Research Mini-Award

2024-2025 Research Mini-Award Application

The Baylor Center for School Leadership (BCSL) is pleased to announce that we will offer research award funding to SoE full-time faculty and collaborative non-faculty professional personnel for substantive research projects or efforts. The intent of these awards is to support colleagues to form interdisciplinary teams and make subsequent progress on projects that will lead to a significant publication, presentation or external grant funding award. We will use this award to promote the Baylor mission “to educate men and women for worldwide leadership and service by integrating academic excellence and Christian commitment within a caring community.”

These mini-awards will seek to further the BCSL mission of connecting people, cultivating leadership, conducting research, catalyzing improvement, and contributing to Baylor’s mission.

Funding for mini-awards will be awarded through BCSL funds. Examples of activities that may be funded include the following:

Purchase of materials or equipment relevant to the research (provide recommendations, links, vendor information, catalog/item number, specific item details);
Methodology assistance (e.g. data gathering assistance, transcription; consultation); and,
Research Travel (directly related to doing or disseminating research).

Note: Funding cannot be used for items not permitted through general funds (e.g. participant gift cards, food).

Award Amounts

You can request a maximum of $4,000 per year from these funds by providing information regarding your research funding needs that are not or will not be covered by other sources external to your department. In exceptional cases, amounts above this stated cap will be considered if funds are available. (The mini-award can be supplemented with additional Department/SoE funds.)

During the 2024-2025 academic year the College will award funding beginning with an initial proposal submission date of September 15, 2024. Proposals submitted by this initial date will be given first consideration, however, departments/units may accept and award proposals on a rolling basis through January 2025 as determined by a committee composed of BCSL staff and affiliated faculty. An applicant is not limited to submitting one proposal and receiving one award in the 2024-25 fiscal year, but consideration will be given to first time proposals until all funds are exhausted.

Proposal Guidelines

For consideration, submit a proposal of no more than two pages containing the following information:

Clear and concise description of your project;
Overview of how this aligns to the BCSL mission;
Expected outcomes of the funded activities;
A timeline for activities; and,
A detailed budget outlining use of the funds by the following categories as applicable:
1. Travel
2. Printing
3. Services
4. Supplies and Materials

Funds may not be used for the following purposes:

To compensate P-12 or university faculty, staff, or administrators;
To compensate anyone already employed in a full time or part time position by Baylor University (the only exception is an undergraduate or graduate assistant or adding additional hours to an existing student assistantship) and,
To compensate for services or purchase of materials from international sources (due to processing complexities).

Please use the following guidelines for proposal submission:

If you are a faculty member, and your proposal supports activity primarily connected to your specific academic work in your department, please submit your proposal to your department chair for their signature of approval;
Please then submit your signed proposal to the BCSL Coordinator, Ms. Sahira Kodra (sahira_kodra@baylor.edu ) by September 15, 2024.

Activity supported through these awards may be initiated upon receipt of the award and continue through May 1, 2025. All funds must be expended prior to this date to allow for your administrative support staff to close out the fiscal year. Funds cannot be transferred by the awardee to another faculty member. Unexpended funds will revert to the general BCSL budget. Any changes to an award must be approved by the administrator who awarded the funds.