Guidelines and Application
Purpose
The Educational Innovation Grant seeks to foster educational innovation and scholarship at UAMS and promote faculty development.
Description
The ESSC seeks projects with educational innovations to improve UAMS student learning outcomes. Grant funds are for pilot projects to enhance existing courses, develop new courses, develop innovative instructional design, evaluation, or assess curricular needs. The ESSC encourages projects that implement evidence-based and best practices in education, such as active learning, use of education technologies, and interprofessional education.
Funding
The ESSC will fund up to three projects with awards of $2,500 each. The grant period is one year, July 1, 2026 – June 30, 2027. The ESSC will transfer grant funds to the principal investigator’s department in early July. Investigators may request a six-month, no-cost extension for project completion.
Personnel and Project Eligibility
The ESSC Educational Innovation Grant program is open to all faculty members. This funding for faculty is seed money for new, innovative educational scholarship projects. The funding is not for projects by residents or graduate students.
Application Deadline
Submit a completed Application with Cover Page (electronic signatures accepted) in Microsoft Word or Adobe PDF, to Michael Anders (andersmichaele@uams.edu) by TBD. The ESSC will not accept applications after the deadline nor review incomplete applications or those that fail to comply with the instructions.
Selection Criteria
A peer-review panel composed of UAMS faculty will evaluate the applications for:
- Clarity of need statement
- Clarity of project objectives/goals
- Appropriate methodology for the planned project
- Evaluation methods for the objectives/goals
- Feasibility of the timeline
- Appropriateness of budget requests and allocations
- Potential impact on UAMS students, curriculum, and educational mission
- Degree of innovation or application of evidence-based practices
Budget
Advancing the UAMS educational mission serves as the guiding principle for the peer-review panel’s evaluation of grant application budgets. Funds may support innovative educational experiences or initial stages of educational research. The budget may not include faculty salary, indirect costs, overhead expenses, or ongoing department expenditures.
Allowable Expenses
- Personnel expenses, e.g., graduate student stipends, clerical and laboratory staff, but are limited to the grant year. No faculty salary or compensation is allowed.
- Consultation costs, e.g., statistical evaluation or qualitative analysis, or consultants who will enrich or contribute to: (a) direct instruction, (b) preparation of instructional materials or (c) development of new educational activities.
- Equipment, e.g., recording devices, tablets
- Supplies and materials, e.g., software, instructional materials,
- Travel if necessary for the project outcome, e.g., training to implement the project. Requests for travel funds to disseminate the project findings are not allowed.
- Other expenses, such as interview or transcription costs or poster production.
Terms of Award
- The PI will receive the grant funds via interdepartmental transfer. The PI must expend these funds during the award year. The Awardee will be responsible for managing the funds, according to approved UAMS grant and financial policies.
- Principal investigators (PIs) agree to present their findings at the annual UAMS Teach the Teacher Symposium in the year following completion of the project
- The ESSC strongly encourages publication and presentation of the projects findings regionally and nationally.
- All scholarly activity (e.g., oral or poster presentations; manuscripts) must recognize the grant support from the UAMS Educational and Student Success Center Education Innovation Grant.
- PI must submit a 1-page interim progress report by December 31.
- PI must submit a final report by June 30 that addresses the following:
- Description of accomplished work
- Description of the project outcomes/impact
- Description of any significant project deviation or extensions from or to the original application, if applicable
- Final accounting of budget expenses
- Description of any plans to continue the project beyond the funded portion
- Identification of any proposal submitted to external funders as a result of this grant
Timetable
TBD:
Submit application via email to Michael Anders (andersmichaele@uams.edu)
TBD:
Applicants will receive notification of the review process outcome
July 1, 2026:
Grant awarded
December 31, 2026:
Mid-year report due
June 30, 2027:
Final report due
December 2027:
Submit abstract for the UAMS Teach the Teacher Symposium
February, 2028:
Present at the annual UAMS Teach the Teacher Symposium
Note: If PI requests 6-month no-cost extension is requested, plan to present at the following Teach the Teacher Symposium in 2029.
Application Requirements
If the application does not conform to the guidelines below it will not be reviewed.
- Formatting standards
- Margins: one-inch
- Font: size 11 or larger
- Single-spaced
- Cover page
- Name and College/Unit of applicant(s)
- Contact Information for PI (email address, phone)
- Project Title
- Project Abstract (maximum 400 words)
- Signatures (electronic okay): (a) applicant, (b) Chair, Division Chief, or Program Director
- Narrative (Limited to 3 single-spaced pages)
- Need or Problem Statement
- Purpose/Objectives
- Proposed plan of work/Methods
- Evaluation plan
- Dissemination plan (include the Teach the Teacher Symposium)
- The following required sections do not count toward the three-page limit
- References
- Timeline
- PI’s background and skills pertinent to the project
- Budget (one page) with detailed justification for all budget items
For questions, please contact Michael Anders (andersmichaele@uams.edu).