Hartford Matters Teaching Mini Grant Competition

With the move from West Hartford to downtown Hartford, the faculty and staff at UConn Hartford have built upon the campus’s historical strengths while leveraging exciting new possibilities our new location in the state capital affords. Aligned to the University’s mission and core values, UConn Hartford connects its diverse student body to teaching, research, and service in and about the global city. With a vision of academic excellence focused on community-based, collaborative learning, UConn Hartford plays a critical role in advancing the University’s commitment to innovation, leadership, global engagement, and cultural and intellectual diversity. With the majority of Connecticut and the world’s population living in cities, UConn Hartford is ideally located to help our faculty and students better understand and engage the rich opportunities and challenging inequalities of urban life.

In this context, the UConn Hartford Campus Director’s Office is pleased to announce the Hartford Matters Teaching Mini Grant Competition, open to all faculty across all campuses. This year the grant awards will range from a minimum of $500 to a maximum of $2000.

Successful proposals will:

– center student learning through engagement and collaboration with people, places and organizations in the City of Hartford;
– address the teaching of UConn Hartford’s diverse undergraduates by adopting teaching methodologies that supports students with differing degrees of academic preparation;
– integrate content and/or teaching methods that promote diversity, intersectionality and social justice; and
– emphasize the link between innovative, effective practice and enhanced levels of student engagement and learning

We seek proposals that make use of or develop innovative, engaged, and active teaching practices and that, whenever possible, are informed by pedagogical research. Consideration should be given to the level of proposal funding being requested. Examples of proposals funded at the lower level might include development of new teaching materials, assessment of a new method to increase student engagement, integration of a new instructional technology, innovative flexible course designs that take advantage of synchronous and asynchronous learning; while proposals funded at the higher range are likely to be more systemic in nature, so for example, pedagogical/technological strategies to scale a teaching methodology or creation of a new course with imbedded educational technology. Joint and interdisciplinary proposals also are welcome.

Proposals will be evaluated by a committee of Hartford faculty and Storrs staff from the Center for Teaching and Learning (CETL) on the basis of their:

– proposed engagement and collaboration with people, places and organizations in the City of Hartford;
– proposed impact on student learning, student success, or teaching effectiveness;
– innovativeness;
– potential for timely adoption within or across disciplines;
– extent to which the innovation reflects research on teaching and learning; and
– strength of an evaluation plan aligned with the stated proposal aims.

Award recipients will be encouraged to disseminate their findings as a poster, presentation, or publication at a regional or national conference or publication. Select awardees also will be asked to share their finding with colleagues at a Hartford campus teaching workshop designed to provide an opportunity for other faculty to learn about pedagogical innovations.

*Proposals for new courses will need to proceed through their specific college/school course evaluation process.

If you have any questions please feel free to contact the UConn Hartford Office of the Director at hartford.director@uconn.edu or CETL at cetl@uconn.edu.

*Note: The Hartford Matters Teaching Mini Grant Competition is in addition to The Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning Mini Grant Competition, to which faculty are encouraged to apply.

Eligibility: All faculty, all ranks (including APiR and Adjunct), all campuses.

Applicant Name*
First Last
Applicant Title*
Academic Deptartment/Campus*
Is this a joint proposal?*
- Yes
- No
Joint Applicant 1 Name
First Last
Joint Applicant 1 Title
Joint Applicant 2 Name
First Last
Joint Applicant 2 Title
Title of Proposal*
Course #*
Course Name*
Course Type*
Annual Enrollment*
Class Size*
Amount Requesting*
KFS # (Ledger 4 Only)*
Nature of Innovation*
Briefly describe the nature of the teaching innovation for which you are applying for funding (not to exceed 2 pages, double spaced, 12-pt. font). Provide a clear description of how the proposed innovation is aligned with your course, the learning objectives, and how it will improve student learning.
Max. file size: 100 MB.
Evaluation of Impact*
Briefly describe your plan for evaluation of success of the proposed teaching innovation. Provide a clear description of how improvement in student outcomes will be measured to determine the success of proposed project.
Dissemination Plan*
Briefly describe your plan for presenting or publishing the results, such as specific regional or national conference or publication.
Funding Level Requested*
Identify the level of funding being requested, $500 (minimum) to $2,000 (maximum). Indicate why the level of funding requested is appropriate and provide a brief line item budget illustrating how the funds would be used. Grants may be used for faculty summer salary, for development of external funding proposals, establishing and sustaining communities of practice, and other appropriate uses. Funding may not be used for travel.
Supporting Materials*
Attach a copy of your current course syllabus, a brief (no more than one page) teaching philosophy statement, and a letter of support from your department head.
Max. file size: 100 MB.
Phone
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.