The Office of Research and Creative Scholarship is pleased to announce the recipients of this year’s Norman and Irma Mann Stearns Distinguished Faculty Award. Established by the late Dr. Norman Stearns and Emerson alumna Irma Mann Stearns ’67, this award honors a full-time tenured or tenure-track faculty member in recognition of outstanding scholarly or creative achievement. A $3,000 award is presented annually to at least one applicant. Funding may be used to enhance an ongoing project or for the development of a new scholarly or creative endeavor. Travel is strongly encouraged to be a part of the project activity.
Adam Franklin-Lyons Associate Professor, Marlboro Institute
Adam-Franklin Lyons is an Associate Professor in the Marlboro Institute. A former member of the Marlboro College faculty, Dr. Franklin-Lyons is interested in almost anything Medieval. He will use the Mann Stearns award to travel to Spain to gather a collection of 360-degree photos from strategic lookouts used during the medieval period, as part of his project entitled “Visualizing Networks of Medieval Communication: Photographs and Maps of Medieval Lookout Points.” The result will be an interactive map demonstrating the connections and limits of urban communication in the fourteenth-century Crown of Aragon.
Malic Amalya Assistant Professor, Visual and Media Arts
Malic Amalya is an Assistant Professor in the department of Visual and Media Arts whose films attend to the emotional impact of attachment and estrangement, and the corresponding political repercussions of alliances and enmities. Professor Amalya will use the Mann Stearns award to support the production of a new film, “New Earth: a 16mm Experimental Documentary Film about the Mythos of Flight” Currently in development, “New Earth” critically examines cultural metaphors, values, doctrines, and practices connected to colonialism and flight. The Mann Stearns award will support travel to Florida to film the Kennedy Space Center, including a SpaceX rocket launching.
Several years ago, the late Dr. Norman Stearns and Irma Mann Stearns established a distinguished faculty award in their name to honor a full-time tenured or tenure-track faculty member in recognition of outstanding scholarly or creative achievement. A $3,000 award is presented annually to at least one applicant. This funding may be used to enhance an ongoing project or for the development of a new scholarly or creative endeavor. In accordance with the family’s wishes, travel is strongly encouraged to be a part of the project activity.
Selection of Nominees by Provost, Deans, and Chairs: March 22, 2024
Application form sent to applicants: by March 25, 2024
Final Applications due to ORCS: April 8, 2024
FDRC Review of Applications: April 8 – April 17, 2024
Final Selections made by Provost: by May 10, 2024
Applicants Notified of Funding Decision: by May 17, 2027
Awardees must utilize their funds between July 1, 2024 and June 30, 2025.
Eligibility
Full-time tenured and tenure-track faculty members are eligible to apply for the Mann Stearns Distinguished Faculty Award.
Criteria
In evaluating proposals, the Faculty Development and Research Council (FDRC) will consider:
The applicant’s scholarly or creative achievement(s);
The quality, merits, feasibility, of the project for which the award funds will be used;
The inclusion of travel as a necessary component of the project; and
Publications, audio/video samples, or other supporting material.
Pre-Application Notification
If you intend to apply for a Mann Stearns Award, you must first submit a Pre-Application Notification email to ORCS by March 18, 2024. The body of the email should include a summary (1-2 paragraphs) of your proposed project, and a brief description of how you would use the $3,000 award. After you have submitted your notification, you will be sent the link for the Mann Stearns application form (see “Application Instructions” below).
Review Process
All applications will be reviewed by the Faculty Development and Research Council (FDRC), and with input from department Chairs, school Deans, and Academic Affairs. The FDRC will make the final recommendations to the Provost for funding. The Provost’s selections are final.
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 due date (April 8).
After you have submitted your pre-approval, you will be sent the link for the Mann Stearns application form. After you submit your proposal, you will receive a copy of your responses via email, and will have until April 8, 2024, to make any changes.
Applicants may include supplemental materials (publications, PDFs, media) that support their proposals with their submissions.
In addition to the application form and supplemental materials, a two-page curriculum vita should be included with each submission.
Final Report Requirement
A final written report is not required, but the successful applicant is expected to meet with members of the Mann Stearns family and other members of Emerson College to discuss the final outcome and deliverables.
