Faculty Awards and Entitlements

Faculty Research and Awards Committee Members

President's designee: Cathy Summa
Provost and Dean of the College designee: Marcy Archfield
Vice President for Finance and Administration or designee: Melissa Fletcher

Black Task Force representative: Nikki Greene

Faculty:

Faisal Ahmed 24-27 (B)
Nikki Greene 22-25 (A), Co-Chair
Samantha Lewis 24-27 (C)
Louise Marlow 23-26 (B), Co-Chair
Heather Mattila 22-25 (C)
Reinaldo Moya 24-25 (A)

I. Types of Awards Available

Faculty Awards to Support Scholarly Activities

Faculty Awards are designed to encourage research and other scholarly work, which may include supplemental conference or other scholarly travel by eligible individuals. The 2024-25 application deadlines are: September 18, November 6, February 12 and April 2. These deadlines must be strictly observed so that Committee members will have time to review applications before meeting. Deadline extensions will not be granted and late submissions will not be reviewed. Funds are limited to $3,000. The Committee may grant partial awards.

Other Awards and Grants

Davis Awards
The College's Davis Fund for Russian Area Studies has set aside a modest sum of money to help support faculty research in the field. Funds may be used to pay for research expenses relating to projects concerning Russia and/or other territories of the former Soviet Union. The applications should follow the same guidelines as Faculty Awards, but should specify "Davis Fund" in the application. Applicants are not required to be in Russian/Russian Area Studies. Applicants may apply for both the maximum $3,000 in Davis monies plus the maximum for a Faculty Award. Davis Award applications will be considered during any of the Faculty Award application rounds.
Luce Moore Awards
The College's Elisabeth Luce Moore Fund supports individual awards related to world religions. Applicants from the Department of Religious Studies may apply for both a Luce Moore Award of $3,000 and the maximum $3,000 for a Faculty Award. Faculty members in other departments may apply for a Luce Moore Award in lieu of a Faculty Award. Funds may be used to pay for research expenses relating to projects concerning world religions, including research assistant funding and travel expenditures. The applications should follow the same guidelines as Faculty Awards, but should specify "Luce Moore Fund" in the application.
Open Access Awards
Please see the Wellesley College Open Access Fund Guidelines for detailed information.

II. Faculty Award Guidelines

A. Eligibility

Category	Eligibility
Tenured or Tenure Track	Eligible during active service and paid non-medical leaves
Unpaid Leave Faculty in the Ranks	Ineligible
Half-time or Greater in the Ranks (e.g., Visiting Lecturers, Lecturers, Sr. Lecturers)	Eligible
Emeriti	Eligible. Please email apply using the Faculty Awards Application.
PERA	PERA Faculty are ONLY eligible for professional development funding directly from the PERA department.
ISL (Instructors in Science Lab) Faculty	Eligible
Other Faculty	Ineligible
Faculty Postdoctoral Fellows	Eligible

B. General Guidelines

Faculty Awards are intended to encourage research and other scholarly activities, but not to finance ongoing projects indefinitely. Applicants will be expected to investigate all possible sources for funds (including start-up accounts). A brief report on the result of faculty awards received in the past five years must be included on the application for a new grant or the new grant will not be awarded. Grants will not be made to support activities that postdate the faculty member's termination date at the college (with the exception of grants made to Emeriti faculty).
Faculty may apply for a Faculty Award only once per academic year, as long as the applicant has no open award. Proposals are reviewed approximately one week after each application deadline, and applicants will be notified about the status of their application shortly thereafter. If approved, a Faculty Award has a maximum term of 12 months. A current award may be closed earlier than the 12-month mark if its funds are depleted or at the awardee's request. Please see example scenarios that may help faculty plan the timing of an application.
Applications for publication charges up to $3,000 will be considered only with a copy of the publisher's request for such funding from the College. Page charges for articles are fully fundable up to the $3,000 limit. Faculty Awards cannot be used for reprints. Applications for subvention of publication costs should be made by the application deadline that immediately follows the establishment of those costs. If a project assisted by a Faculty Award results in publication, the author should acknowledge support provided by the College and reimburse the College up to the amount of support should royalties from one publication exceed $6,000.
Books purchased with funds from a Faculty Award revert to the Margaret Clapp Library when the individual leaves the College. Equipment and computer software purchases become the property of the College, earmarked for the individual's use while at the College during the time the project continues. Copies of materials belong to the individual. Books and journals for one's personal library may not be purchased. In order to receive reimbursement from the College for purchases made with funds from an award, original receipts must accompany the check request.
When the sums applied for exceed the pool of funds available for making awards, the Committee will give preference to faculty applicants who have not previously received such awards. While standard conference travel and special dissertation grants are awarded retroactively, retroactive Faculty Awards for scholarly research are not ordinarily made.
Faculty Awards may not be used to fund tuition or college courses or to purchase computer hardware.

