Associate Professor Fund in Global and International Research

The UB Office of International Education (OIE) offers the Associate Professor Fund (APF) in Global and International Research to enhance the support for associate professors whose scholarly or creative work focuses on important global/international topics. Applications must be endorsed and submitted by the applicant’s dean’s office, with each dean’s office limited to two endorsed applications per cycle. The fund, which is awarded on a competitive basis, will be for a period of two years: $10,000 per year and $20,000 in total. The fund can be used for summer salary (up to 3K per year). Some decanal units have agreed to augment the award with one course release during the two-year period. Each awardee will be named a “Global Research Fellow,” and is expected to give a public lecture about their research. The fund will be transferred to the faculty member’s home department and should be expended by the end of the second year of the grant.

Any tenure-track faculty at the associate professor rank with active research on important global/international topics is eligible to apply, subject to review and endorsement by their chair and dean’s office, but priority will be given to those who are in their 3^rd or 4^th year in the rank, or tenure-track associate professors whose application is timed in such a way that it will have the biggest impact on the major research that will be presented during the process for promotion to full professor. Faculty who received an APF award previously, who are currently under review for promotion to full professor, or who will be considered for promotion in the academic year following, are not eligible to apply for an APF award. Prospective applicants should consult their department chair prior to applying; the chair’s confidential letter of recommendation must be submitted separately to OIEgrants@buffalo.edu by the deadline. OIE will share completed applications with the relevant dean's office. Each dean’s office may recommend no more than two APF applications per cycle.

There is a two-stage process for APF applications: (1) the following application materials must be submitted to OIE, and (2) the cognizant dean’s office must separately endorse the application once that office has reviewed it:

• A completed application on the submission site, to include: project title, name, title, departmental affiliation, and contact information
• Proposal Narrative (not to exceed four double-spaced pages), which provides a concise description of the research, scholarship, or creative activity, including:
  • Statement of the nature, objectives, and expected outcomes of the proposed research activity;
  • Description of the significance of the proposed research for the discipline;
  • Explanation of how this project fits into the associate professor’s broader research program and what role this work will play in the ultimate promotion to full professor, including clarification of whether the proposed investment will enable a new research direction or the completion of an ongoing project; and
  • Detailed timeline for accomplishing objectives (plans should acknowledge that the funds requested should generally be expended within two years from the date of award).
• Budget (not to exceed two pages for amounts up to $20,000), which should include a justification that explains the relationship of costs to the proposed activity and the basis for cost estimates. 
• Confidential Letter of Recommendation from relevant chair commenting on the timing of the request and the faculty member’s project as it relates to readiness for the next promotion as well as the unit’s commitment to administering the fund and organizing a lecture of the faculty member (1 page maximum). The letter should be submitted to OIEgrants@buffalo.edu by the deadline.
  
• Completed applications will be reviewed for endorsement by the relevant dean’s office, which will commit to awarding a course release during the two-year period, if this is applicable.
  

Applications for the APF and the chair’s confidential recommendation must be submitted by the deadline, 5:00 pm (EST) on March 15. The application should be submitted to the OIE submission site, and the chair should send the confidential letter to OIEgrants@buffalo.edu. Completed applications will be forwarded to the respective deans’ offices for review; up to two applications may be recommended by each dean’s office.

You can apply via the form:

https://airtable.com/shrNOiHwOCXVoCS0g

Proposals will be evaluated on three criteria: (1) feasibility of plan, (2) originality of project, and (3) the persuasive demonstration of how the effective use of APF funds will position the candidate for successful promotion. The chair’s letter, which is not expected to exceed one page, should explicitly address these criteria and the chair’s commitment to administering the grant.

Applications will be evaluated by a UB faculty committee convened by the OIE. Applicants will be notified of their funding decision normally within a month of the deadline.

The awardee is required to submit a status report of no more than 500 words to OIE at OIEgrants@buffalo.edu at the end of the first year of the award period. Failure to submit the first-year report in time will result in the discontinuation of the funding.

The APF awardees are required to submit a summary report of no more than 1,000 words within a month of the conclusion of the funding. The summary report should be submitted to the Office of International Education at OIEgrants@buffalo.edu. Failure to submit the summary report in time may make the awardee ineligible for future OIE grants.