The primary purpose of the awards is to provide support and encouragement for non-tenured, tenure- track faculty members who are initiating programs.

In special cases, up to 20% may be awarded to tenured faculty members initiating new research careers or developing new research programs.

Awards are given for projects that are designed to ultimately attract outside funding and for those traditional scholarly endeavors and creative activities basic to the goals of the University.

Faculty may apply for a research fellowship more than once, but repeat or successive awards will rarely be given within four years.

The awards, which carry a stipend and an allowance for justified expenses, are not intended as continuing sources of support.

The Vice President for Research sends out the call for submission of proposals to all faculty.

All proposals are evaluated and ranked on the basis of merit.

A faculty member can submit only one proposal, either as PI or Co-PI.

Faculty submitting proposals must not be a part of the review and evaluation process, either at the department, college, or University levels.

Proposals are submitted to the department chair for review and evaluation. The chair forwards the proposal with recommendation to the college research committee or to the dean's office in the absence of a college committee.

The college committee, or the dean's office in the absence of a college committee, reviews all proposals for the academic college and evaluates and ranks them in priority noting strengths and weaknesses. The proposal, department chair's recommendation and rankings, and the committee's ranking and recommendations if applicable are forwarded to the dean.

The dean completes an independent review and ranking and forwards all documents to the Faculty Senate Scholarly Activity and Research Committee with a copy to the Office of Research.

The Faculty Senate Committee makes recommendations to the Vice President for Research, who awards the fellowships.

Successful applicants are expected to devote a minimum of eight consecutive weeks exclusively to the project during the summer following the award. The department chair has the responsibility to ensure that any teaching duties are not simultaneous with the eight-week research period.

During the semester following their awards, successful applicants must make a Progress Report to the Office of Research.

Those making satisfactory progress toward publication and/or securing outside funding may apply for additional funds for travel to meet with an external funding agency. When results are published, fellowship recipients are expected to acknowledge the support of the University.