III. Application Procedure for Faculty Awards

Access the application portal by clicking the link in the Forms section at the top of this website "Online Faculty Awards Application." To start your application, please select the type of award you are applying for from the options. Applicants can request that a Faculty Award be split across scholarly activities, supplemental travel, and childcare costs. The budget and justification must indicate how the applicant prefers the request funds to be allocated.

A. General grant to support scholarly activities

About the Project & the Applicant
Please give applicant name, title, department, rank, years at Wellesley and please indicate whether or not you have applied for a Faculty Award before—if you have received funding for this project please note the number of years. Provide a description of the results of every Faculty Award funded by the Committee in the last five years, including year awarded, amount awarded, and project title. Please list any publications from recent Faculty Awards. Applications that do not contain this information will not be considered. Please list your current project title.
Additional Information (Files)

Vita: Attach a brief vita no more than two pages in length, including graduate degrees, postgraduate awards (with dates) and recent publications (last 5 years).
Project Description: Please upload a specific and succinct project description (between 500 and 1000 words). Include a statement of your objectives, procedures, and estimated time schedule. Explain clearly and specifically how the Faculty Award will help you realize the objectives of your project. Be specific about what you expect to accomplish during the award period, and your estimate of the total time required. Remember that your application may be read by committee members who do not have your specialized background and knowledge. If this is a joint project, give names and addresses of collaborators, the sources of their funding (if any) and joint efforts (if any) to obtain other funding. Give full citations of any papers related to this project that you have delivered at professional meetings or have published.
Budget and Justification: Explain how your project would utilize the funds from a Faculty Award. Indicate how you will support your project if the funds required exceed the $3,000 maximum for a Faculty Award. If you have applied elsewhere for funds, please explain. If you have not, please consider doing so.
Optional Information: Please upload any additional files that might support your application.

B. Supplementary Travel Awards

Please refer to the College's current travel policy and the faculty travel acknowledgement of risk posted on the Provost's website. Faculty anticipating conference or other scholarly travel expenses in excess of $2,000 should apply for a Faculty Award as a Supplemental Travel Award (following the application guidelines and form for Faculty Awards and associated deadlines). Please note that supplementary conference or scholarly travel covers transportation, conference and registration fees, meals and accommodations. Eligible faculty receive $2,000 per academic year for conference travel (see section V.B below); Supplemental Travel Awards are used when costs of conference travel are anticipated to exceed the annual $2,000 entitlement.

1. Apply for a Supplemental Travel Award using the Online Faculty Awards Application link (top of this website). Select Supplemental Travel Award as a type of award.

2. Specify the dates of travel and conference.

C. Childcare

1. Childcare awards can be used for summer childcare to allow faculty time for scholarly activities. Apply for a childcare award as you would for a general grant (see Section III.A.), but select Childcare as the type of award. Your application should describe the project that will be explored over the summer. In the Budget Justification, include information about the number and age of children, as well as details about plans for childcare and related costs (may include estimated costs or receipts for camp fees, daycare fees, etc.; see Reference Guide below).

2. Faculty can submit an application for summer childcare funds during any of the four application deadlines throughout the year. Approved applications will be processed through payroll on a rolling basis to ensure that funds are available as costs are incurred.

You will be asked for clarification for an award application that does not meet the Guidelines for Faculty Awards. If there is insufficient time for the Committee to review and vote on the application, you will be asked to resubmit it.