Emerson has a number of internal grant programs with deadlines in the Fall and Spring semesters. Here is a summary of what grant programs are offered this fall, and which ones to look for in the spring.
Formed from a partnership between the Graduate Student Association, the Office of Graduate Studies, and the Office of Research and Creative Scholarship, the Graduate Research Assistantship (GRA) grant intends to extend students’ 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. Through this program, we also hope to encourage external grant applications that include graduate research assistants.
Faculty Advancement Fund Grant (FAFG) due annually in December; Pre-Approval forms due annually in November. 2023 Pre-Approval Deadline: November 1, 2023 2023 Application Deadline: December 1, 2023
The Faculty Advancement Fund Grant (FAFG) supports the scholarly and creative activities of the full‐time tenured and tenure-track faculty members. The Fund 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.
The Affiliated Faculty Professional Development Fund (AFDF) supports the scholarly and creative activities of the affiliated faculty members of Emerson College. The AFDF will provide support for approved projects up to $1,500 each. Types of activities include travel and expenses leading to the production of scholarly, creative and artistic works, conference attendance, faculty development seminars, etc.
Internationalization, diversity, equity, and inclusion are strategic priorities for Emerson. Inclusive approaches to curriculum development and equitable pedagogical practices help ensure that learning experiences at Emerson are designed to foster student success in a culturally diverse and global society. The aim is to offer curricula that assists students in developing the required critical consciousness, values, awareness, skills and knowledge of differences to thrive as culturally competent, global citizens.
In 2024, the PFCI will support faculty participation in a Faculty Development Seminar in Ghana. The purpose of this seminar is to provide an intensive short-term faculty development experience that builds on Emerson’s capacity for international education and the internationalization of the curriculum. Faculty selected for the Seminar will receive airfare, lodging and meals for 10 days in Ghana in July, 2024.
The Diversity Fellows Program (formerly known as the Inclusive Excellence Fellows Program) is an annual, cohort-based program. This program invites full-time and affiliated faculty participants to critically reflect upon the relationship between social realities, social futures, and their pedagogical practices. Each Fellow will develop goals unique to one of the courses they teach and a pedagogical action plan based on intertwining sociocultural knowledge, content and industry-based knowledge, and empowering pedagogical practices. Fellows will be compensated $1,000.
Several years ago, the late Dr. Norman Stearns and Irma Mann Stearns, class of 1967, established a distinguished faculty award to honor a full-time tenured or tenure-track faculty member in recognition of outstanding scholarly or creative achievement. A $3,000 award is presented annually to one applicant. This funding may be used to enhance an ongoing project or for the development of a new scholarly or creative endeavor. Travel is strongly encouraged to be a part of the project activity.
The Kasteel Well Faculty Development Fund (KFDF) supports the scholarly and creative activities of the affiliated faculty members of the Emerson College Kasteel Well Program in the Netherlands. Castle administrative staff manage the fund with assistance from the Office of Research and Creative Scholarship (ORCS). Small grants of up to $500 are offered from a total available funding pool of $1,500.
Jeffrey Greenhawt ’68 and Jan Jacobs Greenhawt ’69 have generously provided a gift to Emerson College for the expressed purpose of enabling Emerson faculty to procure resources that might assist them in obtaining external project support. The aim is to assist faculty who desire to pursue external funding for their research and scholarly endeavors, but lack experience in writing successful proposals, or the mentoring connections in grantsmanship that are common at larger institutions.
Funds can be used for activities such as travel to meet with a faculty mentor at another institution for the purpose of assisting in writing a proposal; fees to attend a workshop or seminar on proposal writing and grantsmanship; or consulting services in proposal writing or proposal review. A limited number of grants between $500 and $2,000 will be awarded each year.
The Office of Research and Creative Scholarship is pleased to announce the recipients of this year’s Norman and Irma Mann Stearns Distinguished Faculty Award: Writing, Literature and Publishing associate professor Adele Lee and Communication Sciences and Disorders associate professor Rihannon Luyster.
