Proposal timeline for the 2017-2018 academic year:

• Proposals are due on or before April 21, 2017 at 5:00 pm CST.
• Award notifications will be made by May 15, 2017

Fund information:

Rice University's Experiential Inquiry and Research Fund awards competitive grants of up to $30,000 to departments/units that oversee the curriculum of a major, area major, or interdisciplinary major/minor. Grants are intended to fund integration of experiential inquiry and research into the undergraduate curriculum of a major, area major, or interdisciplinary major/minor. Development and Enhancement Grants are for departments that have already used assessment to identify the strengths and weaknesses of their curricular inquiry and research scaffold or to enhance an existing initiative.  
 
Funds awarded will be for academic year 2017 - 2018 and cannot carry over to a second year.  Awarded departments/units agree to meet regularly with the Office of Inquiry Based Learning and other relevant academic support centers (Center for Teaching Excellence, Program in Writing and Communication, and Fondren Library) to design and implement  curricular activities.  Additionally, awarded departments will collaborate with the Office of Inquiry Based Learning to assess the curricular scaffold and student learning outcomes in accordance with SACSCOC.
 

Allowable Costs: 

• Course development and support: materials, supplies, and software to support inquiry-based learning; student travel, meals, and lodging associated with learning off campus; travel and meetings associated with working with off-campus partners  
• Co-curricular support: student conference travel, stipends for undergraduate research  
• QEP graduate fellows: graduate students trained by the Office of Inquiry Based Learning to support development and implementation of experiential inquiry and research into the curriculum (budgeted at $20/hour up to ten hours/week) 

Funding cannot be use to cover the following:  overhead or indirect costs, equipment, salary for faculty, external consultant fees, or capital projects.

Eligibility:

Teams with a minimum of three full-time faculty of mixed rank who have authority over a major, area major, or interdisciplinary major/minor are eligible to apply.
 

Review Process: 

Office of Inquiry Based Learning and the Faculty Advisory Committee will review proposals and consult with relevant Deans in making final award decisions. 
 

Selection Criteria:

Proposals will be evaluated according to the following criteria: 

• Identification of a department leadership team of tenured/tenure track and NTT faculty with influence and commitment to lead undergraduate curricular change
• Evidence of assessment that reveals strength and weaknesses of current curricular scaffold in experiential inquiry and research (see the Inquiry Scaffold) 
• Proposed impact of the initiative on the curricular scaffold
• Proposed impact on QEP student learning outcomes of the  QEP
• Number of students (both majors and non-majors) expected to participate in the curriculum 
• Justification for proposed budget and plan for sustaining the curricular changes beyond the period of the grant award 
• Statement of departmental resources to support curricular change (e.g., funding, faculty time)

How to Apply:

Please upload maximum 3-page project description, curriculum assessment, inquiry map, and budget as one pdf to ckq@rice.edu by April 21, 2017.  Proposals should include the following documents in PDF format:

1. A project description of no more than three pages (in 12-point type), including figures;
2. Curriculum map template that demonstrates scaffolded experiential inquiry and research in major, area major, or interdisciplinary major/minor;
3. Inquiry pathway assessment that provides evidence of needs identified in grant proposal;
4. A budget indicating how the requested funds would be expended and listing resources sought or acquired from other source;
5. A letter of support from the Chair of the department.

Questions:

For questions or feedback, please contact Caroline Quenemoen at (713) 348-4378 or ckq@rice.edu.