Fund information
Rice University’s Office of Undergraduate Research and Inquiry (OURI) awards competitive Planning Grants up to $5,000 to departments/units overseeing the curriculum of a major, area major, or interdisciplinary major/minor. Planning Grants are intended to fund assessment of a unit’s experiential inquiry and research within undergraduate curricula. Planning Grants are for units that need time, resources, and support to evaluate curricula and identify gaps in the department’s undergraduate inquiry and research scaffolding. Importantly, Planning Grants include substantive and systematic evaluations of a unit’s undergraduate curricula with a curriculum map according to OURI’s template as a final product. For more information on curriculum maps, see: https://ouri.rice.edu/faculty-resources/developing-inquiry-rich-curriculum.
Funds awarded will be for the 2025-2026 academic year and cannot be carried over to a second year. Additionally, funded departments will collaborate with OURI during the grant award year to develop an assessment rubric that establishes a baseline evaluation of existing curricular scaffold and explore opportunities for inquiry-based learning in the curriculum.
Allowable Costs
Up to $5,000 for evaluation and assessment of curricula. These costs can include:
- Graduate TA or RA (department responsible for fringe) that supports planning processes and/or provides relief of duties to all faculty time to engage in the assessment process.
- Faculty development: attendance at conferences and/or workshops supporting curricular assessments and development; pedagogical consultants brought to campus
- Summer salaries to NTT faculty for assessment of curriculum
Funding CANNOT be used to cover: overhead or indirect costs, equipment, academic term salary for faculty, summer salary for TT faculty, or capital projects.
Departments are encouraged to seek additional funding for individual course implementation/development of pilot courses by applying for an OURI R2C2 L1 grant, Brown Teaching Grant and/or funding from the Program in Writing and Communication (PWC).
Eligibility
- Teams must be comprised of at least three mixed-rank full-time faculty. Team members must have authority over a major, area major, or interdisciplinary major/minor.
- During proposal preparation, teams are required to meet at least once with OURI staff to discuss application materials, eligibility, and fit. Please email Danny Gibboney (dg115@rice.edu) to schedule.
Review Process
OURI and its Faculty Advisory Committee will review proposals. Relevant Deans will be consulted in making final award decisions when necessary.
Selection Criteria
Proposals will be evaluated according to the following criteria:
- Identification of a department leadership team comprised of tenured/tenure track and NTT faculty. Teams should have the necessary commitment and authority to lead undergraduate curricular assessment and carry out regular evaluation of the major program.
- Demonstrated commitment to developing an inquiry-based curriculum map that identifies strengths and gaps in supporting research-rich student learning outcomes
- Commitment to engage OURI to learn about support for efforts to address identified gaps in the curriculum
- Statement of existing departmental resources to support curricular change (e.g., funding, faculty time, materials)
- Commitment to revising department program learning outcomes published in the General Announcements to address the OURI learning outcomes if not sought already
- Plan to conduct baseline assessments of learning outcomes using an OURI rubric
- Attention to issues of access relative to inquiry activities within courses
- Justification for proposed budget
How to Apply
Proposal materials should be prepared using OURI’s student learning outcomes and resources to support inquiry-based curriculum development (https://ouri.rice.edu/developing-inquiry-rich-curriculum). Proposals must be submitted as a single pdf document to Liz Eich by April 1, 2025, 5PM CST. Complete proposals include at least the following documents:
- PROJECT DESCRIPTION: NO MORE than THREE pages (12-point type, standard font). Descriptions should answer the following questions:
- How do your curricular assessment goals and change efforts align with OURI identified, inquiry-rich student learning outcomes?
- How do you demonstrate the departmental commitment to curricular change and assessment? Describe departmental resources, faculty engagement, and plans to use OURI resources for curricular.
- What are proposed activities, and how will they contribute to the inquiry-based experience for all students?
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BUDGET: Clear identification of both expenses and how funds will be spent to address needs identified in the proposal.
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SUPPORT LETTER: A letter from the department/unit chair indicating support for both grant application and expressed openness to curriculum change.
Questions/Feedback:
Please contact Danny Gibboney (dg115@rice.edu).