William T Grant Foundation Scholars Program

William T Grant Foundation Scholars Program Solicitation

Program Summary 

The William T. Grant Scholars Program supports career development for promising early-career researchers. The program funds five-year research and mentoring plans that significantly expand researchers’ expertise in new disciplines, methods, and content areas. Applicants should have a track record of conducting high-quality research and an interest in pursuing a significant shift in their trajectories as researchers. We recognize that early-career researchers are rarely given incentives or support to take measured risks in their work, so this award includes a mentoring component, as well as a supportive academic community. Awards are based on applicants’ potential to become influential researchers, as well as their plans to expand their expertise in new and significant ways. The application should make a cohesive argument for how the applicant will expand his or her expertise. The research plan should evolve in conjunction with the development of new expertise, and the mentoring plan should describe how the proposed mentors will support applicants in acquiring that expertise. Proposed research plans must address questions that are relevant to policy and practice in the Foundation’s focus areas: reducing inequality and improving the use of research evidence.

Deadlines

CU Internal Competition Deadline: 11:59pm MST May 17, 2018

Mentor and Reference Letter Deadline: 3:00pm MST June 27, 2018

Full Application Deadline: 3:00pm MST July 5, 2018

Internal Application Requirements (all in PDF format)

• Up to 1-page research plan describing:
  • the unique contribution of the research,
  • its significance in terms of policy and/or practice,
  • a brief literature review,
  • research design and methodology,
  • data sources and collection procedures,
  • data analysis plans, and
  • plans for protection of human subjects.
• Up to 1-page mentoring plan describing:
  • applicant’s current areas of expertise, and the new areas of expertise that will be developed during the award;
  • the mentoring activities designed to develop the new areas of expertise;
  • the rationale for the proposed mentors, the applicant’s current relationship with each, and how the award will add significant value to the proposed relationship;
  • how the applicant and mentor will interact (e.g., in-person, email, phone), how often, around what substantive issues, and how barriers such as distance and busy schedules will be handled.
• Curriculum vitae

To access the online application, visit: https://colorado.secure-platform.com/a/solicitations/home/4197

Eligibility

Grants are made to organizations, not individuals. Applicants must be nominated by their institutions.

Applicants must have received their terminal degree within seven years of submitting their application.

Applicants must be employed in career-ladder positions. For many applicants, this means holding a tenure-track position in a university.

Limited Submission Guidelines

Major divisions (e.g., College of Arts and Sciences, etc.) of an institution may nominate only one applicant each year.

Award Information and Duration

Each year, four to six scholars are selected and each receives up to $350,000, distributed over five years.