Office of Sponsored Programs and Research (SPAR)

PSC CUNY Research Award Competition

**Changes to the PSC-CUNY Program**

The Professional Staff Congress and The City University of New York are pleased to announce a three-year pilot program to streamline the selection process and enhance the PSC-CUNY Research Awards. As part of the restructured program, faculty retain responsibility for the selection process; a new category of awards of up to $12,000 has been introduced; and the application deadline has been changed to 5pm, January 9, 2013.

Below are the tentative deadlines for PSC-CUNY Round 44:

Applicant submission deadline for all application types (Traditional A, Traditional B, and Enhanced): Sunday January 9, 2013 5pm EST

Award notification (Traditional A and Traditional B applications): Monday April 15, 2013

Award notification (Enhanced applications): Wednesday May 15, 2012

Pilot Program Description: 2010-2013

The funding will support activities in the creative arts and all academically relevant research in the areas of natural science, social science, and the humanities, including but not limited to research related to curriculum development, improvement in teaching, adaptation of standard educational techniques to special clientele, and the relationship between technical or occupational training and the liberal arts curriculum.

During the Pilot Program agreed to by the University and the Union for the 2010-2011, 2011-12 and 2012-13 academic years, awards will be made in each of the following three categories:

Traditional A Awards of up to $3,500
Traditional B Awards of more than $3,500 and up to $6,000
Enhanced Awards of more than $6,000 and up to $12,000

Traditional A and B Awards

In order to maximize opportunities for funding, approximately 75-80% of the funds available for these two categories of awards will be allocated to Traditional A Awards. For Traditional A Awards, a maximum of $3,500 may be requested. Please note that Traditional A Awards will not support requests for reassigned time. For Traditional B Awards, a maximum of $6,000 may be requested. Traditional A and B Award applications are subject to review only by the discipline-based Review Panel to which they are submitted.

The Review Panels are not permitted to modify budget proposals; successful applications will be fully funded. Appropriateness and relevance of the budget to the proposal, therefore, is an important review criterion.

Enhanced Awards

As part of the three-year pilot program, the University and the Union identified new sources of funding to support up to 40 Enhanced Awards a year. In this category, which is expected to be the most competitive, a maximum of $12,000 may be requested. Applications for Enhanced Awards should be for significant scholarly or creative projects that require more than $6,000 to be successfully completed.

Applications in this category must include a detailed Budget Justification. Successful applications will be fully funded; therefore the reviewers will seriously consider the appropriateness of the Budget and the Budget Justification. Enhanced Award applications will receive two expert reviews in addition to the review conducted by the discipline-based panel to which they are submitted. Please note that applicants for Enhanced Awards may submit names of people whom they would not recommend as reviewers of their proposals.

Program Information

The Professional Staff Congress-City University of New York (PSC-CUNY) Research Award Program was established as a major vehicle for the University's encouragement and support of faculty research and to leverage external funding. It seeks to enhance the University's role as a research institution, to further the professional growth and development of its faculty, and to provide support for both the established and the younger scholar. Awards are distributed by the University Committee on Research Awards, a faculty committee, and administered by the Research Foundation of CUNY. Preference is given to junior faculty in the allocation of funds.