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The Affiliated Faculty Professional Development Fund (AFDF) is now accepting applications for support in Academic Year 2022-23. The AFDF supports the scholarly and creative activities of the affiliated faculty members of Emerson College. The Office of Research and Creative Scholarship administers the fund.
Upcoming Grant Period
Grants awarded in this cycle must be conducted between July 1, 2022 and June 30, 2023.
Current Grant Period
Grants awarded for AY2021–2022 must be conducted between July 1, 2021 and June 30, 2022.
A Note About COVID-19
While restrictions continue for on-campus and in-person activities due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Emerson College remains committed to supporting faculty research, scholarship, and creative work through its internal grant programs. Nonetheless, applicants are reminded that AFDF funds are not transferable from one year to the next, and the College can make no guarantees about providing exceptions to awardees who do not utilize the entirety of their grant by project cycle end date (June 30, 2023). Proposals that include travel or other in-person scheduled activities should thus be carefully considered. Proposals for projects with planned on-campus activities will be subject to the College’s current limitations in this area.
Eligibility
To be eligible for these funds, the applicant:
- Must be a member of the Affiliated Faculty of Emerson College (AFEC-AAUP);
- Must have taught at least one course during each of the prior three consecutive years, including the current academic year (2021-2022); and-
- Must be slated to teach at least one Emerson course in the Academic Year for which the AFDF award will be granted (2022-2023).
AFDF Funding
The AFDF Grant will provide support for approved projects up to $1,500 each. The Provost makes the final decision for funding and determination of awards, based on the recommendations of the AFDF Committee.
Types of Activities Funded
- Travel and expenses leading to scholarly, peer-reviewed publications
- Travel and expenses leading to the production of creative and artistic works such as media productions, creative writing, performances, screenplays, exhibitions, audio and music productions, etc.
- Travel and expenses related to refereed conference presentations of scholarly or creative activities
- Travel and expenses related to presentations to industry-related conferences and conventions
- Expenses for attending seminars and conferences related to new course development
- Expenses for attending faculty development seminars and conferences to improve teaching skills
Types of Activities Not Funded
- Activities that are already defined as part of affiliated faculty members’ expected duties and responsibilities.
- Activities for which the affiliated faculty member is already receiving compensation, course release, or some other form of College support.
- Additional salary or compensation for Emerson faculty and staff.
- Retroactive expenses and activities
Criteria and Considerations
- Applications must be complete, clearly written, compelling, well defined and easily understood by all of the reviewers.
- Applications that are incomplete and do not follow directions may be disqualified.
- While applicants may apply for consecutive year awards, the committee will evaluate proposals that are a continuation of any previously funded projects to determine if funding is appropriate.
- Support for travel from the AFDF should be for activities that directly advance proposal activities.
- Applicants are required to submit a report of their project after completion.
- Applicants must be slated to teach at least one Emerson course in the academic year for which the AFDF award will be granted (2021–2022).
Application Instructions
This year, we have migrated the application packet to Google Forms. The advantages to this format include:
- Email recognition: The form will recognize your Emerson email and open a blank application that will be automatically saved in your name.
- Elimination of portable document errors: Reviewers will log directly into Google forms to read applications, removing the need to send electronic documents back and forth and reducing the chance for error.
- Auto-save: The form saves your work automatically as you proceed.
- Document uploads: Budget requests are now uploaded as a separate file, and you can also upload supplementary documents to bolster your proposal.
- Ability to make revisions until the deadline: Applicants can make changes to their form up until the AFDF due date (March 14).
To begin your AFDF application, click on this link. After you submit your proposal, you will receive a copy of your responses via email, and will have until March 14, 2022, to make any changes.
