Travel and Development Opportunities
The College of Arts & Science offers various programs to support faculty, including the Arts and Humanities Domestic Travel (AHDT) and Faculty International Travel (FIT) awards for conference participation, the Writing Fellows Program for manuscript development, CASDA for statistical consulting, and the Research & Development Leave Program for faculty research projects.
Travel Programs
Arts and Humanities Domestic Travel (AHDT) awards provide partial support for travel to destinations inside the United States for faculty participating in professional meetings, giving performances, or holding exhibitions of major significance.
Deadline
1st Monday in March; 1st Monday in October
Arts and humanities are characterized as: “…the study and interpretation of the following: language, both modern and classical; linguistics; literature; history; jurisprudence; philosophy; archaeology; comparative religion; ethics; the history, criticism and theory of the arts; those aspects of social sciences which have humanistic content and employ humanistic methods; and the study and application of the humanities to the human environment with particular attention to reflecting our diverse heritage, traditions, and history and to the relevance of the humanities to the current conditions of national life."
—National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act, 1965, as amended
The maximum award an applicant can receive from the AHDT program is $1,500. It is expected that the total cost of the travel will be shared between the home unit (i.e., department, division or applicant) and the AHDT grant funds as total award amounts are limited by the availability of funds during the current fiscal year. Support is available for lowest roundtrip airfare and other additional expenses related to the travel such as local transportation costs, hotel costs, and meals. Applicants wishing to attend conferences for which acceptance decisions have not been made before the submission deadline may still apply, with the understanding that any funding awarded will be contingent upon acceptance.
AHDT funding will not be provided for travel to conferences or other venues organized and/or offered exclusively by for- profit entities. Invitations for departmental presentations at institutions alone are not sufficient for funding under the AHDT program, but they may be included as part of a valid travel request.
Funding is intended for future travel; no retroactive travel will be approved. If applicants are unable to attend the approved conference for any reason, a formal request with an updated application can be submitted to the committee for an extension of one fiscal year.
Eligibility
- Tenured, tenure-track, and ranked non-tenure track faculty at the level of Assistant Professor and above are eligible to apply.
- There is a limit of one AHDT award to an individual within any 12-month period. An applicant can submit a new application for an event occurring 12 months after the previously awarded meeting, performance, or exhibition.
- The University expects the applicant to remain a University employee for a minimum of one year following completion of an award.
Application Instructions
The application must be submitted through the Qualtrics site by 5 pm CT on the specified deadline date. All materials must be in English; please provide a translation for any documents in a foreign language. On-time submission and adherence to the application guidelines ensures fairness for all applicants; therefore, applications that are submitted after the deadline, are incomplete, or do not meet the format requirements described below will be returned without review. In such cases, applicants will be invited to submit for the next deadline.
Format/Checklist
- Completed Qualtrics application
- Updated cv or biographical sketch
- Supporting documentation indicating submission/invitation to or acceptance in the conference
Criteria Used to Evaluate Applications
Awards are made to individuals who are giving presentations and performances at important conferences, are participating in important exhibitions, or are involved in significant official capacities in important meetings. In the case of conferences and similar events, presentations of posters are generally accorded lower priority than papers, lectures, or readings. Therefore, for poster presentations it is particularly incumbent on the applicant to make clear the significance in their field and an opportunity for a high degree of visibility at the conference. In the case of exhibitions and performances, participation in highly visible events or venues with high professional impact for the faculty member and for MU will be given priority.
- Nature of Participation. Is the presentation, paper, exhibit, or performance invited or refereed? If no presentation is being made, does the nature of the applicant’s participation clearly benefit their career and MU? Is there evidence of a high level of selectivity?
- Importance to Applicant’s Career and/or Field. Is attendance at the meeting important to the applicant’s career or field? Is there evidence that the applicant’s participation will have a significant benefit for MU? How does it relate to the Missouri Compacts?
- Scope and Significance. Is there evidence that the meeting or forum is of national importance in scope and is a major gathering in this field?
- Budget Justification and Previous Funding. Are all sources clearly identified? Does the applicant have funding from their home unit? Has the applicant obtained previous MU funding for travel?
Faculty International Travel (FIT) awards provide partial support for travel to destinations outside the United States for faculty who are giving research presentations, exhibitions, or performances of major significance in an international context or who are contributing in important official capacities to meetings/forums of international significance.
Deadline
1st Monday in March; 1st Monday in October
The maximum award an applicant can receive from the FIT program is $2,000. It is expected that the total cost of the travel will be shared between the home unit (i.e., department, division or applicant) and the FIT grant funds as total award amounts are limited by the availability of funds during the current fiscal year. Support is available for lowest roundtrip airfare and other additional expenses related to the travel such as local transportation costs, hotel costs, and meals. Applicants wishing to attend conferences for which acceptance decisions have not been made before the submission deadline may still apply, with the understanding that any funding awarded will be contingent upon acceptance.
