The College provides an award of $5,000 to faculty who are tenured and promoted to associate professor. The award is meant to support faculty in pursuing their next major research project, with a strong emphasis on activities that promote a successful application for external funding. The award may be used to support preliminary archival work, to purchase equipment or materials, conduct pilot studies aimed at demonstrating the feasibility of a project to an external funding agency, etc. The award may also be used for a course release, contingent on a strong case for the benefits of the release and approval from the department head.

Faculty are notified of this award in mid-summer, following a positive tenure decision, and are given two years in which to utilize the funds.

To access these funds, the faculty member must submit a brief proposal and budget (with justification) and indicate the external funding agency (or agencies) that will be targeted and the anticipated dates of submission. (An email to Susan Johnson saj12@psu.edu will suffice. However, the department head must be copied on the request.)

Following Penn State guidelines, these funds cannot be used for a salary supplement; nor can they be used to lengthen an approved sabbatical period.

Finally, the Research Office staff stands ready to assist faculty in putting together the proposal itself. To find funding sources, visit (http://pivot.cos.com): the first time you sign up for this service you will need to be at a Penn State computer; after that you can log in from anywhere.