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