Goshen College Mininger Grants

For each academic year, teaching faculty and library staff may apply for one Mininger grant for professional development and research activities ($800-$2,000) through the application process defined below. Please review the grant application for important information.

Download grant application

I. Types of Faculty Development Grants

A. Teaching Faculty and Librarian Professional Development Grants

  1. Faculty Scholarly Activity ($800 to $2000)
  2. Terminal Degree Completion ($5000)
  3. New Faculty ($2000) — Application not required

II. Receipt of Proposals

Mininger grants provide an opportunity for faculty (.75% and above) to pursue a professional development activity that requires funds not covered by the annual $1,000 professional development funds or departmental budgets. All professional development activities, including applications for a Mininger grant, should be approved by your department chair, who will consult the Academic Dean as needed.

  • First application due dates are the first Friday in October at 5:00 PM.
  • Second application due dates are the last Friday in February, 5:00 PM.
  • Applications for graduate or terminal degree study have a designated application form due by the last Friday in May, 5:00 PM.

III. Eligibility

Goshen College full-time teaching (.75 or above) faculty who will be continuing at Goshen College the following academic year.  Library faculty with M.L.S. or M.L.I.S degrees are also eligible.  Temporary and adjunct faculty are not eligible except under special circumstances.

IV. Budget

  1. The standard budget form must accompany each application with projected itemized expenses.
  2. Since all faculty have access to college-owned computers, requests for computers will not be considered unless in rare circumstances where a solid rationale can be made for why a college-owned computer cannot be used in the project.  Requests for software of specific equipment necessary for a project will be considered.

V. Institutional Review Board

  1. Any internal grant that seeks support for a research project involving human subjects must undergo IRB review (Please review the institutional research guidelines to determine if your project is subject to those policies) as soon as the project has been approved for funding.
  2. Please see Academic Dean or contact Justin Heinzekehr, regarding questions related to IRB Review.

VI. Evaluation Criteria

(see also: rubric at the end of the Grants Grid document)

A.  Quality

All proposals will be assessed on their merits as presented and on the extent to which the proposals show promise of strengthening faculty member’s intellectual/academic professional growth and development, teaching and contribution to his/her discipline.  The project must promote academic and professional development of the applicant through research, study, critical/or creative activity. It must enhance knowledge/ performance in an area of specialty or develop a new but related area of expertise.

B.  Specificity and Clarity

Proposals should be written clearly, be succinct and provide specific information on the particular method for completing the project, proposed calendar as well as budget items and amounts.

C. Outcome

An outcome must be identified (e.g. article on innovative teaching pedagogy; experiment results; new or revised course; original musical composition; creative writing; art work; musical or dramatic performance). Expectations and outcomes for each grant vary according to the purposes and goals of each grant (see individual grant descriptions). One copy of final reports for all funded proposals will be submitted to the Office of Academic Affairs (electronically as e-mail attachments to dean@goshen.edu) upon completion of projects.  Not filing reports will impact future funding possibilities.

D. New Applicants

If there is insufficient funding, a proposal from a new applicant will receive priority over a previously-funded faculty member if the proposals are of equal merit. In the case of applicants requesting funding for a project that has been previously supported, the application must clearly state the progress achieved on the initial project and must also identify new directions that an additional year of funding will enable.

E.  Quality of Prior Reports and Results of Previously Funded Projects

The committee will consider the quality of final reports submitted from persons who have received prior grant funds and the results of prior grant projects (successful publication e.g. of an essay, exhibition or performance of artistic works, successful book contract, etc.) as new award decisions are made.

F. Grant Applications by Faculty Development Committee Members

To avoid conflict of interest, proposals from members of the Faculty Development Committee will be reviewed without the applicant present.