Holcomb Awards Committee

Supports costs to present the results of a research, creative, scholarly, or professional project at a national or international virtual conference.

Additional programmatic requirements for presentation grants include the following:

1. Faculty may apply for registration funding for up to $2,500 in domestic travel ($500 more for international travel) per fiscal year (HAC grant fiscal years are on a 13-month cycle, May 1-May 31).
2. Faculty must submit a request for funding prior to the conference registration/presentation.
3. Presentation funding is meant to help faculty advance research and scholarship; examples include those presenting papers/posters, organizing or leading panel discussions requiring preparation, or speaking from expertise by request of a professional organization or association. Funding is only available for those presenting at conferences, and not for conference participation for professional development purposes only.
4. Applications for session chairs, conveners and presiders will not be funded.

Due Date:

Faculty should submit at least 4-6 weeks in advance of conference attendance.

Application Process:

The application must include the following:

• The conference to be attended
• A copy of the acceptance/invitation to present at the conference
• An abstract of the paper/poster to be presented (no more than 250 words)
• Proof of conference registration cost (screenprint from the conference website or receipt)
• Signature of the applicant

How to apply:

Download the faculty travel to present application here. Once the application is complete, including all required signatures, faculty should scan the entire application package into a single pdf file and send to their college’s dean’s assistant. Once dean’s office signatures are in place paperwork should be emailed to ttpgrants@butler.edu.

Provides up to $1,500 ($1000 maximum faculty stipend) in support for the development of new courses or the revision of existing courses, including Core courses and “topics” courses. The applicant is expected to teach the course supported by the grant during the following academic year.

Due Date

Instructional development applications have a deadline of the first Friday of February, by 5:00 PM. Signed, scanned applications should be sent to  OSP@butler.edu. Decision letters will be issued by early April.

Application Process

Your application must consist of a program statement:

• A description of the nature of the course, the need for development and how work will be accomplished. It should also describe how the proposed course meets the guidelines for HAC grant applications.
• A budget narrative that lists and justifies all requested expenditures. Requests for materials readily available from the library or through interlibrary loan must be explicitly justified. It is the responsibility of the applicant to check on the availability of requested books and materials with the university library.

Instructional Development application 

The application format includes the following specifications:

• No more than two pages typed and spaced at 1.5 line spacing
• Times New Roman font, size 11 or 12 with one inch margins
• Should be signed by the applicant, department chair and dean. **PLEASE NOTE** As many faculty and administrators are currently working remotely due to Covid-19 restrictions, email approvals are allowed in lieu of hard copy signatures for the 2022 application cycle. Please include copies of the email approvals within the instructional development grant application pdf, and not as separate attachments or in the body of the email submission to OSP.

Grant Period

The grant period is from May 1 to May 31 of the following year. In exceptional circumstances, an extension of the grant period (for annual grants) is permitted. If an awardee requires additional time to complete his/her project, a request for an extension should be submitted for committee consideration no later than one month prior to the end of the grant period. No new grant money will be released until the first project, including the final report, is completed.

Reporting

A report describing the final design of the new course or how the existing course has been improved is due to OSP no later than 60 days after the end of the grant period. Failure to submit this report will jeopardize chances for future HAC funding.

Provides up to $15,000 in support of original, creative, and scholarly projects for quantitative or mixed methods research.

Additional program requirements: The research may be theoretic or empirical. It may also be basic or applied. The proposal should clearly demonstrate how the project is related to principles in the applicant’s field, what hypothesis is being tested and/or the goal of project, and how data will be analyzed.

Eligibility

To apply for a research grant, you must be a full-time faculty member with a required research component as part of your appointment.

Due Date

Faculty research applications have a deadline of the first Friday of February, by 5:00 PM. Signed, scanned applications should be sent to OSP@butler.edu. Decision letters will be issued by early April.

Application Process

The applicant must download the form and submit a signed copy with the following information.

