Location: Bowdoin / Academic Affairs / Funding / course-development

Course Development Awards

The Faculty Development Committee awards grants that support projects leading to new course development and the enrichment of existing courses. A preference exists for projects that have ongoing value; however, one-time course additions with significant impacts will also be considered. Grants from this fund have supported research in relation to teaching and have paid for a variety of different types of expenses. These expenses include travel, costs for meals and lodging (up to $200 per day for food and lodging). They also include visits to libraries, visits to meet with scholars with a specific expertise or programs at other institutions, the purchase or duplication of primary materials, and the purchase of slides or other instructional aids. Course Development Awards are not meant to be used for the purchase of capital equipment that could be acquired through departmental or library budgets. For similar reasons, awards cannot be used to support undergraduate tutoring programs.

The applicant should first check with his or her department about the availability of resources allotted directly to the department or through department funds for the purchase of materials, and should discuss such efforts in the proposal. Materials purchased through the grant become the property of the College unless other arrangements are made and authorized by the Committee, with the following exception. The purchase of books, videos, etc., that would become the property of the applicant should be justified in terms of the project and should normally not exceed ten percent of the total funds requested.

Award limit: $4,000

Deadlines for submission are: October 12, 2012; January 17, 2013 and April 16, 2013.

Eligibility

Grant recipients must be benefits-eligible members of the Bowdoin faculty during the time in which the funds are used. Faculty members terminating their service at Bowdoin who have received awards from the Committee will not be eligible to draw from their grant accounts for expenditures incurred or for work intended to be done after the completion of the final semester of their service at Bowdoin.

Application Procedure

What to submit

A complete application should include:

  1. Title of project.
  2. A brief description (no more than two pages single-spaced) of the course(s) to be enriched or developed and the process by which this will be accomplished, the place of these courses in the existing curriculum, and when they will be offered.
  3. A statement that includes the dates and amounts of any previous CDF awards and the results obtained.
  4. A budget, as detailed as possible. Please round off figures to the nearest $10 when submitting your budget.
  5. An endorsement of application by the department chair.

How to submit

All applications should be submitted electronically on or before the deadline date to fdc@bowdoin.edu. Applications must be submitted (in one document if possible) in either Microsoft Word or PDF format; any other electronic format will not be accepted. For assistance in creating PDF documents, please contact the IT Help Desk. Electronic applications will be distributed to the members of the Faculty Development Committee. Incomplete or late applications will not be considered.