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Career Development and Writing Support Grant

The Career Development and Writing Support Grant provides up to $4,000 toward the career development program, writing support program or other service of choice that best supports faculty career development or writing and publication.

Examples of potential career development and/or writing supports could include (but are not limited to) the following:

  • Fees for participation in a faculty career development program, such as the Faculty Success Program (a 12-week virtual program) or the Teaching Toolkit Program (a four-week virtual program), run by the National Center for Faculty Diversity and Development (NCFDD)
  • Developmental editing to help faculty resolve conflicting feedback, refine their thesis, work through writing blocks, or restructure writing; professional copy editing for a manuscript or professional indexing for a book; or academic coaching for a specific goal, such as project planning and productivity for an already planned research leave
  • Funding to facilitate travel to meetings with grant program officers or scholarly/creative collaborators
  • Training for communicating research, such as presentation skills or public speaking, to support the release of a new publication

Faculty are responsible for selecting their own program, editor, or other professional service. For a list of recommended providers, contact provostawardsandgrants@northwestern.edu.

Eligibility

Full-time, benefits-eligible regular faculty are eligible to apply.

Please note, this grant aims to support a diverse group of faculty from across the university. In this spirit, if a high volume of applications is received, faculty who did not receive this award in 2023-24 may be prioritized. Faculty are not eligible to receive both the HSSA grant and a Career Development and Writing Support Grant in the same year.

Grant Criteria

Proposals will be judged on the potential impact of funding on the applicant’s stated goals and their promotion progress (for tenure-line and non-tenure-line-eligible faculty).

Grant proposals will be reviewed by a selection committee composed of Office of the Provost representatives.

Funding

Funding is limited to up to $4,000 and a budget justification will be required in the application. Grant funds will be paid into faculty discretionary accounts in Spring 2025. Funds must be used by Aug. 31, 2026. Faculty who are selected for a grant are responsible for engaging providers and arranging their own payments to said provider(s).

This funding is intended to supplement and not supplant funding available from other sources such as department travel allotments, start-up packages or deans awards.

Reporting

All grantees must provide a brief written report on the usage of funding by Sept. 30, 2026.

Application Materials

All proposals should be submitted using the online proposal form, which requires:

  • Name, department(s), school(s)
  • Project or Proposal Description: Please provide a short summary of the program, service, or travel requested. Describe your research/creative project or career progression, your specific needs for assistance/services, and your intended output (publication, performance, etc.). 
  • Statement of Funding Impact and Budget: Explain why you are requesting funding and how the funds will be used to support career development and progress to promotion and/or tenure, or your writing and publication.
  • If you are requesting funds for travel, please note that this funding is intended to supplement and not supplant funding available from other sources such as department travel allotments, start-up packages or deans awards. Faculty with prior access to travel funding from these other sources should explain how and why they will use the career development grant to augment their travel. 
  • Budget: Provide anticipated expenses related this this grant. If you are uncertain of the exact price in any category, please provide the best estimate.

Deadline

Jan. 27, 2025.

Questions

If you have questions about the grants, including eligible expenses, please email provostawardsandgrants@northwestern.edu.