The Faculty Benefits Committee sponsors three competitive award programs to support the professional development of tenured and tenure-track faculty: sabbaticals, summer fellowships, and project grants. The following questions are typically posed by applicants pursuing a summer fellowship. Applicants are strongly urged to consult the Faculty Handbook [11. Faculty Development Programs 11.1 - 11.4 ] for a complete description of the purpose, eligibility, conditions of acceptance and application procedures of each program.
1. What professional activities are supported by a fellowship?
Answer: Fellowships provide salary to support a variety of professional activities during the summer months. Fundable activities include developing teaching skills, conducting research, publishing scholarly work, performing creative and artistic projects attending seminars or conducting pilot studies and literature searches. Fellowships cannot be used to purchase supplies nor to pay undergraduate student salaries, these are instead supported by Project Grants.
2. When is the deadline for filing a fellowship application and who needs to receives copies of the proposal?
Answer: The deadline for filing an application is the first Tuesday of October of each academic year.
Late submissions will not be accepted, nor will applications exceeding page limits or missing other requirements.
Submit copies electronically (preferably PDF form) to:
a). Faculty Senate Office, AC 105, c/o Grace M. Hiles (hilesg1@nku.edu);
b). the department chairperson.
3. Where can I obtain an application form and related information about this award?
Answer: Application forms can be down-loaded at the Benefits website. The procedures, eligibility conditions, and reporting requirements are covered in the Faculty Handbook
[11. Faculty Development Programs 11.1 - 11.4 ]. At the beginning of the fall semester, the Benefits Committee holds a workshop on the application process for all award programs. Attendance is voluntary. The date of the workshop is announced in August through e-mail and Faculty Senate website.
4. What is the department chairpersons role in the application process?
Answer: The chairperson is responsible for filling out the Benefits committee-supplied summer fellowship form about the applicant and their proposal. The chair deadline for forwarding the evaluation form is the second Tuesday in October. Chair letters help evaluate the application; the weight of the Chair letter as part of the evaluation process is up to the subcommittee members.
The chair forwards electronic copies (preferably PDF format) of the form to:
a). the Faculty Senate Office, AC 105, c/o Grace M. Hiles (hilesg1@nku.edu);
c). the applicant.
5. How often am I eligible for a fellowship?
Answer: Tenured and tenure track faculty are eligible beginning in their first year of employment. Faculty become eligible for another fellowship in the third summer following the prior fellowship. For example, if you received a Summer Fellowship in 2019, you would be eligible for another Summer Fellowship for the summer of 2022. A faculty member who receives a terminal contract is not eligible.
6. What is the dollar value of the fellowship?
Answer: A fellowship pays $6,000 of summer salary in two instalment payments. Ninety-percent is dispersed at the beginning of the summer sessions (normally, the first week of June) and the remaining 10% is dispersed when the applicant submits the final report which should be no later than September 1st.
7. Can I teach or accept other paid employment during the term of the fellowship?
Answer: No, summer teaching is not permitted during the fellowship period and consulting and other outside professional activities are limited to the equivalent of one day per academic week (Please referred to the Faculty Handbook
[11. Faculty Development Programs 11.1 - 11.4 ]. Performing other paid University services during whichever 2 month fellowship period you have selected for your fellowship work is prohibited.
8. What are the final reporting requirements and when is the report due?
Answer: Recipients of an award must submit a final report electronically by September 1. The typical report takes the form of a letter to the Provost which summarizes what the applicant accomplished with the award. Tangible products of the award (e.g., a scholarly manuscript, book or book chapters, etc.) do not have to be submitted with the report; however, the applicant should make them available to administrators upon request. Final reports are required for all awards. It consists of a summary abstract of about 250 words written for a general audience, a one to two page detailed summary, and a photo of the faculty member sent as an email attachments to the Office of the Provost, c/o Assistant Provost of Special Projects Jason Vest (vestj3@nku.edu) X-5622, who will distribute them to the appropriate Dean, Chair/Supervisor, and the Faculty Senate Office. The abstract and photo will be published in the annual Faculty Development Program Brochure published by the Provost's Office.
9. Who receives copies of the final report?
Answer: Final reports must be submitted to:
a). the Office of the Provost, c/o Vice Provost Jason Vest (vestj3@nku.edu) X-5622
10. Can I apply for a summer fellowship, a project grant, and a sabbatical leave during the same academic year?
Answer: Yes, but be aware that separate applications must be submitted for each award, that there are different eligibility requirements for sabbaticals and summer fellowships, and that there are different final report deadlines for the various awards. Each Faculty Development Award is evaluated independently, approval of one does not necessarily guarantee approval of sister applications. Check the Faculty Handbook for eligibility requirements for the different awards and for deadlines of final reports please referred to the Faculty Handbook .
[11. Faculty Development Programs 11.1 - 11.4 ]
11. What happens if I terminate my employment at NKU and do not return at the end of the fellowship?
Answer: Recipients of a fellowship must agree to return to the University for a minimum of one academic year following the fellowship or repay the full amount of the stipend to the university.
12. Is a chairperson eligible for a fellowship, and if so, who evaluates their application and verifies their eligibility?
Answer: Yes, department chairs are eligible. They submit the application to the Faculty Senate Office, AC 105, c/o Grace M. Hiles and to the college dean who evaluates the application and verifies eligibility.The Dean will be responsible for filling out the Benefits-committee supplied evaluation form on the on the chair applicant and their proposal. The deadline for forwarding the evaluation form to the Faculty Senate Office is the second Tuesday in October.
13. When do I learn if my application is approved?
Answer: The Provost informs applicants of the status of their application no later than December 24.
14. Where can I find an example of a successful application from a prior year?
Answer: Go to Benefits Committee homepage
15. What does it mean, “provides academic references,” under criterion k3 in the Evaluation Guidelines document?
Answer: It means that the proposal contains citations to source material following discipline-appropriate, academic standards including a works cited page and in-text citations. (It does not mean that letters of recommendation from colleagues in academia were provided.)
16. Who reviews the application and how will they evaluate it?
Answer: A subcommittee within the Benefits committee will initially review the application; the entire Benefits committee votes on final funding recommendations which are passed onto the Provost. Each subcommittee is composed of members from a variety of colleges and departments on campus so it is important to be able to convey the content of your application to individuals outside your academic discipline. The subcommittee follows guidelines in the faculty handbook and uses the following rubric as initial evaluation tool.
