Internal Funding — College of the Liberal Arts

Other Resources

Humanities Institute Penn State faculty and students in the arts and humanities benefit from a wide range of Institute funding opportunities. Applications are reviewed by members of the Institute’s Advisory Board and recommendations are made to the Director.

Social Science Research Institute SSRI offers several types of funding for researchers working in the social sciences. We have different levels of funding, as well as funding that is specific to different institutes, types of research, and services offered.

Survey Research Center We provide the services and resources to help the Penn State community conduct interdisciplinary research throughout the University community, Pennsylvania, and beyond. Our staff helps researchers plan, implement, and track data collection processes.

Support for Global Research and Travel Penn State’s vision is to be a global university that is committed to excellence, with passion for fostering knowledge and educating students for global citizenship and leadership. The University is dedicated to educating the next generation of global citizens and leaders by providing students with diverse opportunities to engage with different cultures across the world, understand global societal and environmental processes, and develop the skills necessary to cross cultural and linguistic boundaries to tackle complex and challenging problems.

For further information on Internal Funding, please contact Susan Johnson at saj12@psu.edu

Start Up Funds Guidelines

Start up funds are provided by the College to newly hired faculty to help them advance their program of study through the completion of significant and substantial research projects that are likely to appear on a CV in a substantive way. Start up funds can be especially useful when they enable projects that might be infeasible in the absence of funding and/or they increase the likelihood that the faculty member can secure external funding to support the research agenda.

Promotion and Tenure Research Funds

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.

External Funding Recognition Award for Faculty

The College’s external funding recognition award recognizes and rewards faculty for their success in bringing in external funds. The award is tied to the components of grants that bring revenue into the College, in the form of indirect cost recovery, or that shift College expenses (i.e., faculty salaries and graduate student stipends) onto grants. Awards will be made concurrent with the establishment of the grant budget, to allow investigators to use these funds in ways that support the execution of the grant, or to position themselves for their next major grant proposal. The award is made to the principal investigator (PI) for grants that fall within the portfolio of the College’s grants and contracts office.