Faculty improvement grants are funded through the IFO/Minnesota State Master Agreement (Article 19). Faculty association committees are responsible for associated guidelines and proposal review processes.
Please consult the FA Professional Development Committee for questions pertaining to Short-term Grants and the FA Faculty Research Committee for questions pertaining to Research Grants.
Beginning in FY 2023 (July 1, 2022), the procedures for Faculty Improvement Grant applications and criteria used for awarding monies will include a priority for professional improvement funds focused on equity and inclusion and/or the elimination of education equity gaps.
The purpose is to support non-credit workshops/courses that prepare faculty for current or new teaching assignments and/or aligns with faculty member’s professional development plan. Qualifying workshops/courses are one to 14 days in length and should be interactive, hands-on training focused on a single topic, and demand active participation.
The FA Professional Development Committee may award up to $5,000 per application to support registration fees, travel and per diem expenses. Grant awards do not support attendance at annual meetings or professional conferences.
Estimated Project Budget
Step 2: Discuss your project and intent to apply with your department chair/director and dean/supervisor. This step as upon submission, your proposal will automatically be routed to them for review and approval. All approvals (signatures) are facilitated electronically in Wizehive and applications will not be considered without all required approvals.
Step 3: Click on the red "Apply Here" button to login to Wizehive using your StarID.
Step 4: Click on "Submit" to put forward your COMPLETE application for consideration. It must be submitted prior to the posted deadline above or it will not be considered.
Step 5: Once your completed application is electronically approved in Wizehive by your department chair/director AND dean/supervisor, your application will be distributed to a review panel for review and consideration. Please note that the review process takes time, so please be patient. Updates will be sent out as soon as the review process is concluded.
DISCLAIMER: Applicants are encouraged to submit their electronic application early to avoid potential access issues. Applications after the deadline will not be considered without official confirmation of campus-wide accessibility/technical outages. Previous versions of application forms will not be considered and will be denied.
Michael Bredeson - $350
Biology, “Cornell’s Ornithology: Comprehensive Bird Biology”
Croix Clayton - $1,448
English, “ASLI Spanish Language Institute Cuernavaca – Regular Group Session”
Ning Hou – $3,845
Management, “Advanced Negotiation Skills Training” by Harvard Continuing Education”
Stephanie Houdek - $1,699.90
Math Skills Center, “New York College Learning Skills Association Workshop 2023 – All Our Voices: We are Better Together”
Elena Kurinski - $3,606.80
Languages & Cultures, “Alnwick International Education Professional Development Workshop”
Gengyun Le - $4.083.25
Biology, “National Institute on Scientific Teaching – Northeast Summer 2023”
Maria Mikolchak - $4,525
English, “BELC Workshop for Teachers of French”
Kenneth Miller - $2,450
Mechanical & Manufacturing Engineering, “ANSYS Mechanical Topology Optimization”
Celi Monroe - $1,195
Art, “Principles of Typeface Design: Display Type”
Mark Schmidt – $4,395
Information Systems, “Alnwick Program Faculty Development Workshop”
Michael Sundblad - $4,830
Environment & Technological Studies, “Haas CNC Equipment Training”
Althea Archer - $580.16
Biology, "Species Distribution Modeling with Bayesian statistics R"
Elena Kurinski - $4,884.57
Languages & Cultures, "Lapland International Forum on Education"
Heidi Everett - $4,400
Mass Communications, "Digital Marketing and Social Media Analytics Course"
Hung-Chih Yu - $375
Geography & Planning, "Certification in Hotel Industry Analytics (CHIA) Online Program"
Maria Mikolchak - $1,800
English, "Culture and Pedagogy"
Stephen Jenkins - $2,495
Counseling and Psychological Services, “Transgender Care Certification Training”
Gengyun Le - $2,678