FIT funding will not be provided for travel to conferences or other venues organized and/or offered exclusively by forprofit entities. Invitations for departmental presentations at international institutions alone are not sufficient for funding under the FIT program, but they may be included as part of a valid international travel request.
Funding is intended for future travel; no retroactive travel will be approved. If applicants are unable to attend the approved conference for any reason, a formal request with an updated application can be submitted to the committee for an extension of one fiscal year.
Eligibility
- Tenured, tenure-track, and ranked non-tenure track faculty at the level of Assistant Professor and above are eligible to apply.
- There is a limit of one FIT award to an individual within any 24-month period. An applicant can submit a new application for an event occurring 24 months after the previously awarded meeting, performance, or exhibition.
- The University expects the applicant to remain a University employee for a minimum of one year following completion of an award.
Application Instructions
The application must be submitted through the Qualtrics site by 5 pm CT on the specified deadline date. All materials must be in English; please provide a translation for any documents in a foreign language. On-time submission and adherence to the application guidelines ensures fairness for all applicants; therefore, applications that are submitted after the deadline, are incomplete, or do not meet the format requirements described below will be returned without review. In such cases, applicants will be invited to submit for the next deadline.
Format/Checklist
- Completed Qualtrics application
- Updated cv or biographical sketch
- Supporting documentation indicating submission/invitation to or acceptance in the conference
Criteria Used to Evaluate Applications
Awards are made to individuals who are giving presentations and performances at important conferences, are participating in important exhibitions, or are involved in significant official capacities in important meetings. In the case of conferences and similar events, presentations of posters are generally accorded lower priority than papers, lectures, or readings. Therefore, for poster presentations it is particularly incumbent on the applicant to make clear the significance in their field and an opportunity for a high degree of visibility at the conference. In the case of exhibitions and performances, participation in highly visible events or venues with high professional impact for the faculty member and for MU will be given priority.
- Nature of Participation. Is the presentation, paper, exhibit, or performance invited or refereed? If no presentation is being made, does the nature of the applicant’s participation clearly benefit their career and MU? Is there evidence of a high level of selectivity?
- Importance to Applicant’s Career and/or Field. Is attendance at the meeting important to the applicant’s career or field? Is there evidence that the applicant’s participation will have a significant benefit for MU? How does it relate to the Missouri Compacts?
- International Scope and Significance. Is there evidence that the meeting or forum is international in scope and isa major international gathering in this field?
- Budget Justification and Previous Funding. Are all sources clearly identified? Does the applicant have funding from their home unit? Has the applicant obtained previous MU funding for travel?
CASDA
The Center for Applied Statistics and Data Analysis (CASDA) is a professional service and research unit of the College of Arts & Science. We provide statistical consulting and expertise to departments across campus and off-campus clients.
Writing Fellows Program
The College of Arts & Science Writing Fellows Program, a multidisciplinary cohort program, meets weekly to help faculty navigate challenges in producing manuscripts by providing a community to incubate, nurture, and stimulate ideas.
Research & Development Leave Program
In conjunction with the process put forth by the Office of the Provost, the College of Arts and Science supports faculty leave for research and development projects.
College of Arts and Science
Grant Support Program
The College of Arts and Science is excited to share information regarding a new Grant Support Program to facilitate externally funded high impact research. This initial launch of the program is focused on competitive grant proposals to federal agencies (e.g., NSF, NIH, DoD). For these mechanisms, the expectation is that the College will provide 50% of the support with the faculty or graduate student home department providing the other 50%.
Submit an application by clicking on the button below. Applications will be reviewed as they are submitted.
To facilitate preparation of competitive federal grant proposals, the College in partnership with the home department will provide funds to support travel to conferences or workshops that provide grant writing training. These may be sponsored by funding agencies (e.g., National Cancer Institute) or field specific organizations. Some restrictions may apply (e.g., meeting locations outside the continental US) but the goal is to support 50% of costs (e.g., for conference registration, travel).
- TT and research NTT Faculty with at least .50 FTE appointment in an A&S department. Those with less than a .50 FTE appointment may also inquire with OCRA about support.
- The general expectation is that requests for this support should be limited to 1 every 5 years, but special circumstances will be considered.
Applications can be submitted at any time.
Application information includes:
- Faculty name and department
- Travel dates
- Event Title and link to conference/workshop grant writing session
- Itemized budget
- Current CV
- Chair approval (letter or email PDF)
Requests should be previously reviewed at the Department level and only those recommended submitted to the College. At the College level, applications will be evaluated based on the prior record of the faculty and the perceived likelihood of funding success.
