UO Foundation Trustee Excellence Grant

Overview & Program Goals

The UO Foundation Trustee Excellence Grant (Trustee Grant) aims to advance exceptional research, scholarship, or creative activity by UO faculty in ways that translate to significant impact—be those contributions to their field of scholarship, the discovery of new knowledge, and/or meaningful connections and partnerships with communities. This grant program is also intended to support undergraduate and graduate students in their scholarly or academic growth.

The UO Foundation will fund two awards annually, each up to $50,000, for projects that involve student participants. Awards will be made to a single faculty member who demonstrates a plan to advance high-impact scholarship and research in instances where faculty resources and/or external funding opportunities are limited. Trustees do not expect to award funds via this program to faculty with significant active external or internal research funding.

Competitive proposals will 1) clearly identify the impact of the research, scholarship, or creative work to be advanced, 2) describe an appropriate and rigorous methodology, 3) explain the impact of the proposed activity in terms of scholarship and social impact, and 4) embed opportunities for undergraduate students to meaningfully engage in the project.

Questions about this program, application, or submission process may be directed to Research Development Services, rds@uoregon.edu.

Important Dates

  • February 15, 2025 - April 2, 2025: Research Development Staff are available to review drafts before submission
  • April 7, 2025, by 5 p.m.: Application Deadline
  • Early May:  Proposal Review
  • Mid-May: UO Foundation/OVPRI Review/recommendations
  • Mid-June: UO Foundation Trustees Funding Decision
  • Late June: Award Notifications
  • September 1, 2025 - August 31, 2027: Project Period (projects must start on September 1)

Request for Proposals and Templates Document

Unit Head Approval Form (Fillable PDF)

Eligibility

Eligible Principal Investigators (PIs): Eligible PIs are tenure-track faculty and career research faculty with the classification of research associate, research professor, research scientist, research engineer, principal research scientist, librarian, or professor of practice (with primary duties in research) with 0.50+ FTE appointments during the academic year of the research award.

Ineligible PIs:  

  • Faculty who received a Trustee Grant within the past three award cycles
  • Emeritus, retired, courtesy, visiting, instructor, and pro-tem faculty and postdoctoral scholars
  • Recipients of any competitive award from the Office of the Vice President for Research and Innovation who have not submitted a final report for their prior award(s)

Budget & Use of Funds

Amount: These awards provide up to $50,000.

Length of Project: The project period begins September 1 and may not exceed 24 months. 

Allowable Costs: Funds may be used for costs necessary to plan and execute the proposed research project (consistent with university and state rules) including:

  • Travel, which may include funds to support a planning workshop or faculty retreat, to host a distinguished speaker who will help you initiate your project, to visit key resources and/or archives, or to visit a program officer to discuss your project.
  • Equipment
  • Materials and supplies
  • Core/shared user facilities fees: Note that OVPRI funds will be transferred directly to the core facility, while funds for all other costs will be transferred to a faculty-managed departmental index for the award.
  • Salary for career research faculty, graduate students, undergraduates, and/or technical personnel under the supervision of the principal investigator
    • Note 1: If you plan to hire graduate employees, please include only their salary and OPE on your budget. The GE tuition, insurance, and fees will be contributed by the OVPRI, at the College of Arts and Sciences rates, to maximize funds available for your work. If your unit has higher tuition/fee rates, please include the supplemental amount under “OTHER” on the budget template.
    • Note 2: The R&R Budget template used for your submission automatically calculates and auto-populates cells for GE tuition, fees, and insurance. Please work with your budget/grant administrator to ensure your budget only includes salary and Other Payroll Expenses for GEs.
  • Other direct costs: core/shared user facility use, speaker stipend, etc.
  • Faculty summer stipend and/or course release (as per departmental policies and guidelines)

Unallowable Costs:

  • Replacing current funding from another internal or external source
  • Renovation, remodeling, or alteration of research laboratories or core/shared facilities

Application Components

Request for Proposals and Templates Document

Application: Trustee Grant applications must be submitted using the online submission form.

  1. Application Form (online):
    1. Basic information is to be provided in the form’s text boxes. (Note that the form cannot be saved part way through.)
  2. Proposal Documents: (single-spaced text, Times New Roman font in 11-point or larger, and 1” margin, use templates in RFP).
    1. Abstract (250 words or less)
    2. Proposal Narrative (3-page limit)
    3. References Cited (no page limit)  
    4. Curriculum Vitae (5-page limit)
    5. Current and Pending Support (no page limit)
    6. Budget Justification (no page limit)
    7. Budget: Use the “R&R 1 to 5 Year Detailed Budget” Excel template on the Sponsored Projects Form webpage.
      1. Note 1: Internal awards do not require indirect (F&A) costs. Please set that cell in the template to 0.
      2. Note 2: If you are including graduate employees, see the Budget & Use of Funds section above for details on how to budget for these expenses.
    8. Unit Head Approval Form: Provide a scanned copy or e-signature confirming your unit head approves of the proposed application, including the budget. 