Biology, “National Institute on Scientific Teaching - Midwest Regional Summer Institute 2021 hosted by Rice University”
Maria (Masha) Mikolchak - $1,700
English, “Teaching Langugages and Cultures”
Shawn Schooley - $2,085
Political Science, “Weatherhead Foundations of Coaching Certificate”
Shawn Schooley - $1,500
Political Science, “The Weatherhead Executive Coaching Certificate”
Jennifer Hawkins - $708
Communication Studies, "One-Day Institute on Civic Prompts in the Major: Design in Social Responsibility and the Public Good”
Eddah Mutua - $748
Communication Studies, "One-Day Institute on Civic Prompts in the Major: Design in Social Responsibility and the Public Good”
Jennifer Tuder - $710
Communication Studies, "One-Day Institute on Civic Prompts in the Major: Design in Social Responsibility and the Public Good”
Cezarija Abartis - $1,913
English, “Master Class at Willamette Writers Conference”
Pat Bodelson - $3,035
Political Science, “Global Education: Cultivating Innovation in the Classroom”
Jim Chen - $2,653
Information Systems, “Designing Efficient Deep Learning Systems”
Seth Christman - $2,372
Community Psychology, Counseling, and Family Therapy, “Minnesota State International Education Colloquium”
Elena Kurinski - $2,500
Language and Cultures, “Workshop in Cognitive Approaches in Language Learning and Bilingualism”
Jennifer Lamb - $2,338
Biology, “Environmental DNA Metabarcoding”
Mehdi Mekni - $1,016
Computer Science and Information Technology, “Scrum Product Owner Training”
Maria Mikolchak - $4,234
English, “Creativity Workshop”
Ilya Simakov - $770
Theatre and Film Studies, “Writing for TV Course”
Janet Tilstra - $1,457
Communication Sciences and Disorders, “Liberating Structures Immersion Workshop”
Zhan "Myra" Wang - $2,358
Marketing, “Case Method Teaching Seminar Part 1”
Julie Baugnet - $1,088
Art, “Alnwick Program Development Workshop”
Tony Her - $1,355
Biology, “Advanced Cardiac Physiology and Anatomy”
Alexa Horochowski- $1,249
Art, “Blacksmithing and Forge Fabrication”
Stephanie Houdek - $2,304
Academic Learning Center, “Mathematics Leadership Summit”
Nimantha Manamperi - $1,830
Economics, “Forecasting Summer School~Recent Developments in Economic Forecasting”
Mehdi Mekni- $1,013
Computer Science & Information Technology, “Scrum Master Training”
Melanie Melendrez-Vallard - $1,829
Biology, “BioTech 74-Advanced Transcriptomics (RNA Seq) Analysis”
Maria (Masha) Mikolchak - $3,000
Foreign Languages & Literature, “Regional University BELC (French Education Center)”
Subba Moorthy - $2,442
Management, “Case Teaching and Writing Workshops January 2018”
Melissa Prescott - $1,484
University Library, “Faculty Institute for Diversity: Train the Trainer Workshop”
Heiko Schoenfuss - $1,650
Biology, “Short Course in Toxicologic Pathology in Fish”
Darlene St. Clair - $1,601
Multicultural Resource Center, “Faculty Institute for Diversity: Train the Trainer Workshop”
Yongli Zhao - $461
Mechanical & Manufacturing Engineering, “MD & M (Medical Device and Manufacturing) workshop using visualization and virtualization tools to redefine rapid prototyping, and design-driven development”
Previous recipients are showcased in RSP’s annual report.
The purpose is to support Scholarly activity whose duration is greater than 14 days. Research is broadly defined as creative achievement, and/or the scholarly pursuit of knowledge using recognized procedures in the applicant’s discipline/area of study. Scholarly activities should align with the faculty member’s professional development goals and must have specific goals and outcomes.
The FA Faculty Research Committee may award up to $10,000 per application to support the execution of well-conceived scholarly or creative plan.
Deadline: February 15, 2024 at 4 p.m.
Step 1: Review competition guidelines. You can also review the criteria that the review committee uses by viewing the evaluation rubric.
Step 2: Discuss your project and intent to apply with your department chair/director and dean/supervisor as upon submission, your proposal will automatically be routed to them for review and approval. All approvals (signatures) are facilitated electronically in Wizehive and applications will not be considered without all required approvals.
