Faculty Recognition & Funding Opportunities – March 2019
RECOGNITION:
Olga Bush, Visiting Scholar of Hispanic Studies, was nominated as one of four finalists for the College Art Association's 2019 Charles Rufus Morey Book Award for distinguished work in art history for her volume, Reframing the Alhambra: Architecture, Poetry, Textiles and Court Ceremonial (Edinburgh University Press, 2018). A presence at Vassar since 1983, Professor Bush has taught in Art History, Hispanic Studies and Africana Studies, and also holds the appointment of Visiting Associate Professor of Islamic Art at Bard College.
Mita Choudhury, Professor of History, is co-editor of Belief and Politics in Enlightenment France, newly published by Liverpool University Press (2019) for its Oxford University Studies in the Enlightenment series. Co-edited with Daniel J. Watkins of Baylor University, the volume examines how Jansenist belief shaped enlightenment ideas, cultural identities, social relations and politics in France throughout the eighteenth century. Commissioned in honor of Dale K. Van Kley, leading specialist on religion and politics in the Old Regime and the French Revolution, these essays challenge the idea of an inherent opposition between faith and Enlightenment, and illustrate how belief, Enlightenment, and Revolution coexisted and co-mingled in different contexts: politics and political culture, the social and cultural history of ideas, and the history of material culture.
Curtis Dozier, Visiting Assistant Professor of Greek & Roman Studies, received the 2018 Public Scholarship Award from the Women's Classical Caucus of the Society for Classical Studies for his website Pharos: Doing Justice to the Classics. Professor Dozier's Pharos platform documents and responds to hate groups' appropriations of Greco-Roman antiquity and has been covered in The New Statesman, The Baffler, The Nation, Ploughshares, and on the podcast History Talk: Origins.
Barry Lam, Associate Professor of Philosophy, was selected by the Whiting Foundation as a 2019-2020 Whiting Fellow for Public Engagement. The Fellowship will advance the technical and editorial caliber of Professor Lam's successful philosophy podcast, Hi-Phi Nation, and focus an entire season on the myriad philosophical issues surrounding a single American institution: our justice system. Distributed by Slate, Hi-Phi Nation has garnered extensive praise for its compelling narratives and profiles that probe subjects ranging from the philosophy of statistics to just war theory, making big ideas accessible and promoting philosophical literacy through deep thinking about the values that underpin our lives.
Bojana Zupan, Assistant Professor of Psychological Science, was granted an Academic Research Enhancement Award (AREA) by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for her project, “Intergenerational programming of dopamine neurotransmission by maternal fragile X protein”, a research effort that may lead to increased understanding of causes of autism and other such disorders. Funded via the National Institute of Mental Health through NIH's Research Enhancement Awards mechanism, the project will include several Vassar undergraduate students as collaborators in study of the developmental effects of deficiencies in maternal Fragile X protein, which has been linked to intellectual instability and other behavioral characteristics linked to autism.
Upcoming Funding Opportunities:
MARCH 25: The Environmental Research Institute (ERI) is a research and public outreach wing of Vassar’s Environmental Studies program. ERI’s mission is to provide opportunities for faculty and students to conduct research on Earth’s environmental systems, to promote fieldwork, and to foster engagement with the local community. Faculty research can be funded up to $5000, and there are funds to support faculty travel to environment-themed meetings, and funding for students is also available! ERI is interested in broadening the pool of people funded through all these opportunities, so please consider applying! Applications are due March 25, 2019. For instructions and more information, visit ERI online: http://pages.vassar.edu/eri/faculty-funding/
MARCH 29: The Committee on Research awards funds for all phases of faculty research, and is now accepting applications for funding for the Spring 2019 cycle! All faculty members on tenure track lines, emeriti, and faculty on continuing contracts are eligible to apply. Instructions and the application forms are available at: http://pages.vassar.edu/researchcommittee. This cycle, the Committee offers two proposal processes: One is for proposals for the multi-year pilot program; the second is for standard project proposals, for small grants not to exceed $5,000 over an 18-month period. Please be sure to read the instructions prior to preparing your proposal because some changes were made to the restrictions on funding categories in 2017. Applications are due by 5PM, Friday, March 29, via email to researchcommittee@vassar.edu. If you have any questions about eligibility or the application process, please consult the Committee Chair, Kate Susman (kasusman@vassar.edu). If you have questions about accessing the site or the files, contact the researchcommittee@vassar.edu.
APRIL 1: The Frances D. Fergusson Faculty Technology Exploration Fund has been created to encourage faculty members to explore the ways in which technology can enhance their teaching or research. Such technologies can include both computer software and peripheral devices. The deadline for spring 2019 applications is April 1.
