Cluster Hire Enhancement Grants

DATE:       December 3, 2007

TO:          Cluster Coordinators, Cluster Faculty and Lead Deans

FROM:      Laurie Beth Clark, Associate Vice Chancellor for Faculty and Staff

RE:           Call for Proposals: Cluster Hiring Initiative Enhancement Grant

I am pleased to announce the Call for Proposals for the Cluster Hiring Initiative Enhancement Grant fund to support cluster infrastructure development. These grants, made possible through the UW Foundation, are designed to enhance cluster infrastructure development through partial support for staff and students to help coordinate cluster activities, and for programmatic supplies and expenses.

Enhancement Grants are not intended to support activities for which other campus funds are available (i.e., research grants, lecture series and symposia), nor are they to be used for ongoing administrative assistance for academic, research or outreach programs that have become institutionalized and should be supported by a school/college/unit. (See below for information on the availability of funding for symposia, lectures and other activities.)

The funds can be awarded for one or two years. Awards will be made for amounts no larger than $25,000 per year and totaling no more than $50,000 over two years. A total of $200,000 annually is available for cluster Enhancement Grants. However, we have only $100,000 to allocate in the 2008-2009 year because some current grants involve multi-year commitments. Clusters that have received Enhancement Grant funding previously and do not have commitments beyond June 30, 2007, are eligible to apply for renewal or new funding. But, depending on the number of proposals received, the review committee may give priority to clusters that have not received previous funding.

The following criteria will be considered when reviewing Enhancement Grant Proposals:

  • Is the activity needed and will it help to develop and/or advance the entire cluster?
  • Does the cluster show an adequate level of productivity within the past two- to three-years in terms of teaching, research and outreach activities?
  • Could the grant be leveraged to continue the activities after the funding ends?
  • Has the cluster hired all approved faculty lines?
  • Does the cluster have access to other sources of funds for this activity?
  • Has the cluster received enhancement funds in the past? If so, what years and how where the funds used?

Process:

Only one funding proposal per cluster will be accepted. The proposal should not exceed three double-spaced pages. Proposals must include:

  1. An abstract paragraph (single space) summarizing the proposed activities; number of years and annual budget requested; and percent and type of positions requested;
  2. A description of current and planned cluster activities;
  3. A description of the proposed use of the funds;
  4. A budget for planned expenditures; and
  5. The number of faculty positions authorized and the names, ranks and departments of currently hired faculty (provide an update if there is a search in process).

An email and a hard copy of each proposal should be submitted by February 15, 2008, to:

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  • Peyton Smith, assistant vice chancellor, Room 117 Bascom Hall (plsmith@wisc.edu);
  • The Lead Dean of the cluster; and
  • Other involved Deans.

Lead Deans may provide comments on the proposals to the Provost’s Office, c/o Peyton Smith by March 7, 2008. The final decision on the allocation of these funds will be made by April 18, 2008.

Funds will be made available as early as July 1, 2008. For more information, please contact Peyton Smith at 262-8214 or via e-mail at plsmith@wisc.edu.

cc:        Darrell Bazzell
            Jim Knickmeyer
            Tim Norris
            Patrick Farrell
            Peyton Smith

Selected Existing Sources of Support on the UW-Madison Campus

To help bring in guest lecturers or support symposia, conferences or colloquia to share work of the cluster:

  • The Anonymous Fund (Purpose: to enhance the artistic and cultural life of the university; administered by a committee appointed by the chancellor and chaired by the Dean of the College of Letters and Science; applications considered at any time; committee does not meet during the summer)
  • University Lectures Committee
  • Hilldale Lectures Fund
  • The Center for the Humanities and the Institute for Research in the Humanities (Supports distinguished visiting guest lecturers in the humanities.)
  • Brittingham Visiting Scholars (Supports week-long residencies of “experts�? in a field who will have intensive contact with senior undergraduate students.)

To help support undergraduate or graduate research connected to the cluster:

To help support the development of curricula, new courses, teaching material and enhance teaching:

To help support projects that cross departmental lines and have an impact on the educational and cultural life of the university community:

Other sources of support may include funding available through the offices of the deans of the various schools/colleges.

CHI Enhancement Grant Recipients

African Diaspora and Atlantic World Research Circle
Provides partial support for an administrative assistant and supplies for activities of the research circle and cluster that include: 1) a monthly seminar series, 2) a monthly film series, 3) an international symposium scheduled for spring 2006 and 4) an expanded Web site for educational and community-building purposes.

Agroecology
Provides partial support for an outreach specialist, supplies and expenses to build a broad base of citizen support and involvement in our cluster research and teaching activities that include: 1) development of a citizen’s advisory board, 2) organizing public workshops and distance education events, 3) developing a network of case-study sites for future research and student learning, 4) preparing outreach materials and 5) writing grants to support outreach work.

Biomedical Engineering
Provided partial support for a laboratory technician and graduate student in a new interdisciplinary laboratory to provide laboratory, research and information technology infrastructure support to advance the efforts of the cluster.

Biophotonics
Provided partial support for a graduate student to use four-dimensional confocal microscopy to image growing axons in the developing spinal cord, allowing the testing of functions of specific signaling systems in growth cones within their natural environment.

