Furman Research and Professional Growth (RPG) Grants & Sabbaticals

I. The Furman Standard Grant

Description: The purpose of The Furman Standard (TFS) grant program is to support ambitious, multi-year, projects that enhance Furman’s status as a nationally recognized liberal arts college and to encourage an individual faculty member’s passion for scholarly and creative activity. This prestigious award is a three-year grant with a budget of $7,000 per year, for a total of $21,000.  Applications are accepted once annually in the Spring.

Application Guidelines / FAQ / Application Form / Prior Award Winners

II. Research and Professional Growth Grants

Description: The Research and Professional Growth grant program provides one-time funding to support the meritorious scholarly or creative work of Furman faculty members. Typically, awards are capped at $2,000. Awards are made twice a year. Applications submitted for the Fall deadline are to fund scholarly and creative work that occurs between December and May. Applications submitted for the Spring deadline are to fund scholarly and creative work that occurs between June and November. The number of awards made per year is dependent on available funding.

Application Guidelines / FAQ / Application Form

III. OLLI Faculty Enrichment Award

Description: Participants in the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) at Furman have generously devoted funds to provide an annual “OLLI Faculty Enrichment Award” supporting the scholarly or creative activity of a Furman faculty member. Award of these funds is made via the same application form as the Research and Professional Growth Grants. On the application, you will see a question asking whether you would also like to be considered for the OLLI Faculty Enrichment Award. For this award, preference is given to applications that substantively involve students in the proposed work. Recipients will be required to give a presentation on their work to the OLLI program.

Application Guidelines / Application Form

RPG reviews faculty sabbatical requests and makes recommendations to the Dean. Applications are due in the Fall of the academic year prior to when the sabbatical is planned. Before completing and submitting the sabbatical application form, the faculty member applicant must first have a conversation with their Department Chair about their sabbatical plans and teaching coverage. After that conversation, the faculty member must give email notice of their intent to request to take sabbatical leave to the Dean of Faculty (cc Lori Law and Department Chair) by August 1 of the year they will submit their application. The email should declare the faculty member’s intent to take a sabbatical leave and confirm that they have spoken to their Department Chair about their sabbatical plans and teaching coverage. If you have completed these steps, then you may begin completing the sabbatical application provided below. Furman’s policies governing faculty sabbaticals can be found here.

Sabbatical Application Form

For all RPG opportunities:

• Apply by submitting the completed application form and any required attachments as a single PDF to this secure Box folder.
• Name your application file as Yourlastname_Yourfirstname.PDF.
• If you have received previous funding from RPG, you are not eligible to apply for new funding until you have submitted a report on your previous project (see below).
• All grant and sabbatical applications must be signed by your department chair before submission.
• Before submitting sabbatical applications, the faculty member applicant must first have a conversation with their Department Chair about their sabbatical plans and teaching coverage. After that conversation, the faculty member must give email notice of their intent to request to take sabbatical leave to the Dean of Faculty (cc Lori Law and Department Chair) by August 1 of the year they will submit their application. The email should declare the faculty member’s intent to take a sabbatical leave and confirm that they have spoken to their Department Chair about their sabbatical plans and teaching coverage.

At the beginning of each academic year, deadlines will be announced at faculty meetings, and posted to Faculty Notices on Box. Funding decisions are typically announced a few weeks after application deadlines. Questions can be directed to the chair of RPG.

For all RPG funding mechanisms, you are required to submit a report on your project upon its conclusion.  These reports will also be submitted via the same secure Box folder.  You will not be eligible to apply for a new grant until the RPG committee has received your report on the use of previous funding.

Post-Project Report Form