As part of the ELEVATE Faculty Support Programs, the Office of the Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost, is pleased to announce a set of awards designed specifically for fixed-term faculty members, offering $25,000 each to support research or scholarly endeavors. These awards are to be utilized during the period beginning July 1, 2025, and ending June 30, 2026.
These awards provide recipients with the flexibility to choose between using the funds as a workload buyout or as research funds to catalyze innovative projects. Aimed at fostering excellence in research, scholarship, and pedagogical innovation, ELEVATE provides recognition and tangible support to elevate the impact and success of fixed-term faculty members within the academic community.
Why ELEVATE Faculty Development Awards?
- Providing Choice: Faculty decide how to utilize the funds based on their priorities – whether to enhance their research output or to innovate in teaching and learning.
- Catalyze Excellence: ELEVATE Faculty Development Awards are a catalyst for scholarly excellence, aimed at accelerating research and fostering pedagogical advancements among fixed-term faculty.
- Recognition and Support: By receiving an ELEVATE Faculty Development Award, faculty gain recognition for their contributions and dedicated support to pursue their scholarly passions.
Eligibility
Full-time (1.0 FTE) permanent members of the fixed-term faculty who have at least one year of service at the university.
Faculty on fixed-term contracts must have an active employment contract with the university that extends at least through June 30, 2026, in order to be eligible to apply for this award. Applicants whose contracts do not meet this requirement at the time of submission will not be considered.
Other Provisions
- Preference will be given to applicants in their third year or later of service at the time of their application.
- Funds from the award may be used to provide release time from regular employment. However, fringe benefits cost will need to be considered which will reduce the amount of the award that is actually payable as salary.
- For individuals on nine-month contracts, the award may be used to provide summer salary (plus associated fringe benefits); in this case the award will count toward the normal limit for summer salary (one-third of base salary). Since the fringe benefit costs will be charged to the same fund and source as the salary, the entire amount of the award cannot be paid as summer salary.
- Funds from the award may also be used for supplies, equipment, salaries of assistants (plus associated fringe benefits), travel, or to assist with any other dimension of faculty development.
Request Process
All applications should be submitted online at this link. The complete application packet, including the letter of endorsement, must be received no later than 5:00 PM on Friday, November 1, 2024. Please submit the following four items in your application packet as a single pdf file:
- A brief narrative description of the project to be undertaken, no longer than two pages (if you choose to include references, a third page may be added if necessary). Be sure to give the project a title and describe how this funding will add to your capacity to complete the project.
- A brief proposed budget which cannot exceed $25,000. The budget should list the kinds of expenditures proposed (e.g., salary, fringe benefits, travel, equipment, etc.), and, in addition, should also indicate any other funds (e.g., NEH Summer Fellowships, University Research Council awards, etc.) which will be used to support the project.
- A curriculum vitae.
- A signed letter of endorsement from the applicant’s department or curriculum chair (or, in the case of non- departmentalized schools, the dean of the school). If the chair or dean prefers, this letter may be emailed directly to the Office of the Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost, at facultyaffairs@unc.edu.
All applications should be submitted online. All applications will be reviewed by the Committee on Faculty Leaves and Awards, which will be convened by the Provost. Due to the number of applications received each year, no oral or written feedback on applications can be provided to individual applicants.