Funds now are available to facilitate research on improving student retention by exploring new instructional approaches or supports for specific courses that are critical for student success.
The awards, a total of $75,000 from the Fred J. Kelly fund, with an additional $25,000 to be matched by the grantee’s university, college or department, will fund two- to three-year projects to foster research looking to the improvement of teaching in the university.
“This is a fantastic funding opportunity that stimulates innovative approaches to teaching and motivates the development of novel approaches to enhance the student experience,” said Ken Bayles, PhD, vice chancellor for research at UNMC.
See the Fred J. Kelly Fund Request for Applications.
Greater funding priority will be offered for coursework improvement efficacy research in courses that have traditionally been “bottleneck courses” that disproportionately impact student retention.
“Bottleneck courses are those where either the demand for the course exceeds the capacity or those that become a stumbling block to students progressing towards their degree,” said Dele Davies, MD, UNMC’s senior vice chancellor for academic affairs. “Often, bottleneck courses lead students to withdraw or prolong their training unduly.
“These funds will enable our faculty to directly tackle courses that are known to be bottlenecks and enable more students to achieve their dream of a UNMC degree in a timely manner.”
Proposals, which are due Oct. 31, must request funds for research that hope to improve teaching by making significant, transformative changes to the design, pedagogy, learning materials or special supports associated with existing courses.
Proposed projects may involve one faculty member or a team; co-PIs may be from the same campus, or skills might be leveraged by using expertise from faculty on other campuses. No funding can be awarded to those outside the NU system.
Assistant, associate or full professors (including professors of practice) with instructional apportionments employed by any University of Nebraska campus are eligible to submit funding applications as PIs and participate as co-PIs. Faculty without instructional apportionments (typically those with research professor titles) are eligible to serve as co-PIs. Faculty may serve as the lead PI on one grant; there is no limit on participation as co-PIs.
See more information and submit proposals at NURamp.
The funds have been made available through the will of Mabel Elizabeth Kelly, and the awards honor her husband Fred J. Kelly.