The following criteria and guidelines are used by FDC to make decisions about competitive awards. When a faculty member writes an application for one of these awards, he or she should take these criteria and guidelines into consideration.

Note 1: These guidelines do not apply to the Faculty Fellowships, which have a separate, but similar set of criteria. See the Faculty Fellowship section for these criteria. Note 2: Faculty members must complete their terminal degree before they are eligible for these awards.

Criteria:

1. The Merit of the Proposal. Does the proposal show promise of significant achievement in course development, in curricular development or in pedagogy, or does it show promise of a project or product of scholarly/creative importance? In areas of teaching and curricular improvement, the size of the audience or the longevity of the program may be a factor in consideration. For large grants, such as Fisher Fellowships, and where appropriate, documents or letters of support from colleagues with expertise in the area of the project may strengthen the proposal. FDC may ask for an opinion from another scholar in your field.
2. The Scope of the Project. Summer stipends and Fisher Time-outs are designed to support work on an article or a paper for a professional meeting; similarly, these more limited grants are appropriate for preparation of art work for a group exhibition. In the teaching area, the development of a new course or substantive revision of an existing course provides sufficient scope. The Fisher Fellowship, on the other hand, is designed to support work of the same scope as the sabbatical - a full semester's sustained work. The Summer Student-Faculty Research Fund may have a somewhat different scope.
3. The Applicant's Qualifications. Applicants should document their expertise in the area of their project. They may do this by submitting work previously done, annotated bibliographies, or a brief statement of their field within the discipline.
4. The Clarity of the Application. The application should be written in language understandable to the faculty members on the Faculty Development committee, as these colleagues may not be conversant with a particular field. It should be detailed and contain a full explanation of the applicant’s process and product.
5. The Completeness of the Application. The application should include clearly defined goals, which are developed and documented in the description of the project. Applicants should note page limits for the specific award they are interested in. The applicant should also have a tangible product of real significance for teaching, scholarly or creative work. Incomplete applications will not be accepted by the committee.

Guidelines: (generally applied in the order listed)

1. Proposals will be judged on their merits, but with all things being equal, attempts will be made to spread grants across the disciplines, as well as between teaching/curricular and creative/scholarly projects.
2. All proposals must meet the stipulated guidelines, but among acceptable proposals, priority may be given to applicants who did not receive a similar grant in the preceding year and to applicants who have not frequently received grants from the fund in the recent past.
3. All other things being equal, priority may be given to applications from tenured and tenure-track faculty members.