Step 3: Click on the red "Apply Here" button to login to Wizehive using your StarID.
- For assistance using Wizehive, please click on the red "Wizehive Tutorial" button.
- Wizehive allows you to save your progress as you work on completing your application.
- Do not click the "Submit" button until your application is complete. A complete application includes the finished Application, Estimated Budget Summary, supporting documents and budget justification items, and, if applicable, Co-PI response(s).
Step 3a: If you have one or more St. Cloud State Co-PI's, you are required to complete a Co-PI Request form for each Co-PI participating in the project. This process will trigger a notification to your Co-PI(s) requiring them to acknowledge participation in the project.
Step 4: If applicable, confirm your Co-PI(s) have completed their Co-PI Request forms. You can confirm this by looking for the green box next their name(s) within the Co-PI Request section of your application.
Step 5: Click on "Submit" to put forward your COMPLETE application for consideration. It must be submitted prior to the posted deadline above or it will not be considered.
- Changes/updates cannot be made once your application is submitted.
- The application will be automatically routed in Wizehive to obtain the necessary approvals (signatures) from your department chair/director and dean/supervisor.
- To ensure timely reviews, it is the applicant's responsibility to ensure department chairs/directors and deans/supervisors know the application is coming.
Step 6: Once your completed application is electronically approved in Wizehive by your department chair/director AND dean/supervisor, your application will be distributed to a review panel for review and consideration. Please note that the review process takes time, so please be patient. Updates will be sent out as soon as the review process is concluded.
DISCLAIMER:Applicants are encouraged to submit their electronic application early to avoid potential access issues. Applications after the deadline will not be considered without official confirmation of campus-wide accessibility/technical outages. Previous versions of application forms will not be considered and will be denied.
Sohel Ahmad - $3,659.99
Management, “Understanding Job Skills for Business Graduates Through the Lens of Economic Cycle”
Amanda Hemmesch-Breaker - $4,440
Psychology, “Aging with Moebius Syndrome: A Focus Group”
Ning Hou - $6,567.98
Management, “How much are you willing to share your data? How do the emotions and money priming impact your willingness to share your data?”
Choonkyong Kim - $9,065.41
English, “Acoustic Analysis of Speech Samples from Read-Aloud Tasks by Second Language Speakers”
Gengyun Le - $10,000
Biology, “Effect of Voluntary Exercise Training on Type 1 Diabetes in Streptozotocin-induced Diabetic and Non-obese Diabetic Mice”
Angela McDonnell - $9,998.51
Biology, “Population Genomics of Two Rate, Declining Plant Species in the Driftless Area”
Kenneth Miller - $3,963.63
Mechanical & Manufacturing Engineering, “Optimization of 3D Printer Build Parameters for Topology Optimization Designed Parts”
Juli Pitzer - $9,980.19
Mass Communication, “Like and Subscribe”
Shannon Sadler - $9,591
Music, “Seven Mirrors: A Performance and Pedagogical Video on the Piano Music of Cambodian-American Composer Chinary Ung”
Heiko Schoenfuss - $4,747
Biology, “Do Divergent Juvenile Locomotor Styles Drive Divergent Adult Habitat Use?”
