Proposals for Ohio Five Collaborative Grants Program Invited by October 30 Deadline

Posted on September 22, 2020

A new annual grant program administered by the Five Colleges of Ohio will offer funding for member colleges to work together on projects that respond to common campus priorities.

Ohio Five invites proposals from faculty, staff and/or administrators for projects that encourage collaboration among divisions and among Ohio Five campuses and:

  • foster scholarship and innovation
  • address changing student needs in the classroom and broader college experience
  • improve our colleges’ competitive advantage in student and faculty recruitment
  • realize cost-savings or cost avoidance ideas

The new program, which will distribute grants totaling $50,000 annually, will begin accepting applications through October 30 for projects beginning on or after January 1, 2021.

The Collaborative Grant Program will support projects developed by two or more member colleges, which may be proposed by full-time faculty members, administrators, and/or staff. Designed to promote shared community across the colleges, the infusion of new ideas and skills to address college priorities, and creative problem-solving, the program will award grant funds up to $5,000 for projects that support:  

  • Innovative Teaching and Learning, including new approaches and skill development in service of teaching, particularly those that respond to changing needs of students. Approaches include shared courses, team-taught courses, integration of technology in teaching, and joint initiatives with student affairs and other collegiate divisions.
  • Staff Programming and Development, especially the pooling of resources to address common staff professional development needs in shared workshops, conferences, and training. 
  • Supporting Diverse Students, Faculty Members and Employees to foster the development of our campuses as welcoming, diverse communities, especially projects that strengthen the collaboration between academic and student affairs divisions.
  • Initiating Collaborative Learning Communities to deepen collaboration, promote the sharing of best practices, and develop joint projects among peer colleagues and departments at two or more colleges.
  • Conferences, Workshops and Symposia to Address Key Issues that respond to the program’s priorities or respond to a significant need or development identified across our campuses.
  • Start-up Funding for Cost-Savings Ideas developed by two or more colleges.

The Collaborative Grants Program replaces grant-funded, faculty-only mini-grant programs that were previously funded by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation that began in 2014 and will conclude during the upcoming academic year.  “More than 65 Mellon-Funded projects across the Ohio Five convinced us that there was an appetite and need for resources to continue collaboration,” commented Ohio Five Director Sarah Stone. “Our new program will fund new ideas and problem-solving across divisions and across our colleges.”

The program was developed by a five-college committee of faculty, deans, librarians, and financial officers who reviewed consortial grants programs across the country and devised the new guidelines.  The committee, appointed by the Ohio Five presidents, will approve grant requests in a fall and spring docket.  Interested groups should review the Ohio Five Collaborative Grants Program Guidelines or contact Susana Velazquez, Ohio Five Program and Budget Manager, at grants@ohio5.org