Last year, the Alamo Colleges Foundation enthusiastically supported a request to provide $50,000 in total funding for faculty and staff innovation grants to Northwest Vista College and our sister colleges. The quality of last year’s proposals made the task of the selection committee extremely difficult.
Four Faculty/Staff Innovation Grants up to $2,500 were awarded to proposals designed to help students learn and succeed remotely; increase student engagement and learning in chemistry; conduct research of the relationship between information literacy and various student success indicators; and purchase equipment and engage students in undergraduate research related to documenting the rich cultures that have impacted the greater San Antonio area for hundreds of years.
The Alamo Colleges Foundation once again has provided $10,000 in funding to NVC for a second round of Faculty/Staff Innovation Grants for 2017-18. We are accepting proposals that provide new and innovative approaches to instruction and/or student support which positively affects student learning, persistence and/or completion. The Faculty/Staff Innovation Grant program will fund projects aligned with our strategic priorities and goals.
Applications for Faculty/Staff Innovation Grants are due May 8. While implementation of the grant-funded projects are intended to begin in the fall, they could begin as early as June 2017. Please utilize the attached application for submission. Applications should be sent to me at [email protected] or delivered to the President’s Office – Manzanillo Hall. Questions can be directed to the President’s Office at 486-4900 or [email protected].
The Faculty/Staff Innovation Grants Selection Committee will be charged with the responsibility of screening, selection and for determining grant amounts awarded. Proposals of up to $2,500 will be given priority consideration.
By the end of the fall 2017 semester, grant recipients will be required to provide a written status report of their grant-funded project. In addition, a comprehensive final report will be submitted to the college president no later than the end of the spring 2018 semester.
Here’s a glimpse of last year’s winning recipients:
Academia & Community Partnership program spearheaded by Rudy De la Cruz, government faculty. The $2,500 grant will support the purchase of a high-quality scanning machine to digitize a collection of primary documents and artifacts relevant to early history of San Antonio from the 1500’s through the 1800’s. The collection will have a portal access and will also be available within two affiliated Centers for Cultural Research located at the Land Heritage Institute and Northwest Vista College. This project will provide unique opportunities for NVC students from a wide variety of academic disciplines to perform undergraduate research in collaboration with faculty from NVC and its partners.
Anyone Can! spearheaded by Viviane Marioneaux, assistant professor and coordinator of Digital Media, New Media Arts & New Media Communications programs. The $2,200 grant will provide funding for audio and video recording equipment to enable anyone to take the Digital Media course and be part of the class regardless of where they are physically located. If a student needs to miss class due to illness, work schedule, military leave, etc., they will still be able to participate in the course work by attending virtually.
Project Based Learning in an Introductory Chemistry Course spearheaded by Roopa Prasad, assistant professor of chemistry and Jacob Crandall, chemistry faculty. The $2,500 grant will pay for chemistry manuals and model kits, video editing software and conference expenses. The purpose of this project is to increase student participation, engagement, and enjoyment of learning chemistry. Students will be expected to complete reading assignments and other materials prior to class to reduce or eliminate the time spent on lectures and replace them with collaborative work and projects based on building models, experiments and presentations.
Information Literacy and Student Success: Finding a Relationship Between Information Literacy and Key Process Indicators, spearheaded by the NVC Assessment In Action Team. The $2,500 grant will pay for software license renewal, faculty development and incentives for students and faculty. The purpose of this project is to conduct research of the relationship between information literacy and various indicators including student success, retention, graduation, and grade point average. The purpose of this study is to help fill the gap in existing information literacy and library research as well as strengthen to assist future students in achieving their goals.