Submission Instructions: Complete all components of the application and combine them into a single PDF in the order listed above, with each component on its own page. Save with the naming convention [Contact PI Last Name]_FY 25 Trustee Grant.

  1. Fill out the basic information in the online application form.
  2. Upload the complete PDF. NOTE: If the Unit Head Approval Form has a digital/ e-signature, the PDF cannot be combined with the rest of the application, but rather must be uploaded separately (combining erases the digital signature).
  3. Submit the form.
  4. Each PI may complete the demographic survey described below (optional).

Optional Demographic Survey (online): The OVPRI is committed to creating an environment that fosters sensitivity to and understanding of the diverse academic, socioeconomic, cultural, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, and racial and ethnic backgrounds present in our community. The application form includes a section to disclose demographic information aimed at assessing the success of our activities towards this goal. Response to these questions is entirely optional and is not considered in award decisions. This information will not be seen by the review committee, but rather used by OVPRI leadership to ensure our internal granting programs are inclusive and equitable and serve diverse populations at UO. We welcome the submission of this information from all PIs on the project.

Review Process & Criteria

RDS will conduct an initial review to ensure that proposals comply with all guidelines. The OVPRI will convene a panel to evaluate the grant proposal. The VPRI will present the top four proposals to UO Foundation Trustees, who will make the final funding decisions. Applicants are informed of whether they are selected or not for the award; all notification letters will include reviewer feedback to assist with future proposal submissions.

Criteria: See an example of the review sheet as used by the review committee when scoring proposals.

  • Significance and Contribution (Weighted 25%): Is the project intellectually significant? What value does it offer to the faculty member’s disciplinary field and/or general audiences? Has the applicant clearly identified potential challenges and issues addressed by the project? Is it likely that the project will achieve the stated societal impacts?
     
  • Organization and Methods (Weighted 25%): Is the conception, definition, organization, and description of the project clearly articulated? Are the methods sound and indicate project success?
     
  • Undergraduate Student Engagement and Impact (20%): Does the project involve undergraduate students in a meaningful way, that would contribute to their academic or scholarly growth?
     
  • Work Plan/Budget Justification (Weighted 10%): Is the work plan and timeline feasible, appropriate, and supported by a well-justified budget?
     
  • Competencies, Skills, Access, and Support/Biographical Sketch or CV (Weighted 10%): Is the applicant well-qualified to carry out the proposed work and have the means to do so if funded?
     
  • Final Product(s) and Dissemination (Weighted 10%): What is the likelihood of achieving the project’s final product(s)? How strong is the dissemination plan for its intended audience(s)?

Note: As stated above, funding preference is given to investigators without significant active funding from internal or external sources.

Reporting

An interim report is required midway through the two-year project period. A final report is due to Research Development Services no later than one month (30 days) after the conclusion of funding. RDS will supply awardees with a link to the report form 30 days before the report deadlines.

Previous Award Recipients

2024 Awards: 

  • Nicole Giuliani, Special Education and Clinical Sciences Department, Associate Professor, Fear and Restrictive Child Feeding: Essential Science to Inform Intervention Development (Summer 2024)
  • Ernesto Javier Martínez, Department of Indigenous, Race and Ethnic Studies, Associate Professor, 'La Serenata' Feature Film (Winter 2024)
  • Lynn Stephen, Anthropology, Professor, Invisible No More! Mesoamerican Indigenous Languages and Communities in Oregon (Summer 2024)

2023 Awards: 

  • Elizabeth Day, Research Assistant Professor, HEDCO, Getting Evidence to Educators: Translating Research Findings in Meaningful Ways
  • Alayna Park, Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, Measuring Clinician Adherence to Evidence-Based Mental Health Interventions

2022 Awards:

  • Shannon Boettcher, Associate Professor, and Paul Kemper, Research Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry, Shared Mass-Spectrometer for Chemical Analysis in Support of Electrochemical Energy Science and Engineering Research and Teaching in the Oregon Center for Electrochemistry
  • Lucas Silva, Associate Professor, Department of Environmental Studies, Quantifying the Impact of Wildfire on Biological Carbon Sinks and Carbon Market Incentives in the McKenzie River Watershed, Oregon, USA