To improve the quality and thus competitiveness of federal grant proposals, the College in partnership with the home department will provide up to $2,500 for a grant-writer/editor from biosciencewriters.com (https://www.biosciencewriters.com/ScientificGrantProposals.aspx) to work on a proposal draft for junior faculty or tenured faculty submitting large, complex multi-PI proposals. Other grants may be considered at the discretion of the College of Arts and Science Office of Research and Creative Activity (ORCA). Please check in advance.
- The focus is on large, complex multi-PI federal proposals by tenured faculty, and federal grants (e.g., NIH R01, NSF, DoD) submitted by junior faculty as PI, co-PI, or MPI that include MU negotiated indirect charges, $100K minimum direct costs. NSF CAREER grants are especially encouraged. Other grants may be considered at the discretion of ORCA, including resubmissions of a previously scored proposal by faculty who have been funded in the past.
- TT and research NTT Faculty with at least .50 FTE appointment in an A&S department. Those with less than a .50 FTE appointment may also inquire with OCRA about support.
- Draft submission required 6 weeks before agency deadline
- Limit once per proposal
Initial request form due at least 10 weeks before agency deadline.
Form includes:
- Faculty name, department, and other principal/co-investigators
- Project title
- Application due date
- Estimated total budget
- Agency, Mechanism, likely Study Section to review (if applicable)
- Brief explanation of fit with agency funding priorities
- Date by which draft will be provided to send to the grant writer. The timeline should allow grant editors two weeks to do the review, and then a couple of weeks for you to integrate as much of their feedback as possible.
- Chair approval (letter or email PDF)
Applications should be previously reviewed at the Department level and only those recommended submitted to the College. At the college level, applications will be evaluated based on the prior record of the faculty and the perceived likelihood of funding success.
Faculty must submit the grant proposal by the specified deadline. If the grant writer suggested changes are such that more time is needed, written notification that the next cycle will be targeted must be provided. If the proposal is not submitted, faculty are expected to re-pay the costs of the grant writer from their miscellaneous or other funds. If the proposal is submitted and funded, faculty should work with their department to re-pay the departmental contribution from their portion of indirect cost returns. This facilitates departmental ability to support future requests for grant writer review.
To improve the quality and thus competitiveness of federal grant proposals, the College in partnership with the home department will provide $500 for one (or $250 for two) pre-submission external reviews of proposals.
- The focus is on federal grants (e.g., NIH R01, NSF, DoD), submitted as PI, co-PI, or MPI that include MU negotiated indirect charges, $100K minimum total direct costs. NSF CAREER grants are especially encouraged. Other grants may be considered at the discretion of the College Office of Research and Creative Activity (ORCA). Check in advance.
- TT and research NTT Faculty with at least .50 FTE appointment in an A&S department. Those with less than a .50 FTE appointment may also inquire with OCRA about support.
- Departmental assistance from the faculty and Chair or other designee required for identifying reviewers (see below).
- Draft submission required 6-8 weeks before agency deadline
- Limit once per proposal (resubmissions ineligible if initial submission externally reviewed)
Initial request form due at least 10 weeks before agency deadline.
Form includes:
- Faculty name, department, and other principal/co-investigators
- Project title
- Application due date
- Estimated total budget
- Agency, Mechanism, likely Study Section to review (if applicable)
- Brief explanation of fit with agency funding priorities
- Date by which draft will be provided to send to a pre-submission reviewer. This needs to allow reviewers a few weeks to do the review, and then a couple of weeks for you to integrate their feedback.
- Name of designee to assist with identifying reviewers, and fiscal contact to process reviewer payment.
- Chair approval (letter or email PDF)
Identification of Potential Reviewers
Reviewers should be individuals who are not only knowledgeable in your area of study, but individuals who have recently served on the study section you anticipate receiving your application (if NIH) or who have been heavily involved in the review process (former NSF staff or reviewers for NSF). This increases the likelihood pre-submission reviewer is clued in to issues the study section considers important. In addition, you should seek to identify individuals who are not in your “theoretical camp” but might offer a particularly critical review as such will better enable you to anticipate (and address) what could be critical comments from actual grant reviewers.
Reviewers will be given the option of remaining anonymous to the applicant. Once you have agreed on a list of potential reviewers, you may not be informed of who agreed or turned down review. However, if they opt to have their identity revealed to you, they may also be willing to discuss their review and your planned revisions with you. College of Arts and Science External Pre-submission Review of Federal Grant Proposals Support Fund
Note that if PIs have available (e.g., RIF) funds to support additional reviews, ORCA can work with departments to help solicit an additional review. This will also allow us to send out more than 1 review request at a time which can speed up the process.
Applications should be previously reviewed at the Department level and only those recommended submitted to the College. At the college level, applications will be evaluated based on the prior record of the faculty and the perceived likelihood of funding success.
