Faculty Awards and Entitlements

President's designee: Liz Demski
Provost and Dean of the College designee: Aimee Huff
Vice President for Finance and Administration or designee: Piper Orton

Faculty:

Baafra Abeberese 20-22 (B)

Steven Biller 20-22 (C)

Kate Grandjean 21-23 (B), Chair

Charles Bu 22-24 (C)

Margaret Cezair-Thompson 22 (A)

Evelina Guzauskyte 22-24 (A)

 

I. Types of Awards Available

General Grants to Support Scholarly Activities

General Grants are designed to encourage research and other scholarly work which may include supplemental conference or other scholarly travel by eligible individuals.  The 2021-22 application deadlines are: TBD.  These deadlines must be strictly observed so that Committee members will have time to review applications before meeting. Extensions will not be granted.  Funds are limited to $3,000. The Committee may grant partial awards.

Other Grants

  • Special Dissertation Grants
    Special College funds are available to assist faculty in covering expenses connected with doctoral dissertations, and will be awarded retroactively.  Applications will be due on the same dates as General Grants and must follow same application format. Tuition expenses are not covered.
     
  • Davis Awards
    The College's Davis Fund for Russian Area Studies has set aside a modest sum of money to help support faculty research in the field.  Funds may be used to pay for research expenses relating to projects concerning Russia and/or other territories of the former Soviet Union. The applications should follow the same guidelines as Faculty Awards, but should specify "Davis Fund" in the application.  Applicants are not required to be in Russian/Russian Area Studies.  Applicants may apply for both the maximum $3,000 in Davis monies plus the maximum from Faculty Awards.  These applications will be considered during any of the Faculty Award application rounds.
     
  • Luce Moore Awards
    The College's Elisabeth Luce Moore Fund supports individual faculty awards related to world religions.  Applicants from the Department of Religion may apply for both a Luce Moore Award of $3.000 and the maximum from other faculty awards.  Faculty members in other departments may apply for a Luce Moore Award in lieu of other faculty awards.  Funds may be used to pay for research expenses relating to projects concerning world religions, including research assistant funding and travel expenditures.  The applications should follow the same guidelines as Faculty Awards, but should specify "Luce Moore Fund" in the application.
     
  • Open Access Awards
    Please see the Wellesley College Open Access Fund Guidelines for detailed information.  

 

II. Research Award Guidelines

A. Eligibility

Category

Eligibility

Tenured or Tenure Track

Eligible during active service and paid non-medical leaves

Unpaid Leave Faculty in the Ranks

Ineligible

Half-time or Greater in the Ranks (e.g., Visiting Lecturers, Lecturers, Sr. Lecturers)

Eligible

Emeriti

Eligible.  Please email FRAC@wellesley.edu for application submission instructions.

PERA

PERA Faculty are ONLY eligible for professional development funding directly from the PERA department

ISL

ISL Faculty must receive approval from their department chair prior to applying for a Faculty Award

Other Faculty

Ineligible

Faculty Postdoctoral Fellows

Eligible

B. General Guidelines

  1. Awards are intended to encourage research and other scholarly activities, but not to finance ongoing projects indefinitely.  Applicants will be expected to investigate all possible sources for funds (including start-up accounts).  A brief report on the result of faculty awards received in the past five years must be included on the application for a new grant or the new grant will not be awarded.  Grants will not be made to support activities that postdate the faculty member's termination date at the college (with the exception of grants made to emeriti/ae faculty).
     
  2. Applications for the charges for publication up to $3,000 will be considered only with a copy of the publisher's request for such funding from the College.  Page charges for articles are fully fundable up to the $3,000 limit.  No grants will be made for reprints.  Applications for subvention of publication costs should be made before publication.  If a project assisted by a grant results in publication, the author should acknowledge support provided by the College and reimburse the College up to the amount of support should royalties from publication exceed $6,000.
     
  3. Books purchased with funds from awards revert to the Margaret Clapp Library when the individual leaves the College.  Equipment and computer software purchases become the property of the College, earmarked for the individual's use while at the College during the time the project continues.  Copies of materials belong to the individual.  Books and journals for one's personal library may not be purchased.  In order to receive reimbursement from the College for purchases made with funds from an award, original receipts must accompany the check request.
     
  4. When the sums applied for exceed the funds available for making awards, the Committee will attempt to give preference to those who have not previously received such grants. Standard conference travel and special dissertation grants are awarded retroactively. Ordinarily no retroactive awards are made for scholarly research.
     
  5. Faculty awards may not be used to fund tuition or college courses or to purchase computer hardware.
     

III. Application Procedure

A. Research Awards

  1. Type of Award
    Please select the type of award you are applying for from the options.
     
  2. About the Project & the Applicant
    Please give applicant name, title, department, rank, years at Wellesley and please indicate if you have applied for an award before or not—if  you have received funding for this project please note number of years.  Provide a description of the results of every award (excluding conference travel) funded by the Committee on Faculty Awards in the last five years, including year awarded, amount awarded, and project title.  Please list any publications from recent faculty awards. Applications that do not contain this information will not be considered.  Please list your current project title.
     