Andrea Thortensen - $7,972.99
Atmospheric & Hydrologic Sciences, “Creating a Lake Level Model for Sauk River Chain of Lakes”
Brian Valentini - $7,921.65
Special Education, “Special Education Transition Teachers Use of Assessment and Data Collection”
Hannah Belay - $3,375
Nursing, “Unleashing the Power of Peer Mentors to Ensure Success and Retention of Nursing Students”
Matthew Davis - $6,679
Biology, “Evolution of Anglerfishes and Novel Feeding Strategies in the Deep Sea”
Peter Happel-Christian - $6,844.05
Art, “AA5: Archive Experiments (Examining the Archive of Ansel Adams through a Contemporary Lens)”
Jennifer Lamb - $9,970.06
Biology, “Taking a Closer Look: Sexual Dimorphism, Color, and Pattern in Amphibians”
Ben Witts - $9,967.20
Community Psychology, Counseling and Family Therapy, "A Thorough Investigation of Infant Crying, Caregiver Responding, and the Normal Cry Curve"
Althea Archer - $6,912
Biology, “An investigation of the flight behavior and habitat use of rare migratory species in the Upper Midwest, including the American Kestrel”
Mikhail Blinnikov and Matthew Julius - $9,190
Geography & Planning and Biology, “Paleo Altay: Uncovering Past Environmental Changes at the Heart of Eurasia”
Monica Garcia-Perez - $4,670
Economics, “The Impact of Health Shocks on Older Latinos' Wealth Accumulation and Wealth Depletion”
Sarah Gibson - $9,488
Atmospheric & Hydrologic Sciences, “Discovery of new fishes of the extinct order Semionotiformes in the southeastern Utah, and discerning their evolutionary relationships”
William Gorcica - $7,557
Art, “Combining Ancient Wax Painting with Contemporary CNC Wood Carving in Art”
Rona Karasik and Phyllis Greenberg - $9,520
Gerontology, “Community Partner Perspectives on Internships in Gerontology”
Jeffrey Kirkland - $5,357
Chemistry & Biochemistry, “The Chemistry in Water Droplets Suspended in Saint Cloud Air: a field apparatus to look inside and a tool to facilitate experiential learning”
Annette Lee - $10,000
Physics & Astronomy, "Astrophysics Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) - Searching for Earth 2.0"
Odessa Luna - $9,700
Community Psychology, Counseling and Family Therapy, “Virtual Behavioral Training for Teachers”
Timothy Schuh - $5,611
Biology, “Improving Differentiation Therapy for Cancer: A Pilot Study in a Model System”
Shensheng Tang - $6,372
Electrical & Computer Engineering, “Mesh Networks: A Comparative Study”
Janet Tilstra, Jennifer Tuder and Sheila Moriarty - $6,100
Communication Sciences & Disorders, Communication Studies and Social Work, “Online Applied Improvisation Workshop: Building communication, capacity, and flexibility in health and human services faculty, teaching assistants, and graduate students”
Brian Valentini - $6,113
Special Education, “Surveying Employers Who Work with Secondary Students with Disabilities”
Younsook Yeo - $9,999
Social Work, “Exploring Somali refugee women's social capital and use of healthcare for mental health”
Linda Butenhoff - $4,781
Political Science, "Women Leaders in the United Nations System: The Case of the UN International Center, Vienna, Austria"
Mary Clifford and Lindsey Vigesaa - $9,820
Criminal Justice, "Advancing Child Sexual Abuse Research Using Technological Innovations in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning"
Choonkyong Kim and Julie Condon - $8,127
English, "Learners' App for Academic Vocabulary Through Games"
Amanda Klauck - $3,197
Art, "Exploration of Watercolor Approaches on Ceramic Art"
Mehdi Mekni - $10,000
Computer Science & Information Technology, "SOLAP Interactive Visualization Platform"
Scott Miller - $9,972
Music, "Audio-generated VR Art"
Yun Claire Park - $6,645
Teacher Development, "Creating a Reflective and Participatory Learning Community Using Social Media in Online Courses"
John Sinko - $9,931
Physics & Astronomy, "Experimental Study on Space Debris Removal by Laser Vaporization"
Brian Valentini and Marcy Young Illies - $8,984
Special Education and Psychology, "Employer, teacher, counselor views on school-business partnerships involving students with intellectual and developmental disabilities"
Mitch Bender - $5,845
Environmental and Technological Studies, “Water Quality Analysis of St. Cloud Area Stormwater Retention Ponds"
Mikhail Blinnikov - $8,400
Geography and Planning, “Unearthing a Town, its Livelihood and Environment Before the Great Migration: The Imenkovo Culture of the Volga-Kama Region”
Matt Davis - $9,677
Biology, “Phylogenomics and Evolution of Dee-Sea Fishes”
Monica Garcia-Perez - $4,570
Economics, “Minimum Wage, Teenagers, and Recent Immigrant Workers”
Sarah Gibson - $9,452
Atmospheric and Hydrologic Sciences, “Evolutionary Relationships of the Early Mesozoic Ray-Finned Fishes in the Order Redfieldiiformes”
Alexa Horochowski - $8,505
Art, “Material Investigations in the Anthropocene”
Satomi Kohno - $8,621
Biology, “Does Vitamin B5 Produce Male in Non-genomic Sex Determination of the American Alligator?”
