Background                         Award Administration
The Review Process            Current Awardees

 

General Information
The University Facilitating Fund and Dilthey Fellowships are internal sources of research funding available to University (non-medical) faculty on a competitive basis. The University Committee on Research (UCR) issues a request for proposals, reviews all submissions and ranks them based on the merits and design of the research, and on the clarity of the written proposal. At a meeting during which proposals are discussed, awards are made until all proposals recommended for funding are supported, or (as is usually the case) until allotted funds are exhausted. Funds are primarily intended to support faculty scholarship for which outside funding is unavailable, or to provide seed money for faculty that will help attract external funding in the future. Dilthey Fellowships specifically support interdisciplinary work.

These awards can include up to two months of summer salary support at a maximum of $4,000 per month and money for research expenses essential to the completion of the project (e.g., student support, supplies, and travel).

The timetable for the UFF and Dilthey award programs is as follows (subject to minor changes):

2008 Competition

Thursday October 18, 2007	Call for proposals sent to faculty
Thursday November 1, 2007	Committee meeting in Rice Hall
Friday January 4, 2008	Deadline for receipt of proposals
Thursday January 24, 2008	Proposals forwarded to the Committee for review
Thursday February 21, 2008	Reviews due from the Committee
Thursday February 28, 2008	Compiled reviews sent to the Committee
Tuesday March 4, 2008 Or Friday March 7, 2008	Committee meets to rank proposals (Dates for committee meeting tentative)
By April 2, 2008	Final decisions sent to faculty
Tuesday July 1, 2008	Funds available

Background
The UFF serves as a source of funding for new faculty, for faculty who work in areas less likely to attract external funding, and for faculty who are between sponsored projects. The UFF is administered by the Office of the Chief Research Officer with advice from the University Committee on Research (UCR). University-wide calls for proposals are sent out in late August of each year to regular full-time faculty members who will continue in service at the University the following academic year. The proposals are reviewed by the UCR and the recipients are notified in March; the money becomes available to them the following July.

The Dilthey Faculty Fellowships are named after Wilhelm Dilthey, a late nineteenth-century German philosopher who pioneered interdisciplinary methodologies. These awards are for individual or collaborative research in which the researcher(s) approaches the work from the perspectives of more than one discipline.

The Review Process
The UCR is a faculty panel divided into three necessarily broad areas of expertise: humanities and fine and performing arts; natural sciences, mathematics, and engineering; and social sciences, education, and business. The UCR members serve three-year terms, with one-third of the memberships turning over each year. While serving on the UCR, committee members are not permitted to submit proposals for either the UFF or Dilthey competitions.

The UFF and Dilthey proposals are read and evaluated by members of the UCR on the basis of serious scholarly merit, a clearly articulated research issue, detailed explanation of the implementation of the research, and prediction of the anticipated results. Winning proposals are presented in a coherent manner, understandable to the lay person. Faculty cannot submit the same proposal in the same year for both UFF and Dilthey funding.

Award Administration
The UFF and Dilthey awards provide faculty summer salary support. In addition these funds may be used for research expenses such as travel, printing, research assistance and supplies. Expenditures are administered by the Office of the Chief Research Officer and must be spent by the following June 30. UFF and Dilthey funding may not be used for major pieces of equipment, support for publication or presentation of research that has already been completed or course development. Funds not expended at the conclusion of the project revert to the UCR for reallocation.

For management instructions given to awardees please see this: UFF/Dilthey Instructions

For management instructions given to awardees please contact Kris Moen in the OCRO.

A number of faculty receive consecutive UFF awards, but must resubmit proposals each year showing significant progress in their research. There are required progress reports due the August following the end of the award.