SPARC: Support Program for Advancing Research and Collaboration

Overview
The College of Education's Support Program for Advancing Research and Collaboration (SPARC) was developed as a means of reinvesting Designated Research Initiative Fund (DRIF) money received from past College successes in order to encourage engagement in advancing the research agenda of the departments and the College, thus promoting a climate of both support and entrepreneurship. This program was not developed as a substitute for, or to compete with, currently available departmental, College, or campus programs similar in purpose, but to provide another avenue to seek external support for current and future interests.

Budget
In a typical fiscal year, the budget is expected to be $100,000 for dissemination across various SPARC award programs. One grant cycle will occur each fall semester, and another each spring semester; the budgets for each cycle is approximately $50,000. Money not awarded in a given cycle rolls over to the next cycle (i.e., from fall to spring); money remaining in the SPARC budget rolls over from one year to the next. (Note that, should College budget and/or DRIF fund availability necessitate, the Dean may choose to provide less than $100,000 in a year characterized by exceptional fiscal circumstances.)

SPARC Awards
Four categories of awards exist: Pre-tenure Faculty Awards, Post-tenure Faculty Awards, Graduate Student Research Support Awards, and Dean’s Special Initiative Awards. Faculty awards are available to full-time, tenured/tenure-track faculty in good standing. Faculty on sabbatical, retired, or having emeritus/emerita status are not eligible to apply. Faculty may apply for more than one award at a time; however, each faculty may only receive one award at a time. Once a faculty member has received an award under a specific category, s/he may apply for funds in that category again; however, recency of past awards may be weighted by the SPARC Committee in funding decisions. For graduate students, only one award may be received per graduate degree (i.e., maximum of one per master’s degree and one per doctoral degree).  More information about each award may be found through the links below.

• Pre-tenure Faculty Award
• Post-tenure Faculty Award
• Graduate Student Research Support Award
• Dean's Special Initiative Award

Application and Funding Restrictions
SPARC award funds are intended for research projects.  Proposals for curriculum development and evaluations are not permitted.  Joint applications (e.g., pre-tenure faculty and graduate student working on same project) are not allowed.

SPARC award funds may not be used for reimbursement on any costs expended prior to the award (retroactively).  Funds received under the SPARC program may not be used to subcontract any work to another entity (e.g., a consulting firm).  Funds may be used to compensate collaborators and as honoraria for a grant reviewer. 

Application Deadlines
Applications are due the last Friday of September and the last Friday of February.  Please submit all application materials in hardcopy form in a sealed envelope to the Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Education, College of Education, 3119 Benjamin Building.

SPARC Oversight
SPARC is a responsibility of the Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Education.  The Associate Dean will request from each department the participation of one faculty member to facilitate college-wide representation on the SPARC Committee.  Faculty membership on this committee will generally be two years, with members staggered to ensure continuity.   The College of Education Director of Grant Development and Sponsored Research will be an advisory member of the SPARC Committee. 

It will be the responsibility of the SPARC committee to decide which applications are able to be funded (in full or in part) in each cycle, and possibly which Dean’s Initiative might be offered in any given year/cycle.  Funds not awarded in a given cycle roll over to the next cycle (i.e., from fall to spring); funds remaining in the SPARC budget roll over from one year to the next.  The SPARC Committee is not obligated to award funds under each category in any given cycle or year. The SPARC Committee may elect to set aside funds for an anticipated initiative, or to elevate funding for an award that has been under-utilized.  Whether or not funds are awarded will be based on criteria including, but not limited to:

• Number of applicants
• Committee budget
• Merit and reasonableness of proposal
• Relevance of proposal to department, college, campus missions
• Recency of applicant’s previous SPARC funding
• Future project/applicant funding potential

Award Payment / Stipulations
Awards made in a given semester are expected to start the following semester, unless other arrangements are made with the award recipient.  Award money will be transferred to the department by the Assistant Dean for Finance and Administration.  Travel plans, paperwork, and honorarium paperwork are the responsibility of the awardee.  The awardee must abide by campus rules and regulations and all departmental procedures when expending funds or requesting reimbursement.

For pre-tenure and post-tenure faculty awards, before the end of the semester following the award the resulting grant application must be submitted through the College.  Toward the end of the semester following the award, or as otherwise scheduled by the Associate Dean for Research or the SPARC Committee, recipients of pre-tenure and post-tenure faculty awards will be required to participate in a colloquium in which they share their findings and/or research goals as relate to the award.

Failure to meet one or more of the general requirements or requirements specific to an award category may result in a transfer of both expended and unencumbered award funds from the department back to the SPARC account, and/or no future awards through the College SPARC program for a period of time to be determined by the SPARC Committee.

Award Review Process
All applications are screened prior to review by the committee, verifying that each application is complete and meets all application requirements; those not meeting pre-review requirements may be disqualified from that cycle.  The Director of Grant Development and Sponsored Research also verifies that each SPARC committee member does not have a conflict of interest (e.g., faculty mentor of applicant; advisor to applicant); should a conflict exist, the committee member will be recused from that proposal's evaluation.  After the pre-review process, the proposals are evaluated by the committee; feedback based on these evaluations may be made available to each applicant, which may prove especially useful to strengthen future submissions.

Return to Funding and Grants page