• Program statement—A description of the proposed project following the outline listed below. Proposals will be evaluated by readers who are not necessarily experts in the specific field of the proposal. The application should be written for a general audience to understand and contain the following information:
  • Background—The background for the project including the problem or need, related work and the underlying rationale.
  • Objectives—The objective(s) of the project.
  • Significance—The importance or significance of the research and the relation of the research to the applicant’s previous and future work.
  • Methods—The methods applicant will use to achieve his/her objectives including any of the following that apply: the creative procedures or experimental methods, equipment required, data gathering and analysis, time schedule, evaluation and reporting of results. Indicate if the project involves human subjects, animals or recombinant DNA.
  • Analysis—Describe information to be collected and how it will be used or analyzed.
  • Timeline—An anticipated timeline for the proposed project should detail how the work will be completed over the one-year granting period.
  • References and Bibliography—In this section, applicants must include all relevant references cited in the application and may include a complete bibliography.  This section is not part of the Program Statement and is not included in the five page limit.
• Budget—The budget is an important part of the application and care should be taken to ensure the budget is clearly defined and the proposed expenditures are justified. A budget justification narrative must be included with the application that carefully details all expenditures and how they are related to the proposed work. Expenditures not fully justified will not be funded.
  • Summer Stipends—A faculty summer stipend up to $4,000 gross (pre-FICA and TIAA Cref deductions) is permitted. Faculty should indicate any other grant that funds this work during the summer months.
  • Gross hourly wages for other personnel, including students are also permitted up to $4,000 per person (pre-FICA deductions). It is expected that all personnel will be paid by the hour. Summer payments to undergraduate students not enrolled in at least six hours must include funds to pay FICA. Students’ work need not be limited to the summer. Butler students may not receive Butler funding from more than one source.
  • Multiple faculty stipends on the same grant proposal must be justified.
  • Total stipends/wages to all faculty and other personnel, including students, may not exceed $8,000 gross.
  • Travel/conferences—Allowable travel costs include food and incidentals, actual lodging costs, actual travel fares and mileage. The HAC committee will not fund food per diem for more than 14 days. Faculty members are encouraged to use the college or department funds for other travel expenses or to apply for a HAC Travel-to-Present award. Travel within 50 miles of Indianapolis will not be supported.
  • Books/research materials—Requests for materials readily available from the library or through interlibrary loan must be explicitly justified.  It is the responsibility of the applicant to check on the availability of requested books and materials with the university library.
  • Computer hardware and software—Computer hardware and software will be supported only if they are essential to the unique requirements of the research project.
  • Exclusions—The program does not support funding for degree completion, writing previously completed projects, writing textbooks or chapters for textbooks, curriculum development or planning classes.
• Curriculum vitae—Include a curriculum vitae that includes education, skills and experience.  In addition to the basics, the CV should include research and teaching experience, publications relevant to the project, grants and fellowships, professional associations and licenses, awards and other information relevant to the funding for which you are applying.  Make sure dates on all publications  are included.  The CV should highlight the applicant’s publications that are relevant to the proposed work.
• Appendix A (Report on previous HAC-funded research)—Applicants who have previously received a faculty research grant (or summer faculty fellowship or instructional development grant) must include a report on the results of work funded by the most recent HAC grant, and (if applicable) how the new work relates to the previous project. If not already previously submitted to OSP, reports should also be sent to OSP@butler.edu.
• Appendix B (Report on extramural grant applications)—Applicants who have received three or more faculty research grants must provide either evidence that they have sought outside funding to support their work, or show significant output from past grants, including published articles and peer-reviewed presentations at major professional conferences.

The proposal should be signed by the applicant, the head of department, or program director, and the dean of the college. **PLEASE NOTE** As many faculty and administrators are currently working remotely due to Covid-19 restrictions, email approvals are allowed in lieu of hard copy signatures for the 2022 application cycle. Please include copies of the email approvals within the research grant application pdf, and not as separate attachments or in the body of the email submission to OSP.

HAC Research Grant Application

Proposals that do not conform to these guidelines will be returned without evaluation. Use the form that is currently on the website. Proposals submitted on outdated forms will be deemed non-compliant and will not be forwarded to the HAC committee.