AFDF Calendar
| DATE | EVENT |
| January 21, 2022 | AFDF is announced |
| March 14, 2022 | AFDF applications are due via Google Forms |
| After March 14, 2022 | Committee evaluation of all proposals and recommendations to the Provost regarding proposal support and level of funding |
| By April 26, 2022 | The Provost, in consideration of the recommendations provided by the AFDF Committee, will make final selections and award determinations. The Provost will notify the committee in writing, electronically, about the final awards. |
| By May 10, 2022 | AFDF recipients are notified that they are receiving the award. |
| July 2022–June 2023 | Approved projects conducted |
| June 15, 2023 | Last day to request reimbursement for eligible expenses in Workday. |
| November 1, 2023 | Final report due for projects conducted during AY2022. |
The AFDF Committee
Applications will be reviewed by Affiliated Faculty Professional Development Fund (AFDF) Committee (“the Committee”) consisting of five (5) adjuncts, three of whom will be elected by the affiliated faculty, and two of whom will be appointed by the Provost. Members serving on the committee are not eligible to apply for awards from the Fund in the year(s) on which they are reviewing applications.
The Office of Research and Creative Scholarship is pleased to announce the awardees of this year’s Graduate Research Assistantship (GRA) Program:
| Faculty Member | Dept. | Project Title |
| Lina Giraldo | Journalism | Air Box |
| Leonie Bradbury | VMA/ Media Arts Gallery | Educational Program Assistant for the “Kerry Tribe: Onomatopoeia” exhibition |
| Phillip Glenn | Comm Studies | Analyzing the efficacy of positive communication practices: Data gathering and analysis |
| Marc Fields | VMA | The Banjo Project |
| Mneesha Gellman | EPI/Marlboro | Education Behind the Wall Around the World |
| Weiko Lin | VMA | 3 ASIAN AMERICAN and ASIAN TV SERIES for Streaming/Cable/Broadcast |
About the GRA:
Made possible with support from the Graduate Student Association and the Office of Graduate Studies, the Graduate Research Assistantship Program intends is to extend the student’s classroom learning, expose them to current challenges in their discipline, build analytical skills, and provide a meaningful work experience that will also benefit faculty in the development of their research and scholarship agenda. Each year, funds contributed by the GSA, OGS, and ORCS are awarded as a small number of competitive grants to full-time faculty, for the purpose of hiring a graduate student during the academic year. Through this program, we also hope to encourage external grant applications that include graduate research assistants.
The Marion and Jasper Whiting Foundation recently issued its 2021 call for applications for Fellowships of Higher Education of Present and Prospective Teachers.
The primary purpose of the fellowship is to enable teachers (with an emphasis on present teachers at the college or university level) to study abroad or at some location other than that with which they are most closely associated. The aim is to stimulate and broaden the minds of teachers so as to improve and enhance the quality of their instruction. Grants are primarily for travel and related expenses (salary, scholarships, and equipment are not allowable on these grants).
If you intend to apply, please complete and submit an ORCS pre-approval form (which can be accessed via your Emerson ID and PIN) no later than Friday, December 10 (instructions for using the pre-approval form can be found here). The final application documents must be delivered to ORCS at least three business days before the sponsor deadline of January 7, 2022.
Forms and templates for the program can be downloaded here. The application consists of the following:
- Project Description (three pages maximum)
- Curriculum Vitae showing the application to be a university or college teacher
- Detailed budget indicating the estimated travel expense to be incurred in carrying out the project
- Completed Candidate Information Form (see attached document)
- Three letters of recommendation from fellow faculty members or professors. One of these must be from your department chair The supporting letters must be on official letterhead.
Award winners will be notified by email on Monday, April 4, 2022. Grants typically do not exceed $6,000 and may begin as early as the Summer of 2022. Projects must be completed no later than May 31, 2024. Applications received after January 7, 2022 will not be considered by the Foundation.
If you have any questions about this opportunity or the application process, please contact Eric Asetta or Diana Potter.
The Faculty Advancement Fund Grant, Emerson College’s flagship program for support tenure-line faculty research and creative scholarship, is now accepting applications for funding in Academic Year 2022-23. Pre-approvals are due by November 1 and are required to obtain the application form. The proposal itself is due by Wednesday, December 1.
The FAFG was established to enable the professional work of Emerson’s faculty in its efforts to sustain academic excellence in teaching, research/creative activity, and service. The Faculty Advancement Fund Grant supports proposals deemed likely to substantially improve the quality of research, publication, creative activities, teaching, and service that advance the mission of the College and the careers of its faculty.