Jennifer Lamb - $9,026
Biology, “Population Genetics of Dusky Salamanders (Family Plethodontidae, Genus Desmognathus) in the Gulf Coastal Plain”
Rob Mann - $6,782
Anthropology, “French or British? Identifying the 18th-Century Ceramics From a Minnesota Fur Trade Post”
Mili Mathew - $2,205
Communication Sciences and Disorders, “The Relationship Between Gestures and Speech: Evidence from Monolingual and Bilingual Speakers”
Tim Vogt - $5,656
Electrical and Computer Engineering, “Fabrication of High Breakdown Voltage Schottky Diodes on Ga2O3 Substrates”
Ning Hou - $2,520
Management, “Impacts of Abusive Supervision on subordinates: A Cross-Level Model of LMX, Defensive Voice, Attachment Style, and Political Skill”
Shana Kaplow - $2,789
Art, “Inhabit, a Multi-Faceted Visual Art Exhibition and Artist's Book”
Melanie Melendrez-Vallard- $9,752
Biology, “Culture Independent Antibiotic Resistance Gene Detection and Quantification; molecular applications for the field”
Valdimir Rovinsky - $6,775
Theatre & Film Studies, “Development of a new adaptation of Jean Cocteau's The Human Voice”
Ilya Simakov - $9,900
Theater & Film Studies, “Vera Wang Film Adaptation”
Joshua Stepanek - $7,244
Biology, “Developing an evolutionary roadmap for bioprospecting within microalgae genus Haematococcus”
Jennifer Tuder - $4,983
Communication Studies, “Afterlife: Making Space for Survival”
Previous recipients are showcased in RSP’s annual report.
The FA Executive Committee may award up to $1,500 per application to support registration fees, travel and per diem expenses.
No more than one application per individual can be submitted or funded during any application period.
Deadline: Extended to February 19, 2024 at 4 p.m.
Step 1: Review competition guidelines. You can also review the criteria that the review committee uses by viewing the evaluation rubric.
Step 2: Discuss your project and intent to apply with your department chair/director and dean/supervisor as upon submission, your proposal will automatically be routed to them for review and approval. All approvals (signatures) are facilitated electronically in Wizehive and applications will not be considered without all required approvals.
Step 3: Click on the red "Apply Here" button to login to Wizehive using your StarID.
- For assistance using Wizehive, please click on the red "Wizehive Tutorial" button.
- Wizehive allows you to save your progress as you work on completing your application.
- Do not click the "Submit" button until your application is complete. A complete application includes the finished Application, Estimated Project Budget, supporting documents and budget justification items.
Step 4: Click on "Submit" to put forward your COMPLETE application for consideration. It must be submitted prior to the posted deadline above or it will not be considered.
- Changes/updates cannot be made once your application is submitted.
- The application will be automatically routed in Wizehive to obtain the necessary approvals (signatures) from your department chair/director and dean/supervisor.
- To ensure timely reviews, it is the applicant's responsibility to ensure department chairs/directors and deans/supervisors know the application is coming.
Step 6: Once your completed application is electronically approved in Wizehive by your department chair/director AND dean/supervisor, your application will be distributed to a review panel for review and consideration. Please note that the review process takes time, so please be patient. Updates will be sent out as soon as the review process is concluded.
DISCLAIMER: Applicants are encouraged to submit their electronic application early to avoid potential access issues. Applications after the deadline will not be considered without official confirmation of campus-wide accessibility/technical outages. Previous versions of application forms will not be considered and will be denied.