HAC research grant scoring rubric (used by the Holcomb Awards Committee during review process)

Rules and Exceptions

• Multiple collaborators—The $4,000 maximum faculty stipend may be divided among several colleagues. Two or more faculty members may submit multiple proposals for the same project, but limited resources make it unlikely that more than one grant would be funded in any one given year.
• Books—Generally speaking, applicants should not request more than $250 for the purchase of books and other texts. Applicants may request more, but must clearly justify the additional need.
• Exclusions—These awards are not to be used to support the completion of a graduate degree program. In addition, proposals will not be accepted for projects for which the faculty member is already being compensated, such as writing a book for which there is anything more than a nominal honorarium already being paid by the publisher to the author.

Duration

The award period is May 1 to May 31 of the following year. In exceptional circumstances, an extension of the grant period is permitted. If an awardee requires additional time to complete his/her project, a request for an extension should be submitted no later than one month prior to the end of the grant period. No new grant money will be released until the first project, including the final report, is completed.

Report

A brief report describing the outcome of the research conducted using these funds is due to OSP via OSP@butler.edu. no more than 60 days following the end of the grant period. The report should detail how the money was spent in relation to the proposed budget. Failure to submit this report could jeopardize future HAC funding.

NOTE:  Mixed methods research is a research design with philosophical assumptions as well as methods of inquiry. As a methodology, it involves philosophical assumptions that guide the direction of the collection and analysis of data and the mixture of qualitative and quantitative approaches in many phases in the research process. As a method, it focuses on collecting, analyzing, and mixing both quantitative and qualitative data in a single study or series of studies. Its central premise is that the use of quantitative and qualitative approaches in combination provides a better understanding of research problems than either approach alone. (Source)

Each BAC/HAC grant mechanism has its own submission requirements and deadlines. All applications require signatures by the applicant, department head/program chair, and dean of the college. Complete submission criteria and forms are available online for each mechanism. Procedural questions may be directed to OSP@butler.edu.

Upon submission, applications are reviewed by OSP and sent to the appropriate committee for review and approval. OSP staff and committees may engage in dialogue with the applicant if questions arise. (Failure to complete follow-up requests may result in an application’s denial.) Notification of approval or denial is sent by OSP to the applicant along with the appropriate correspondence from the committee.

For annual grant opportunities like Instructional Development and Faculty Research, the grant application will be submitted to the respective committee. Applications are then reviewed for completion and remitted to the committee. The committee will review and score the applications during a closed review session where funding recommendations will be approved. Application notifications (either approval or denial) will be submitted by the OSP office to the applicant.

For all grant applications, the applicant will have 30 days from receipt of the notification to appeal a decision of denied funding. All appeals will be sent to the OSP director. The OSP director and the applicant will discuss any issues with the application or decision. After 30 days, the application will be closed to further review or discussion.

Each approved application will receive two award notifications—one from OSP and one from OBGA. The letters will outline the award amount and expenditure information. Each grant mechanism has an expenditure or project period, ranging from one month to a fiscal year, which governs the allowable time for funds expenditure and project completion. If the applicant is unable to complete the project and/or spend the funds by the end of the period, an extension may be requested. Each grant also requires post-award reporting, where applicable. The report outlines project results as well as how funds were spent. Most reports are due no more than 60 days after the grant period has ended. Details on project periods and post-award reporting requirements are provided online under each grant mechanism—one from OSP and one from the Office of Budgets and Grants Administration (OBGA-Kathy Hankins).

The Holcomb Awards Committee (HAC) considers proposals for the sciences and social sciences (quantitative research methods). Committee members serve for a three-year term, and cannot serve for more than two consecutive terms.  The expiration date of each member’s term is noted in parentheses. Committee chairs are elected by committee members. Chairs serve a one-year term and are eligible to be re-elected.

• Brian Day, LAS (August 2025) – on sabbatical fall 2023
  Conor O’Dea (temporary LAS representative fall 2023)
• ​Sudip Das. COPHS (August 2026)
• Xianming Han, LAS (August 2025)
• Jeremy Johnson, LAS (August 2026)
• Rong Ma, CCOM (August 2024)
• Danielle Madrazo, COE (August 2024)
• Jane Siegler, LSB (August 2026)
• Ben Spears, LAS (August 2024)
• Jonathan Webster, LAS (August 2025)