Awards are administered according to the guidelines of the Faculty Development and Research Council (FDRC) in the Faculty Assembly By-Laws. Support for approved projects ranges between $1,000 and $10,000. Applicants may request monetary support or (in rare instances) support in the form of a single course release (see “Eligible Projects” for more information). The exact type and amount of award will be determined by the project budget request, availability of funds, and recommendations made by the FDRC and the school deans to the Provost.
Current FAFG awardees can find guidance on spending and managing their awards at the Utilizing Your FAFG Funding page.
We are pleased to announce that the Emerson College ORCS Funding Opportunity Database is now available to the Emerson community. Anyone with an Emerson ID and password can access and browse more than 400 funding announcements and proposal calls for grant and project funding.
Funding for faculty research and scholarship can come from multiple, diverse sources, including federal agencies, private foundations, academic fellowships, corporate partnerships, and other awards. Over the summer of 2021, the Office of Research and Creative Scholarship has been working diligently to curate a comprehensive, regularly updated listing of funding opportunities that may be of particular interest to faculty and researchers across the College. To better facilitate searches, we are reviewing opportunities, updating deadlines, and categorizing them according to sponsor type, discipline(s), school(s) and department(s), and applicant eligibility. Also included are Emerson’s internal grant programs.
More information on the database, including tips on how to navigate it, will be forthcoming on ORCS’s Finding Funding Opportunities page.
The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) has announced the competitive application process and guidelines for “The American Rescue Plan — Grants to Organizations“. The program will be carried out through one-time grants to eligible organizations in the arts sector that have been impacted by the pandemic.
Applications will be due on August 12, 2021. Grants will be awarded in fixed grant amounts of $50,000, $100,000, or $150,000. Cost share/matching funds are not required. Unlike other Arts Endowment funding programs that offer project-based support, Rescue Plan funds are intended to support day-to-day business expenses/operating costs, and not specific programmatic activities.
Application Limits
As non-profit institution, Emerson College may submit only one application under these guidelines, with the following exceptions:
- Applications for Ploughshares, ArtsEmerson, HowlRound, and WERS, each of which NEA has classified as an “independent component” of Emerson;
If you are thinking of applying this year, please contact ORCS at your earliest convenience. Depending on the number of inquiries, the College may need to hold an internal competition to select a single project for submission.
The National Science Foundation has issued a revised version of the NSF Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG) (NSF 22-1). The new PAPPG will be effective for proposals submitted or due on or after October 4, 2021. Significant changes include:
- A new section covering requests for reasonable and accessibility accommodations regarding the proposal process or requests for accessibility accommodations to access NSF’s electronic systems, websites and other digital content;
- A table entitled, NSF Pre-award and Post-award Disclosures Relating to the Biographical Sketch and Current and Pending Support. This table identifies where pre- and post-award current and pending support disclosure information must be provided. Proposers and awardees may begin using this table immediately;
- Increasing the page limit for the biographical sketch from two to three pages;
- Updates to the current and pending support section of NSF proposals to require that information on objectives and overlap with other projects is provided to help NSF and reviewers assess overlap/duplication;
- Adding planning proposals and Career-Life Balance supplemental funding requests as new proposal types;
- Updates to travel proposals will require that AORs certify that prior to the proposer’s participation in the meeting for which NSF travel support is being requested, the proposer will assure that the meeting organizer has a written policy or code-of-conduct addressing harassment.
NSF plans to conduct a webinar covering these changes. Visit the NSF policy outreach website to sign up for notifications about this and other outreach events.
While this version of the PAPPG becomes effective on October 4, 2021, in the interim, the guidelines contained in the current PAPPG (NSF 20-1) continue to apply.
If you have any questions regarding these changes, please contact the DIAS/Policy Office at policy@nsf.gov.