Reference Guide for Common Expenses

Transportation Expenses	Please refer to the College's current Travel Policy. If the budget includes airfare, the fare should be based on the economy fare quotation from one of the online vendors, such as Expedia, Travelocity or Orbitz and attached as supporting documentation in the application. For foreign travel, every effort should be made to consolidate research for the sake of efficiency.
Accommodations and Meals	Please refer to the College's Travel Policy. Per diem for International Travel: Faculty traveling abroad on long-term (7-30 days) research projects, which may include conference attendance. Faculty will be reimbursed at a per diem rate for lodging, meals and incidentals. The current per diem rate is $100 per day. The per diem rate does not include transportation (air travel) or conference registration. Air travel and meeting registration fees can be expensed as their own costs. (Reference Provost Finance FAQs)
Typing & Indexing Manuscripts	Faculty Awards used to pay the expense of typing and indexing manuscripts will be awarded only after the manuscript has been completed and copies of receipts submitted. If an individual, rather than a company, provides the typing service, payment will be made through payroll unless the individual is in business as an independent contractor. In order to be paid through payroll the Controller requires a completed I-9 (immigration form) and a W-4 (tax withholding form). For payment by check request, a completed form verifying independent contractor status must be submitted to the Controller's Office before any checks can be issued. Forms are available on the Controller's Office website.
Copying	If more than three copies will be made of materials explain why.
Summer Research - Child Care	Where documented need exists for child care to allow time for research, some expenses may be reimbursed using the following guidelines: Our policy on child care reimbursement follows IRS established guidelines for claiming credit for child care expenses. These guidelines require that the child be a dependent no older than twelve. (The College will allow reimbursement for child care for a dependent child who is twelve years of age through August 31. A child who is thirteen on September 1 would not qualify for child care assistance from that point forward. Exceptions are granted for dependent children with disabilities, who may be eligible for child care reimbursement beyond the age of twelve.) Please review Ten Things to Know About the Child and Dependent Care Credit from the IRS for details. Child care will be provided only to continuing tenured or tenure track faculty during the summer. If both parents are faculty members at Wellesley College, only one is eligible to apply for child care reimbursement per academic year. Processed as payroll and included in your paycheck, the maximum amount will be $3,000 inclusive of fringe benefits at the current rate and treated as taxable income. Please contact Accounting with any payroll questions.
Student Research Assistants	In the event you wish to pay a student research assistant, the student you hire needs to be set up with the Student Employment Office in Human Resources. Hourly rates for students and the current minimum wage should be calculated before applying for funding in consultation with the Student Employment specialists. If special research needs cannot be met by student research assistants, the Committee will consider requests for more specialized assistance at higher hourly wages.
Equipment & Computer Software	List details for equipment and supplies, using actual catalog or suppliers' quotations or data from the College Purchasing Office. Also consider whether equipment can be fabricated by the College technical staff at a lower cost? Is it available already through another source at the College? While computer purchases will not be funded, applications for software in support of professional work will be considered for both active and Emeriti faculty. Emeriti faculty who need access to MS Office for their professional work are eligible to apply to FRAC for this expense.

IV. Payment or Reimbursement Funds

Payment or reimbursement of a Faculty Award for scholarly activities or supplemental conference travel is made upon submission of a completed transaction through the Workday system for all eligible expenses. It is your responsibility to make sure that your award amount is not overspent. Should an award be overspent, it will be your responsibility to reimburse the College.

V. Additional Available Entitlements

A. Widener Library Grants

Widener grants are available to all faculty who are eligible for Faculty Awards. There is no deadline for this entitlement (though they are not processed over the summer months.) Please use the Faculty Awards Application and select Create New Widener Library Grant Submission in the top table. Wellesley will issue a check made out to Harvard College Library (or reimbursement) to approved faculty members.

Emeriti faculty can apply using the Online Faculty Awards Application.

Harvard Alumni will not be charged for borrowing privileges. Please fill out this form if you are a Harvard Alumni and would like to apply for a Library account.

B. Annual Conference Travel Funds

Please refer to the College's current Travel Policies. Conference travel funds do not require a formal application process and are set up each new fiscal year. Each eligible faculty member will start AY24-25 with $2,000 available in their Conference Travel grant. This funding can be spent on travel expenses (e.g., transport, lodging, meals, registration) incurred during attendance at conferences, professional meetings, and workshops that pertain to your teaching, scholarship, or professional creative work. These funds may not be used for individual writing retreats or for research travel. When in doubt, please email provostfinance@wellesley.edu with clarifying questions in advance of booking travel. Expenses may be paid for on a College Travel Card or by the faculty member. Faculty should process all Travel Card expenses or reimbursements through Workday within 60 days of travel.

Conference travel funds do not accumulate from year to year and any remaining balances do not carry over into the new fiscal year. Conference travel expenses must be submitted for reimbursement before June 30, 2025 to be eligible for payment from the conference travel grant.

Emeriti faculty should email provostfinance@wellesley.edu to be reimbursed for eligible conference travel funds. Please include the following information: (1) full name of conference, location (city and state), and dates; (2) an itemized list of expenses with amounts for each item; (3) receipts showing proof of purchase for all expenses over $50.