Chemical Biology
Provided partial support for a program assistant for: 1) cluster program expansion via data collection and database management, 2) Web site and grant development, and 3) fiscal management.

 

Cognitive Science
Provides partial support for a one year Project Assistant and student hourly funds to: 1) develop a set of electronic resources to increase visibility of cognitive science research and teaching; 2) fund student internships in cognitive science; and 3) supplement an existing speaker series.

Computational Sciences
Provides partial support for: 1) honorarium and travel costs for 12 participants annually who will provide four to six seminars each year on emerging topics to foster synergy and interdisciplinary research among UW-Madison participants and 2) help in the preparation of a book on new frontiers in computational sciences.

Cultural Studies in a Global Context
Provided a one-course reduction for a professor to coordinate an interdisciplinary graduate seminar and to foster other cluster programs that include: 1) expansion of the cluster steering team, 2) undergraduate course development focusing on material culture in the global cultural economy, 3) redesign and updates to the cluster’s Web site, 4) a graduate seminar and 5) hosting and co-sponsoring several campus and public presentations.

 

Ethnic Studies
Provides partial support for a Project Assistant to work with Cluster faculty to: 1) organize faculty symposia and identify funding sources for a speaker series; 2) create and maintain a webpage for the Ethnic Studies Cluster; 3) organize a 2008-09 speaker series; and 4) coordinate public and community partnerships and programs.

Expressive Culture and Diversity in the Upper Midwest
Provides partial support for a graduate student project assistant and supplies to foster: 1) outreach and educational programs, 2) conferences and lectures, 3) grant development, 4) currently funded projects and 5) a monograph series.

 

Genomics
Provides support to update the Genomics Cluster website and support a biweekly spring and fall seminar series to build a stronger genomics community on campus and foster interdisciplinary collaborations.

Initiative for Studies in Technology Enterprise
Provides partial support for a part-time support person to help: 1) coordinate research and outreach programs, 2) enhance curriculum, 3) raise funds for conferences, 4) enhance the cluster Web site and 5) strengthen cluster development through greater community and greater UW-Madison participation.

 

International Environmental Affairs and Global Security
Provides partial support for a Program Assistant to assist in the development of a new graduate training program and a Graduate Certificate in Sustainability and the Global Environment. The program combines innovative new coursework, research, and professional development activities designed to engage students from a wide range of disciplinary and professional backgrounds.

Law, Society and Justice
Provided partial support for reinvigorating undergraduate programs related to legal studies via: 1) development of a Legal Studies Program Web site, 2) a survey of existing graduate legal studies programs to begin planning for a possible graduate program at UW-Madison and 3) purchase of videos for undergraduate legal studies courses.

Nanotechnology
Provided partially support for the first-ever conference on nanotechnology in Wisconsin that explored the impact of emerging nanotechnology on the regional economy, with a focus on the role of UW-Madison research as a catalyst, and that was attended by more than 400 participants from universities, industries, and state and federal government offices.

Religious Studies
Provides partial support for a program administrator to help run the Religious Studies Program office and assist the director during a period of substantial developments of the cluster’s research, teaching and outreach activities, including faculty colloquia, new course development, and university lectures and presentations.

Science and Technology Studies
Provided partially support for an administrative assistant and seed money to: 1) develop infrastructure support for the cluster, and 2) help organize an academic conference and outreach program on biomedical technologies.

Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine
Provides support for three 11-week competitive graduate student fellowships per year and the development of cross-campus training and workshops to help the students learn fundamentals and techniques of a discipline other than their own in stem cell bioengineering, policy and biology.

String Theory
Provided partial support for a weekly seminar series and String Theory Cluster Visitor Program to inform undergraduate and graduate students, faculty and researchers at all levels about developments at the forefront of theoretical physics.

 

Symbiosis
Provides partial support for an Associate Program Specialist and supplies to: 1) facilitate campus interactions and collaborations among symbiosis researchers; 2) take a leadership role in promoting and sharing symbiosis research on an international scale; 3) create a graduate training program; 4) integrate symbiosis into undergraduate education; and 5) increase opportunities for symbiosis researchers to share their work with the public.

Translational Research in Neurodegenerative Diseases
Provided partial support for an administrative assistance during a period of substantial grant development to help with: 1) grants administration, 2) recruitment and personnel issues, 3) travel and other expenses, 4) program seminars, 5) intellectual property issues and 6) security and regulatory compliance.

Visual Culture
Provides partial faculty replacement costs and support for a graduate student to: 1) provide coordination and leadership, 2) build a curriculum of credit and noncredit programs, and explore the development of a certificate and/or an undergraduate or graduate major or minor, 3) host monthly colloquia and public presentations, 4) support the cluster graduate student group, 5) build a visual culture database and Web site, 6) help with a major national conference on transvisual culture, 7) develop curricula for interdisciplinary Visual Culture degrees, 8) prepare a proposal for a Center for the Study of Visual Culture and 9) work on an international exchange with the University of Bari (Italy).

Zebrafish Biology
Provided partial support for a half-time research specialist who provided fish husbandry, maintenance and supervisory services for the cluster’s large-scale mutagenesis screening research facility, and organized joint screenings between two cluster labs, including developing a database of all the mutant and transgenic fish in the two labs.