  3. Additional Information (Files)
  • Vita: Attach a brief vita no more than 2 pages in length, including graduate degrees, postgraduate awards (with dates) and recent publications (last 5 years).
  • Project Description: Please upload a specific and succinct project description between 500 and 1000 words.  Include a statement of your objectives, procedures, and estimated time schedule.  Explain clearly and specifically how the award will help you realize the objectives of your project.  Be specific about what you expect to accomplish during the award period, and your estimate of the total time required. Remember that your application may be read by scholars who do not have your specialized background and knowledge.  If this is a joint project, give names and addresses of collaborators, the sources of their funding (if any) and joint efforts (if any) to obtain other funding.  Give full citations of any papers related to this project that you have delivered at professional meetings or have published.
  • Funding Sources: If you have applied elsewhere for funds, explain. If you have not, please consider doing so.
  • Optional Information: Please upload any additional files that might support your application.

B. Supplementary Travel Awards

Please refer to the College's current travel policy and the faculty travel acknowledgement of risk posted on the Provost's website. Faculty anticipating conference or other scholarly travel expenses in excess of $2,000 should apply for a Supplemental Travel Award (following the application guidelines and deadlines). Please note that supplementary conference or scholarly travel covers transportation, conference and registration fees, meals and accommodations.

a. Apply as for a research award.

b. Specify the dates of travel and conference.

 

You will be asked for clarification for an award application that does not meet the Guidelines for Faculty Awards.  If there is insufficient time for the Committee to review and vote on the application, you will be asked to resubmit it.
 

Reference Guide for Common Expenses

Transportation Expenses

 Please refer to the College's current Travel Policy.  If the budget includes airfare, the fare should be based on the economy fare quotation from one of the online vendors, such as Expedia, Travelocity or Orbitz.  For foreign travel, every effort should be made to consolidate research for the sake of efficiency. 

Accommodations and Meals

Please refer to the College's Travel Policy. 

Typing & Indexing Manuscripts

Grants to pay the expense of typing and indexing manuscripts will be awarded only after the manuscript has been completed and copies of receipts submitted.  If an individual, rather than a company, provides the typing service, payment will be made through payroll unless the individual is in business as an independent contractor.  In order to be paid through payroll the Controller requires a completed I-9 (immigration form) and a W-4 (tax withholding form).  For payment by check request, a completed form verifying independent contractor status must be submitted to the Controller's Office before any checks can be issued.  Forms are available on the Controller's Office website.

Copying

If more than three copies will be made of materials explain why.

Summer Research - Child Care      

 

 

Where documented need exists for child care to allow time for research, some expenses may be reimbursed using the following guidelines:

  • Our policy on child care reimbursement follows IRS established guidelines for claiming credit for child care expenses. These guidelines require that the child be a dependent no older than twelve. (The College will allow reimbursement for child care for a dependent child who is twelve years of age through August 31. A child who is thirteen on September 1 would not qualify for child care assistance from that point forward.) Please review Ten Things to Know About the Child and Dependent Care Credit from the IRS for details.
  • Child care will be provided only to continuing tenured or tenure track faculty during the summer. 
  • Processed as payroll and included in your paycheck, the maximum amount will be $3,000 inclusive of fringe benefits at the current rate and treated as taxable income. 
  • Please contact Accounting with any payroll questions.

Student Research Assistants

In the event you wish to pay a student research assistant, the student you hire needs to be set up with the Student Employment Office via the Office of the Provost and Dean of the College.  Hourly rates for students and the current minimum wage can be found here.  If special research needs cannot be met by student research assistants, the Committee will consider requests for more specialized assistance at higher hourly wages.

Equipment

List details for equipment and supplies, using actual catalog or suppliers' quotations or data from the College Purchasing Office.  Also consider whether equipment can be fabricated by the College technical staff at a lower cost? Is it available already through another source at the College?

 

Computers: While computer purchases will not be funded, applications for software will be considered. 

 

IV. Payment or Reimbursement Funds

Payment or reimbursement of a research award is made upon submission of a completed transaction through the Workday system for all eligible expenses.  It is your responsibility to make sure that the grant amount is not overspent. Should the grant amount be overspent, it will be your responsibility to reimburse the College.

V. Additional Available Entitlements

A. Widener Library Grants

Due to COVID-19, Harvard libraries are closed and are not offering special borrower cards.  Therefore, Wellesley's Widener Library Grant is temporarily not available. 

Widener grants are available to all faculty eligible for faculty awards. There is no deadline for this entitlement.  Please use the Faculty Awards Application and select “Create New Widener Library Grant Submission” in the top table, a check made out to the Harvard College Library will be issued to the faculty member. 

B. Annual Conference Travel Funds

Please refer to the College's current Travel Policy. Conference travel funds do not require a formal application process and are awarded retroactively.  Each eligible faculty member will start AY21-22 with $2,000 available in their Conference Travel grant/account.  This funding can be spent on travel and living expenses incurred during attendance at scholarly meetings.  Expenses may be paid for on a College Travel Card or by the faculty member.  All reimbursements will be processed through the Workday platform (for assistance with Workday Finance transactions, please see the Controller's Office schedule for drop-in hours: https://www.wellesley.edu/controller). 

Conference travel funds do not accumulate from year to year and any remaining balances do not carryover.