I was lucky enough to be able to attend a 4-day Grantseeking from A-Z workshop at PSU Harrisburg May 11-14th which included 2 excellent days of overviews from PSH faculty and staff from the Office of Research & Outreach followed by 2 more days of workshops with Jeremy T. Miner of U. Wisconsin – Eau Claire on Grantseeking: Secrets of Success.
Thanks especially go out to Lisa Allen, Anton Mulder, and Dr. Marian Walters, all from PSH, who hosted us for the week.
Why should an instructional designer get involved with grants? Three important reasons that I can see at this point: (1) campuses often struggle to provide funding for more than just the basics – so finding additional grant moneys for faculty development programs or tech purchases can make more things possible; (2) faculty work in research and publication can be enhanced by grant writing. When the research is SoTL-related or on the pedagogical underpinnings of undergraduate research or engaged scholarship, then many more opportunities for collaborative projects can present themselves! Grants can help to provide time, materials, equipment, and/or travel to complete projects and present results; (3) understanding faculty work always helps with any collaboration with faculty. The more we know about what faculty do, the readier we will be to provide resources, connections, ideas, and support.
While I can’t include everything here, I’d like to summarize the highlights. Feel free to contact me with questions or projects that might have a teaching & learning component about which we could discuss possible collaborations!!! I can’t write your grants, but I may be able to provide some insight to help you with the process!
A Few Highlights
* This process can be cyclical and mutually supportive to achieve multiple goals: research – grants – publications
* Grants aren’t just for big names only! Some agencies have a mandate to fund small colleges and new faculty
* Consider starting with small projects – get pilot data – and then work your way up from internal grants to larger external grants
* ALL EXTERNAL GRANTS MUST go through the Office of the Vice President for Commonwealth Campuses. Our campus contact is Lisa Wiedemer, CRA, Manager, University College Grant Relations, llw13@psu.edu. When you know you want to write for an external grant, you should contact Lisa immediately in the process. She is a consummate professional and will help you navigate the highly technical aspects (direct and indirect costs in budgets, etc.) and PSU policies.
* Work far ahead of your deadline to increase your chances.
* Consider grant writing a separate genre from your typical writing. Remember you are writing to satisfy a need/mission of your sponsor – not a need of your research! Consider tweaking your project to make a better case to meet the needs of sponsors – target groups
* Don’t just ask for equipment – Have a research question that supports your sponsor’s mission.. and in order to address the question/problem, you build your case to include the necessary equipment to do that job. How does your question fit their mission? Is it important? Is the answer worth finding? Is the process possible? Do you have the expertise on your team to carry it out?
*Focus on your strengths – not your weaknesses… Don’t say, “We don’t have any equipment to help with student retention.” Rather say, “We want to address the important problem of student retention, and we know we can do it by x,y,z, with our expertise, and we’ll need this equipment to do it.”
* Dr. Martha Strickland spoke to us about the IRB process. Remember, if your research/project involves humans, you most likely will need to complete an IRB proposal as well – so again, plan well ahead of time. Training for all members of your team and the proposal can take a lot of time!
* What are some fatal errors in grant applications? Not following the guidelines precisely – sections, page limits, headings, etc.
* Take the time to write a biographical sketch for all team members that shows expertise in the area of the grant.
Resources
My Research Portal at PSU shows you current and archived projects, your budget, and links to associated COINS and IRB info.
Research at PSU website is the place to go for access to funding sources.
Institute of State & Regional Affairs – can help with local data, survey research, GIS research, and IT applications for research
Omnibus telephone polling opportunities twice/year! http://csr.hbg.psu.edu/PennStatePoll/tabid/847/Default.aspx