Faculty must submit the grant proposal by the specified deadline. If reviews are such that more time is needed, written notification that the next cycle will be targeted must be provided. If the proposal is not submitted, faculty are expected to re-pay the costs of the external review from their miscellaneous or other funds. If the proposal is submitted and funded, faculty should work with their department to re-pay the departmental contribution from their portion of indirect cost returns. This facilitates departmental ability to support future external reviews.
To facilitate preparation of competitive federal grant proposals, the College in partnership with the home department may be able to provide other means of support, depending on the unique needs of the proposal, that are not covered by other mechanisms in the College Grant Support Program. Examples include costs associated with efforts to obtain pilot data if internal funding mechanisms (e.g., research council grants) are insufficient, additional training, etc. The general focus is on supports that will help push a promising proposal to a fundable score.
- The focus is generally on supporting resubmissions of proposals that have been previously reviewed and scored (or for NSF, resubmission encouraged) toward federal grants (e.g., NIH R01, NSF, DoD), submitted as PI, co-PI, or MPI that include MU negotiated indirect charges, $100K minimum total direct costs; NSF CAREER grants are especially encouraged) or funded faculty looking to submit large, complex multi-PI grants (e.g., center or training grants). Other grants may be considered at the discretion of the College Office of Research and Creative Activity (ORCA). Check in advance.
- TT and research NTT Faculty with at least .50 FTE appointment in an A&S department. Those with less than a .50 FTE appointment may also inquire with ORCA about support.
- The general expectation is that requests for this support should be limited to 1 every 5 years, but special circumstances will be considered.
- Should consult with ADR prior to submission of request to determine eligibility.
Requests can be submitted at any time.
Information required may vary based on type of support requested but will generally include:
- Faculty name, department, and other principal/co-investigators
- Project title
- Funds requested from this program
- Purpose of funds requested and brief budget
- Proposal due date
- Estimated total budget of proposal
- Funding agency (include study section if known) and mechanism
- A specific aims page (or equivalent) for the proposal
- Current CV
- Chair Approval
Requests should be previously reviewed at the Department level and only those recommended submitted to the College. At the college level, applications will be evaluated based on the prior record of the faculty and the perceived likelihood of proposal funding success.
Faculty must submit the grant proposal by the targeted deadline. If work progresses such that the next cycle will be targeted, written notification must be provided. If the proposal is not submitted, faculty are expected to work in good faith with the College and Department to repay the costs of the support provided. This may take different forms, including contributing funds from personal RIF accounts or agreeing to extra teaching within the next year. This allows for the replenishment of the common resource and thus facilitates fund availability for future faculty.
To facilitate preparation of competitive federal grant proposals, the College in partnership with the home department will provide funds for a 1 course teaching release leading up to submission OR a 1 semester .5 FTE (20hr) GRA leading up to submission (i.e., to help facilitate necessary pilot data collection).
- Unfunded faculty aiming to securing their first federal grant (e.g., NIH R01, NSF, DoD), submitted as PI, co-PI, or MPI that include MU negotiated indirect charges, $100K minimum total direct costs; NSF CAREER grants are especially encouraged) or funded faculty looking to submit large, complex multi-PI grants (e.g., center or training grants). Other faculty/grants may be considered at the discretion of the College Office of Research and Creative Activity (ORCA). Check in advance.
- TT and research NTT Faculty with at least .50 FTE appointment in an A&S department. Those with less than a .50 FTE appointment may also inquire with OCRA about support.
- The general expectation is that requests for this support should be limited to 1 every 5 years, but special circumstances will be considered.
- Faculty requesting this support should also participate in the Pre-submission external review support program.
- Should consult with ADR prior to submission of request to determine eligibility.
Applications can be submitted at any time. However, given that teaching schedules are finalized months in advance (as often are graduate teaching/research assignments), faculty are advised to have preliminary conversations with their Chair well ahead of requesting a course release or GRA.
Application information includes:
- Faculty name and other principal/co-investigators
- Project title and estimated total budget
- Agency, Mechanism, Application Due Date
- A specific aims page (or equivalent) for the proposal
- Brief explanation of fit with agency funding priorities
- Current CV
- Chair Approval
Requests should be previously reviewed at the Department level and only those recommended submitted to the College. At the College level, applications will be evaluated based on the prior record of the faculty and the perceived likelihood of funding success.
Faculty must submit the grant proposal by the targeted deadline. If work progresses such that the next cycle will be targeted, written notification must be provided. If the proposal is not submitted, the faculty member will be expected to either repay the cost of the teaching release (or GRA) from RIF/professional development funds or agree to teach an additional course within the next year. If the proposal is submitted and funded, faculty should work with their department to re-pay the departmental contribution from their portion of indirect cost returns. This facilitates departmental ability to support future requests.