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Fund supports faculty 'internationalization'
The Faculty Internationalization Fund provides funding for faculty members to travel abroad to engage in research and exchange programs. PHOTO: DOUGLAS LEVERE
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“It is nearly impossible to gain the necessary expertise, develop transnational teaching or research collaborations or participate in exchange programs without traveling outside the United States.”
The Office of the Provost has established a new Faculty Internationalization Fund to encourage faculty members to become more “international” in their teaching, scholarship and service.
The fund, to be administered by the Office of the Vice Provost for International Education, will provide limited travel funding—up to $5,000 per grant—to support new faculty initiatives with UB’s existing institutional partners in other countries. The fund does not support international conference travel.
The funding can be used for a variety of activities, among them new faculty-led study abroad programs for UB students, new collaborative international research projects and the development of new courses or programs—or the enhancement of existing ones—that have substantial international content and perspectives.
The impetus for establishing the fund came from the final report of UB’s International Strategy Task Group, which called for “creating incentives and eliminating barriers” to encourage and facilitate faculty participation in UB’s numerous international partnerships. The task group, part of the UB 2020 planning process, specifically urged that travel grants and grants to internationalize curricula be awarded to faculty.
David Engel, SUNY Distinguished Service Professor in the UB Law School and a member of the International Strategy Task Group, points out that the group considers the efforts of the UB faculty to be “absolutely essential” in achieving the goals of UB 2020.
“If UB is to expand its international perspective and prepare students to succeed in the global society of the 21st century, then the faculty will have to lead the way through their teaching, research and service,” says Engel, who also serves as chair of the Council on International Studies and Programs, which has been charged with implementing the task group’s recommendations
And while many UB faculty members already are engaged in international research collaborations and exchange programs, cost barriers always have stood in the way: Funding for international travel has been limited, especially during tough financial times.
“Yet it is nearly impossible to gain the necessary expertise, develop transnational teaching or research collaborations or participate in exchange programs without traveling outside the United States,” Engel says.
The creation of the Faculty Internationalization Fund “could not have come at a better time,” he says, noting that it represents “the realization of one of the most important recommendations of the task group.”
“This fund will make it possible for UB to add to existing pioneering efforts by the faculty and to extend and broaden our expertise in ways that can only benefit our academic community as a whole.”
Stephen Dunnett, vice provost for international education, agrees.
“Providing increased opportunities and incentives for our faculty to engage in substantive and sustainable international research, teaching and service is key to our efforts to advance UB’s internationalization agenda,” he says. “The Faculty Internationalization Fund will help us achieve our mandate to prepare students for the global working environment of the 21st century. Without an internationalized faculty, we cannot instill global competence in our students,” he says.
Applications for the Faculty Internationalization Fund will be accepted on a rolling basis and must include the approval of the faculty member’s chair or director, and dean. A selection committee established by the Council on International Studies and Programs will review proposals.
Click here to access the application.
Completed and endorsed applications can be submitted to the Office of the Vice Provost for International Education, 411 Capen Hall, North Campus, or electronically to John J. Wood, associate vice provost for international education, at jjwood@buffalo.edu.
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