Adele Lee is an Associate Professor in the Department of Writing, Literature, and Publishing. Dr. Lee’s research focuses on “Global Shakespeare,” Renaissance travel writing and the “transnational turn” in literary studies. She is the author of numerous books and journal articles. One of her current research projects is a study of Shakespeare through the lens of Critical Mixed Race Studies. With the Mann Stearns funding, she plans to travel to the Folger Shakespeare Library to complete research on her chapter contribution to the “Mixed Race Shakespeares” issue of Routledge’s Shakespearean International Yearbook.
An Associate Professor in the Department of Communication Sciences & Disorders, Dr. Luyster is a developmental psychologist whose program of research focuses on autism spectrum disorder (ASD). She has a longstanding interest in early social communication and language in ASD, and she is an author on the Toddler Module of the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule – 2nd edition (ADOS-2). She will use the Mann Stearns Award to meet with scholars and researchers in South Korea and Japan in order to enrich her understanding of autism cross-culturally and outside of Western traditions.
About the Mann Stearns Award: Several years ago, the late Dr. Norman Stearns and Emerson alumna Irma Mann Stearns ’67 established a distinguished faculty award to honor a full-time tenured or tenure-track faculty member in recognition of outstanding scholarly or creative achievement. A $3,000 award is presented annually to at least one applicant. This funding may be used to enhance an ongoing project or for the development of a new scholarly or creative endeavor. Travel is strongly encouraged to be a part of the project activity.
Norman & Irma Mann Stearns Distinguished Faculty Award
Description
Several years ago, the late Dr. Norman Stearns and Irma Mann Stearns established a distinguished faculty award in their name to honor a full-time tenured or tenure-track faculty member in recognition of outstanding scholarly or creative achievement. A $3,000 award is presented annually to at least one applicant. This funding may be used to enhance an ongoing project or for the development of a new scholarly or creative endeavor. In accordance with the family’s wishes, travel is strongly encouraged to be a part of the project activity.
FDRC Review of Applications: April 11 – April 20, 2023
FDRC Recommendations submitted to Provost: by April 25, 2023
Applicants Notified of Funding Decision: by May 5, 2023
Current Mann Stearns awardees must utilize their funds between July 1, 2022 and June 30, 2023.
Eligibility
Full-time tenured and tenure-track faculty members are eligible to apply for the Mann Stearns Distinguished Faculty Award.
Criteria
In evaluating proposals, the Faculty Development and Research Council (FDRC) will consider:
The applicant’s scholarly or creative achievement(s);
The quality, merits, feasibility, of the project for which the award funds will be used;
The inclusion of travel as a necessary component of the project; and
Publications, audio/video samples, or other supporting material.
Pre-Application Notification
If you intend to apply for a Mann Stearns Award, you must first submit a Pre-Application Notification email to ORCS by March 17, 2023. The body of the email should include a summary (1-2 paragraphs) of your proposed project, and a brief description of how you would use the $3,000 award. After you have submitted your notification, you will be sent the link for the Mann Stearns application form (see “Application Instructions” below).
Review Process
All applications will be reviewed by the Faculty Development and Research Council (FDRC), and with input from department Chairs, school Deans, and Academic Affairs. The FDRC will make the final recommendations to the Provost for funding. The Provost’s selections are final.
AY23–24 Calendar
DATE
EVENT
March 3, 2023
Norman & Irma Mann Stearns Distinguished Faculty Award is announced.
The FDRC will evaluate all proposals and make recommendations to the Provost for funding.
By May 5, 2023
The Provost, in consideration of the recommendations provided by the FDRC, along with feedback from Department Chairs and School Deans, will make final selections
By May 12, 2023
Recipient(s) are notified that they are receiving the award.
July 1, 2023 through June 30, 2024
Grant Period
June 15, 2024
Receipts for expenditures needing reimbursement must be submitted via Workday by this date.
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 due date (April 4).
After you have submitted your pre-approval, you will be sent the link for the Mann Stearns application form. After you submit your proposal, you will receive a copy of your responses via email, and will have until April 10, 2023, to make any changes.
Applicants may include supplemental materials (publications, PDFs, media) that support their proposals with their submissions.
In addition to the application form and supplemental materials, a two-page curriculum vita should be included with each submission.