On May 27, 2021, Erik Muurisepp, Assistant Vice President of Campus Life, announced that Emerson College would “revise its regulations for those living, learning, and working on campus,” effective June 1. These changes reflect the growing state and local vaccination rates, lowering case numbers, and the most recent guidance from Tufts Medical Center, the Boston Public Health Commission, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The new guidelines allow the return of non-Emersonian visitors to campus, subject to the continuation of certain safety measures. With this change, Emerson is pleased to announce that researchers may resume conducting human subjects studies, on campus, with in-person participants. In order to ensure that sufficient protections are in place for both researchers and subjects, the co-chairs of the Emerson Institutional Review board have approved the following procedures for doing so. These procedures will be in effect until further notice:
- Submission of the On-Campus Human Subjects Research—COVID Safety Protocols And Attestation form. This form must be completed and submitted to the IRB by the lead researcher, and returned to the researcher with an IRB approval stamp, before an in-person HS study may be conducted. The form outlines both universally mandated safety measures, along with specific protocols based on the nature, duration, and contact frequency of the study.
- Consistent adherence to the IRB-approved safety measures proposed by the lead researcher.
- Offering a copy of the signed form to participants as informed consent on the safety measures.
- Purchasing the necessary sanitization supplies and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) needed for the studies.
- Immediately notifying the IRB if any HS participant reports a positive test, of the onset of COVID-like symptoms, within seven (7) days of having participated in the study.
For all studies, participants will need to pre-register in iVisitor, and perform a symptom check one day before the study and the morning of the study. All researchers are still required to perform their own daily symptom checks, and must be tested once per week.
Once your on-campus request has been approved, you can procure sanitization supplies by ordering them through VEOCI. Requests for PPE—including gloves, masks, face shields, and lucite barriers—can be directed to Donna Brescia in Business Services.
This guidance applies to study protocols that have previously been reviewed and approved by the IRB. New protocol applications for in-person studies should also include the On-Campus Human Subjects Research—COVID Safety Protocols and Attestation form with their initial submission until further notice.
If you have any questions, please direct them to human_subjects@emerson.edu.
The Office of Research and Creative Scholarship congratulates recipients of the 2021 Presidential Fund for Curricular Innovation (PFCI): Curriculum Internationalization and Inclusive Excellence Studio award. The following faculty and their projects have been accepted into the Studio:
- VM331: Experimental Accessible Cinema (Malic Amalya – VMA)
- Embracing Diversity in Digital and Algorithmic Marketing: Expanding dimensions of diversity literacy among students (Sereikhuoch Eng & Naa Amponsah Doodoo – MarcCom)
- Crossing Cultures: Appreciation,accommodation, appropriation (Nejem Raheem & Bhamati Viswanathan – MarCom)
- Communication Self-efficacy in Deaf and Hard of Hearing Adolescents: Improving access and participation (Maryann Salehomoum & Eileen McBride – SoC and Marlboro Institute)
- Re-visioning Perspectives in World Dance (Kristin Horrigan & TBD – Performing Arts)
As a member of the studio, each faculty member will receive a stipend of $1,200 for creating new curriculum. Faculty members selected for the Studio will have the opportunity to apply for further funding for project-related expenses.
About the PFCI: Internationalization, diversity, and Inclusion are major priorities for Emerson. Emerson’s Strategic Plan defines Internationalization as the commitment to “mutually beneficial engagement with the global society in which we participate, and to ensuring that all members of our community are prepared to thrive in that society.” Similarly, Emerson’s dedication to Diversity and Inclusion is rooted in the belief that “institutional and academic excellence are not possible without full engagement with diversity across all areas of the College.” The President’s Fund for Curricular Innovation supports Emerson’s commitment to internationalizing and diversifying the curriculum of the College, as well as the implementation of inclusive pedagogical approaches in the classroom Each year, faculty are invited to submit proposal projects for acceptance to the Curriculum Internationalization and Inclusion Studio. The goals of the Studio are to:
- Encourage collaboration among faculty;
- Build our collective capacity to internationalize curriculum;
- Develop specific courses, course modules, pedagogical and/or advising methods that contribute to these aims.
The PFCI and Curriculum and Internationalization and Inclusion Studio are jointly overseen by Dr. Anthony Pinder, Vice Provost Internationalization & Equity, and Dr. Tuesda Roberts, Director of Faculty Development and Diversity. The PFCI is sponsored by The Office of the President.