Kress Family Creative Pedagogy Grant

The Kress Family Fund for Creative Pedagogy, established by the colleagues, students, friends, and family of Susan Kress, will support an annual award of $2,000 to a faculty member who proposes a new teaching venture.  As long as student engagement, creativity, and curiosity are central to the proposed enterprise, teaching is to be construed broadly here and need not be restricted to a proposal for a course.  The award may support a wide variety of pedagogical practices, including technological trials, case studies, experiential learning, field work or trips, workshops, team teaching, interdisciplinary learning, student research and publications—and others yet to be imagined.  The award is intended to encourage the taking of risks and to serve as both an incentive and a reward.  It is hoped that the award winner will be sustained by discussions of pedagogy across the College hosted by the Director of the Center for Leadership, Teaching, and Learning and will share with the community, in some appropriate form, the pedagogical experience as well as the assessment of its success in promoting student engagement and learning.

 

Any Skidmore faculty member, whether on or off the tenure track, may apply for this award, and the application may also be submitted in conjunction with an application for a faculty development award.  The Faculty Development Committee will oversee the application process and make the annual selection with the assistance of the Associate Dean of the Faculty.

 

1. Faculty may apply only for this award or may apply for this award in conjunction with an application for a faculty development award.
2. Faculty members may also apply for this award as individuals or share it as members of a collaborative team; collaborators may also come from other institutions.
3. The award may be treated as a taxable stipend or may fund expenses in support of the applicant’s pedagogical agenda.  If expenses are submitted, all financial documentation and itemized receipts need to be submitted by the end of the grant period to the Office of the DOF/VPAA.  The final narrative report should be submitted to the Office of the DOF/VPAA within one month of the end of the grant period.
4. Requests for equipment and special materials not ordinarily covered by grants from the Committee should be directed to the appropriate academic chair, program director, and/or the Office of the DOF/VPAA.  Proposals for expensive scientific equipment, for example, are better directed to the chair of the department and Office of the DOF/VPAA for inclusion in operational and capital budgets for the department.
5. Travel reimbursement may cover the cost of transportation, lodging, and food.  PLEASE NOTE:  Faculty must complete and sign an expense report giving details for each expenditure; there is no reimbursement for alcohol.  Original, itemized receipts for each expenditure of $10 or more must be attached to the expense report; your credit card bill and the receipt showing the total amount paid for restaurant charges are not considered adequate proof of purchase. If travel reimbursement is requested for a collaborator, these guidelines still apply.
6. Although faculty development funds are not typically intended to support faculty travel to conferences, this award may be used to fund attendance at conferences, workshops, or seminars that support pedagogical activities.
7. Subsidy for production or publication shall carry no obligation for repayment.  It is expected, however, that grantee(s) will acknowledge support of the College on exhibition or publication.
8. Aid cannot be applied toward reimbursement for work completed nor is aid to be used as honoraria for award recipients.
9. Any equipment purchased under the approved research grant will remain the property of the College.
10. Projects funded by the FDC are not intended for personal financial gain.  Should financial gain (profit) be realized, faculty members are strongly encouraged to reimburse the College for the costs of the profitable enterprise it has supported.
11. Although projects funded by the FDC are not intended for hiring student assistants, this award may be used to hire student assistants who will both aid in, and benefit from, the faculty member’s proposed pedagogical initiative.
12. Proposals that involve human subjects or the use of human tissues are subject to the requirements of the College’s Institutional Review Board (IRB) (IRB guidelines, FAQs and forms are available at: https://www.skidmore.edu/irb/).  Proposals that involve the use of vertebrate animals are subject to the requirements of the College’s Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC). IACUC guidelines and forms are available by contacting the IACUC chair.  IRB and IACUC approvals are not a prerequisite to submitting a Kress Family Creative Pedagogy Grant but are required prior to the commencement of the research.
13. The FDC will advise recipients of awards via email. 
14. Deliberations of the FDC are strictly confidential and decisions on awards are not to be discussed with individual committee members.  All inquiries regarding awards shall be addressed to the chairperson.

 

 

In making this award, the FDC will first consider the excellence of the faculty proposal.  When proposals are comparably meritorious, the FDC will award grants on the basis of the following criteria:

1. Proposals will be assessed on their merit, and particularly on their inventive and imaginative use of pedagogies to promote student engagement, creativity, and curiosity. 
2. Proposals from faculty who have not recently received faculty development grants will be considered more favorably than faculty who have recently been granted faculty development money.
3. Applications from faculty who have, in the past, used grant money effectively for the pursuit of pedagogical work will be considered in a more favorable light than applications from those who have received grants but who have not yet productively employed them. 
4. Applications from faculty who have not filed completed reports and expense forms on the use of previous grants awarded by the FDC will not be considered. 
5. Applications from faculty who will not be under employment contract to Skidmore during the whole of the grant period will not be considered.

 

FORM:  ONLINE SKIDMORE FAMILY KRESS CREATIVE PEDAGOGY GRANT APPLICATION

FORM:  ONLINE SKIDMORE KRESS FAMILY CREATIVE PEDAGOGY GRANT FINAL REPORT