Final Progress Report Requirement
A final written report is not required, but the successful applicant is expected to meet with members of the Mann Stearns family and other members of Emerson College to discuss the final outcome and deliverables.
The Office of Research and Creative Scholarship is pleased to announce the recipients of this year’s Norman and Irma Mann Stearns Distinguished Faculty Award: Communication Sciences and Disorders professor Ruth Grossman and Visual and Media Arts assistant professor Julia Halperin.
A professor and former Chair of the Department of Communication Sciences & Disorders, Dr. Ruth Grossman‘s research is focused on various aspects of face-to-face communication in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). She is specifically interested in how children with ASD integrate and produce verbal and nonverbal information, such as facial expressions and prosody. She will use the Mann Stearns Award to establish an international network of autism research labs to lay the foundation for multi lingual/multi-cultural research, which will include the University of Aarhus in Denmark and the University of Fribourg, Switzerland.
Julia Halperin is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Visual and Media Arts, and a filmmaker who works in multiple formats. Her cinematic interests include twisting and elevating genre, using landscape to externalize character, and disrupting narrative expectations. Her feature films have been premiered at the SXSW Film Festival and the Film Festival Rotterdman, have been nominated for several awards, and included in several critics’ best-of lists. With the Mann Stearns Award, she will submit her newest feature, Crookedfinger, for screening at a premier-class film festival and work to secure broader distribution.
About the Mann Stearns Award: Several years ago, the late Dr. Norman Stearns and Emerson alumna Irma Mann Stearns ’67 established a distinguished faculty award to honor a full-time tenured or tenure-track faculty member in recognition of outstanding scholarly or creative achievement. A $3,000 award is presented annually to at least one applicant. This funding may be used to enhance an ongoing project or for the development of a new scholarly or creative endeavor. Travel is strongly encouraged to be a part of the project activity.
Several years ago, the late Dr. Norman Stearns and Irma Mann Stearns ’67 established a distinguished faculty award in their name to honor a full-time tenured or tenure-track faculty member in recognition of outstanding scholarly or creative achievement. A $3,000 award is presented annually to one applicant. This funding may be used to enhance an ongoing project or for the development of a new scholarly or creative endeavor. Travel is strongly encouraged to be a part of the project activity.
Key Dates
The Mann Stearns Award must be utilized between July 1, 2022 and June 30, 2023. The application and selection period is as follows:
Full-time tenured and tenure-track faculty members are eligible to apply for the Mann Stearns Distinguished Faculty Award.
Criteria
In evaluating proposals, the committee will consider:
The applicant’s scholarly or creative achievement(s);
The quality, merits, feasibility, of the project for which the award funds will be used;
The inclusion of travel as a necessary component of the project; and
Publications, audio/video samples, or other supporting material.
Review Process
All applications will be reviewed by the Faculty Development and Research Council (FDRC), and with input from department Chairs, school Deans, and Academic Affairs. The FDRC will make the final recommendations to the Provost for funding. The Provost’s selections are final.
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 due date (April 4).
After you have submitted your pre-approval, you will be sent the link for the Mann Stearns application form. After you submit your proposal, you will receive a copy of your responses via email, and will have until April 4, 2022, to make any changes.
Applicants may include supplemental materials (publications, PDFs, media) that support their proposals with their submissions.
In addition to the application form and supplemental materials, a two-page curriculum vita should be included with each submission.
AY22-23 Calendar
DATE
EVENT
March 7, 2022
Norman & Irma Mann Stearns Distinguished Faculty Award is announced.
Applications due via Google Forms (link emailed after receipt of internal pre-approval form).
By April 21, 2022
The FDRC will evaluate all proposals and make recommendations to the Provost for funding.
By May 3, 2022
The Provost, in consideration of the recommendations provided by the FDRC, along with feedback from Department Chairs and School Deans, will make final selections
By May 6, 2022
Recipient(s) are notified that they are receiving the award.
July 1, 2022 through June 30, 2023
Grant Period
June 15, 2023
Receipts for expenditures needing reimbursement must be submitted via Workday by this date.
Final Report Requirement
A final written report is not required, but the successful applicant is expected to meet with members of the Mann Stearns family and other members of Emerson College to discuss the final outcome and deliverables.
