Funding

A project is eligible for funding through a TIG if it meets the following six criteria:

1. It must entail the development and pilot implementation by a full- or part-time instructor of either a new course or substantial changes to the instructional approaches used in an existing course.  The funds requested must be for the purpose of supporting high-impact practices, such as experiential, problem-based, project-based, peer-led, or community-engaged learning, or course-based undergraduate research or scholarship. A non-exhaustive list of high-impact practices can be found on AAC&U’s high-impact practices page.
2. A substantial portion of the students projected to enroll in the course must be students in SAS and Hajim. Thus, projects involving courses offered by schools other than SAS and Hajim are eligible, as long as a substantial portion of enrollees in those courses will be SAS and Hajim students.
3. The project must include (and request funds to support) pilot implementation and assessment of the new course or new instructional approaches during two successive offerings of the course. These two offerings need not occur during back-to-back semesters. For instance, many courses are offered during alternate academic years, and in such a case the two semesters during which the course will be piloted and assessed will be separated by a full academic year.  The intent of funding two offerings plus assessment is to ensure that projects consolidate long-term gains for student learning.  For projects that require ongoing funding, assessment data will help support their applications for external or internal funding from other sources following the second implementation.  Priority will be given to projects that either are self-sustaining or have a clear plan for identifying sustaining funding sources.
4. The awardee(s) must hold instructor role(s) that have ongoing involvement in the course being (re)developed and that are well-integrated into the applicable academic department or academic program.  Typically, but not always, this describes a full- or part-time tenure-track or instructional-track faculty member. It is important that the awardee hold such a role because the TIG is structured to promote long-lasting changes to courses, e.g. requires a two-offering plus assessment pilot and prioritizes projects with a clear pathway to being self-sustaining. 
5. The proposed innovations must require resources greater than those already available for development and implementation of new or redeveloped courses within the budget of the academic department or academic program offering the course. Thus, development and implementation of the proposed innovations should require more funding than is typically allotted by an academic department or academic program to new or existing courses.
6. The activities and expenses for which the project requests support must not better suited to funding through other SAS and Hajim programs that support educational activities and innovations—such as the Schwartz Discover Grant or the Community-Engaged Learning Course Operations Grants.  It is permissible to combine a TIG grant with other funding sources such as a Hajim Sykes award.

These grants are available to fund expenses required for the development, deployment, and assessment of new or substantially revised courses. This includes funds for:

• Purchasing any required equipment or course materials
• Compensating teaching assistants or other student employees to assist with all aspects of course development, implementation, and assessment
• Offsetting instructor time devoted to course development or implementation that would otherwise be used for teaching other courses (e.g., hiring an adjunct to cover a course)
• Defraying any costs to students of participation in the course (e.g. travel expenses for courses that involve activities abroad)
• Paying for specialized instructor training necessary to implement the innovation

TIG awards may not be used for supplemental salary or summer salary for instructors.

TIG awards are transferred to and administered by the applicable academic department or academic program.  Potential applicants who lack access to a department or program administrator should consult with the Teaching Center before applying to determine whether the Teaching Center possesses the needed administrative resources to directly administer their project.  Projects directly administered by the Teaching Center cannot include any hiring processes (e.g., honoraria, student employees, adjunct hires, etc.), as hiring processes are resource-intensive to administer.

Proposals must include a proposed budget that covers developing the course and then implementing and assessing it during two successive course offerings. Awards of up to $10,000 are available to support the first of the two successive offerings, and up to $2,500 to support the second offering. In no case will the program fund expenses associated with the implementation of a project after this two-semester pilot implementation period. The program is intended to support only the development, pilot implementation, and assessment of innovations; not to provide ongoing support for resource-intensive teaching innovations and pedagogies.  Projects that are self-sustaining or have a clear path to an ongoing funding source will be prioritized.

In the event of an award, funds to support the first of the two course offerings do not become available until July 1 during the summer immediately following the academic year in which the award decision is made. For instance, for a proposal submitted and approved during the 2024-25 academic year, funds to support the first pilot offering would be transferred to the applicable academic department or academic program at the start of July 2025.

There is one funding cycle per year, typically with a deadline in January.

A proposal should include:

• The name of at least one full- or part-time instructor who will serve as project leader—taking primary responsibility for implementing the project.  If the course is co-taught, both instructors must be working collaboratively as needed to plan and execute the project.
• A description of the new course or new instructional approach in an existing course to be developed and deployed, including a description of the high-impact or resource-intensive practices to be developed and implemented
• A description of the activities to be undertaken to develop the course and implement the two pilot offerings of the course
• A timeline that specifies when development activities will occur, and specifies the two semesters during which the innovations developed will be piloted
• A detailed budget that specifies the total amount requested and estimates the amounts to be spent on each eligible expense
• A plan for how the innovations will be sustained after the two course offerings funded by the grant, including the projected annual costs of sustaining the course in semesters beyond the two-semester pilot implementation, and a plan for securing any funds needed to cover those costs.  Projects that are self-sustaining or have a clear path to an ongoing funding source will be prioritized.
• Letters of support from the chairs or directors of the academic departments or academic programs that will offer the course, and from the chairs or directors of academic departments or academic programs where any instructor involved in the project have their primary appointments

Proposals should be submitted via the Qualtrics collector below, which asks basic information about you and the course before providing a document upload function for the proposal. 

The Teaching Center reviews all applications and frequently works with applicants to develop their proposals both before and after submission to ensure that they are clear and fully address the grant criteria.  The Deans of SAS, Hajim, and the College then review the applications and make final decisions about funding.  Rarely, the deans request additional information from applicants and/or the applicable academic department chairs or academic program directors, either directly or indirectly through the Teaching Center.  Applicants will typically be notified about decisions at the end of March.  Successful applicants will then work with Teaching Center staff on their assessment plans.  Funds will be transferred to the appropriate academic department or academic program at the start of July.

2025 deadline: January 8, 2025

Apply here

In addition to following through with project plans as described in the proposal and spending disbursed funds according to the terms of the award, all project leaders must:

• Work with the Teaching Center to plan and implement an assessment of the TIG project.  This may also include consultation with the College’s Office of Educational Effectiveness.
• Identify an administrator in their academic department or academic program who will receive and manage the TIG funds (CLASP certification is not required).  Potential applicants who lack access to a department or program administrator should consult with the Teaching Center before applying to determine whether the Teaching Center possesses the needed administrative resources to directly administer their project.  Projects directly administered by the Teaching Center cannot include any hiring processes (e.g., honoraria, student employees, adjunct hires, etc.), as hiring processes are resource-intensive to administer.

For questions about the Teaching Innovation Grant, contact Rachel Remmel at rachel.remmel@rochester.edu.