APRIL 1: The Carolyn Grant '36 Endowment encourages the integration of experiential and imaginative processes and other kinds of embodied learning into the lives of members of the Vassar community. The Endowment supports ongoing education, professional development, and training that would lead to innovations in course development, teaching and curricular design. The Endowment funds such expenses as: the cost of attending workshops, pursuing off-campus collaborations, the cost of equipment or supplies for courses, and the cost of bringing teachers or scholars to campus in connection with a course. Proposals should offer a succinct description of the project and the course to be developed or modified by the use of Endowment funds. Please include the pedagogical methods and goals of that course, particularly as they address the Endowment’s purposes, along with a breakdown of anticipated expenses for the undertaking (grants generally range from $300-1500 though can be as high as $3500). Application forms are available online at http://carolyngrantendowment.vassar.edu/apply/. Please download this form, respond to each question, and email as an attachment to Lori Buckey in the Grants Office at lbuckey@vassar.edu. The submission deadline is 5PM, Monday, April 1.
MAY 10: The Alliance to Advance Liberal Arts Colleges (AALAC) invites collaborative workshop proposals with colleagues from other member colleges on subjects of mutual interest for the 2020 calendar year. Designed and organized by the faculty, the workshops may focus on topics relating to research, curricula, or pedagogy and, where relevant, may be either disciplinary or interdisciplinary. The workshops may take place during the academic year or summer and may be held on member institution campuses or may extend a stay at professional meetings by a day or two. Instructions for submission and other information regarding proposals is available here. The deadline for submitting proposals to the Dean of the Faculty Office is May 10. Please send proposals in PDF format to deansoffice@vassar.edu. If you have any questions or wish to discuss ideas that you may have, please contact Teresa Garrett at tegarrett@vassar.edu.
MAY 13: The Consortium on High Achievement and Success (CHAS) has announced its 2019 Faculty Grants Program! The Consortium will award grants of up to $6,500 to faculty members from any discipline. Both individuals and groups from member institutions may submit applications. The grants must undertake research focused on enhancing the faculty’s role in promoting the high achievement and success of all students, with a particular focus on promoting the success and satisfaction of underrepresented students. The deadline for submission is May 13, and the Request for Proposals is available here. Please contact the CHAS office with any questions you may have about the application process or about your proposal at karla.spurlockevans@trincoll.edu. Examples of past grant awards are available at: https://commons.trincoll.edu/chas/2011/09/06/past-award/
Extramural Funding Opportunity Highlights:
Social Sciences
May 1: (letters of inquiry) The William T. Grant Foundation is accepting applications for its Research Grants on Reducing Inequality program, which supports field-initiated studies relevant to policies and practices that affect the lives of young people between the ages of 5-25 in the United States. Investigations into various systems, including justice, housing, child welfare, mental health, and education are encouraged. The program seeks research that builds, tests, and increases understanding of approaches to reducing inequality in youth outcomes, especially on the basis of race, ethnicity, economic standing, language minority status, and/or immigrant origins and is also interested in research dedicated to programs, policies, and practices designed to reduce inequality in academic, social, behavioral, and economic outcomes. The foundation does not have a preference for a particular research design or method. Grants typically range between $100,000 and $600,000 over two to three years. In addition to financial support, grantees receive significant time and capacity-building assistance from the foundation. Letters of Inquiry are due May 1, 2019. Upon review, selected applicants will be invited to submit a full proposal. See the William T. Grant Foundation website for more information.
Humanities
June 19 : National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Digital Humanities Advancement Grants (DHAG) support digital projects at different stages, from early start-up phases through implementation and sustainability. Experimentation, reuse, and extensibility are hallmarks of this program, leading to innovative work that can scale to enhance scholarly research, teaching, and public programming in the humanities. Proposals are welcome for digital initiatives in any area of the humanities.
Through a special partnership with NEH and pending the availability of appropriated funds, the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) anticipates providing additional funding to this program to encourage innovative collaborations between museum or library professionals and humanities professionals to advance preservation of, access to, use of, and engagement with digital collections and services. IMLS and NEH may jointly fund some DHAG projects that involve collaborations with museums and/or libraries.
Digital Humanities Advancement Grants may involve: creating or enhancing experimental, computationally-based methods, techniques, or infrastructure that contribute to the humanities; pursuing scholarship that examines the history, criticism, and philosophy of digital culture and its impact on society; or conducting evaluative studies that investigate the practices and the impact of digital scholarship on research, pedagogy, scholarly communication, and public engagement. For detailed guidelines and instructions, visit NEH online: https://www.neh.gov/grants/odh/digital-humanities-advancement-grants
Many more NEH grant programs are available! See the full list here.
Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics
Rolling (letters of intent) Simons Foundation is accepting applications to its Targeted Grants in Mathematics and Physical Sciences (MPS) Program, which supports projects of exceptional promise and scientific importance in theoretical mathematics, physics, and computer science with flexible funding for up to five years. Although the emphasis of the program is theory, projects with some experimental components may be considered. The program is intended to support high-risk theoretical mathematics, physics and computer science projects of exceptional promise and scientific importance on a case-by-case basis. While there are no fixed guidelines, projects at the single- or few-PI scale that might be funded by Federal agencies would not normally be considered under the Targeted Grants in MPS program. Letters of Intent (LOIs) are accepted on a rolling basis, and applicants will be noted of a decision within two months. Visit the Simons Foundation online for complete program guidelines, instructions, and more: https://www.simonsfoundation.org/grant/targeted-grants-in-mps/?tab=rfa
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