Internal Grants and Awards

Grant funds are intended to support best practices and to encourage faculty to work with undergraduate students on research activities that ultimately lead to publication or public presentation.

Proposals should include clear descriptions of project goals and major activities, mentoring strategies, anticipated outcomes, anticipated benefits for the student researcher(s) and relevance to the Undergraduate Research Experience Initiative. Criteria for awards included:

• Relevance to the Undergraduate Research Experience Initiative
• Strategies enhancing high quality inquiry-based learning experiences
• Potential for encouraging the processes of discovery and scholarship in students

Faculty mentors should apply on behalf of the project through Info Ready.

The mission of the Faculty Research Experience (FRE) program is to provide support for and facilitate additional opportunities for faculty to undertake meaningful scholarly/creative/research activities in alignment with the university's definition of scholarship. The FRE program is intended to support faculty scholarship by helping them formulate and refine a research project, search for external funding when applicable, purchase needed materials, equipment, data, space, travel, assistance or time and disseminate their outcomes.

An FRE grant provides seed money to encourage all faculty, to conduct research. Funds awarded from the FRE program are intended to promote and improve the experience of faculty conducting research and creative activities at the university and broadly share the outcomes of their scholarship. Grant awards are made for 2 years, with year 2 funding depending upon project progress. All current full-time Fort Hays State University faculty are eligible to apply.

Once applications open, the opportunity will be listed on Info Ready.

Experiential-Learning activities are hands-on, reflective experiences that help students connect knowledge learned in the classroom with real-world situations. Activities include but are not limited to service learning, undergraduate research, study abroad, and internships.    

This grant is awarded as a reimbursement for curricular or co-curricular activities that meet these criteria: 

• Implementation of a new experiential learning component into an existing course or activity that has not previously included such activity. 
• Enhancement of a class project in an existing course or activity with an experiential learning component already in place. 

The Fall Semester application deadline is November 10 and the Spring Semester application is April 10. Once applications open, the opportunity will be listed on Info Ready.

All current full-time Fort Hays State University faculty are eligible to apply. Unclassified staff members at levels comparable to academic faculty who are not serving on twelve-month contracts may also apply.

Support is paid to faculty members in the amount of 2.22% of their base salary per unit. Preference is given to faculty members who have not received tenure. Grant recipients must have their dean’s permission to teach a summer class while receiving grant funding; no grant recipient may teach more than three credit-hours during the summer term.

Only complete proposals will be reviewed. Additional information may be attached, but all materials must be submitted by the application deadline.

Applicants must apply for a grant in one of three categories: research activity, creative activity, or grant application development. Grant recipients are required to submit a project summary report to their dean and to the Office of Scholarship and Sponsored Projects no later than October 1; failure to submit this report will impact eligibility for future internal grants.

Once applications open, the opportunity will be listed on Info Ready.

This award recognizes outstanding scholarly/creative activities of one faculty member. This work includes the generation of new ideas or works of art, solutions to fundamental problems in a particular field, or the discovery of important new facts or models. This award is based on the quality, originality, impact, and significance of the recipient's scholarly work. University faculty are expected to be effective creators and communicators of knowledge, so the willingness and ability of the recipient to share knowledge and research skills with colleagues and students should be highlighted. This award is announced every August at the Fall general faculty meeting. Faculty are nominated for this award in the prior spring semester and reviewed by a committee of the five previous winners and chaired by the Provost.

Visit the University Faculty Awards page to learn more about the nomination and application criteria for the President’s Distinguished Scholar Award.

View the past recipients of the President’s Distinguished Scholar Award.

Each semester the University recognizes one faculty member for their achievements in scholarly activity. Recipients receive a $500 stipend and $250 in OOE for their selection as outstanding faculty. Winners of the Outstanding Research Award become eligible for consideration for the Faculty Member of the Year Award. The criteria for these awards are specific to each academic college and departments within their academic units. Please contact your chair or dean for additional information.

Visit the University Faculty Awards page to learn more about the nomination and application criteria for the Outstanding Scholarly Activity Award.

View past recipients of the Outstanding Scholarly Activity Award.

The John Heinrichs Outstanding Undergraduate Research Mentor Award recognizes the commitment, time, and energy necessary to foster undergraduate research. Undergraduate research encompasses scholarly, creative, and research activities. All current faculty and unclassified staff members at levels comparable to academic faculty are eligible. All disciplines are eligible. The nomination process is a two step procedure. The first step is nomination of the faculty member, the second step involves the nominee submitted additional information if they wish to be considered for the award.

FHSU students, faculty, and staff may submit nominations. Self-nominations are also accepted. Criteria and forms can be found at Info Ready.