Dean’s Fund for Excellence

DFE Application Form (Word Doc)

The purpose of the Dean’s Fund for Excellence (DFE) is to assist A&S faculty members in their own teaching excellence and research/creative work endeavors. Funding for DFE comes entirely from annual gifts made to the College by friends and alums.

The DFE has provided MODEST funding in the past for a variety of projects, e.g.: conference presentations, on-campus conferences, research assistance, travel for research purposes, equipment for increasing teaching efficiency, software, etc. Partial funding is possible, and most awards are for less than $1000.

Full-time instructors as well as tenured and tenure-track faculty are eligible to apply.

The committee does not entertain requests for funds after a trip or event that has already taken place, which includes applications requiring funding before its regularly scheduled application review meetings during the Fall and Spring semesters. Although the committee meets regularly during the Fall and Spring semesters, applicants are advised to apply early to avoid missing this “deadline”. Submitting requests by (or before) the deadlines listed below will ensure that the committee has had ample time to evaluate the request prior to the need for funds.

Faculty can only be awarded funds once per academic year.

Proposals should be 1-2 pages in length and include the DFE Application form with the following information:

  • a description of the nature of the project
  • a compelling rationale for how the project will advance the teaching, research, and/or creative work of the faculty member or group submitting the proposal
  • a detailed budget for the proposed project, including travel
  • a statement regarding use of or application to other funding sources, e.g. the A&S College Account, GCAH, CRCW, President’s Fund for the Humanities, etc
  • a statement indicating the status of the yearly $1000 faculty account and any other account that you have access to for these types of activities (e.g. some departments have funds or endowments for faculty use).

Proposals should be submitted electronically in PDF format with application form attached to Dean Leigh’s assistant Anna Jensen in the College of Arts and Sciences, Old Main 1-43 (275 UCB) or Anna.Jensen@colorado.edu.

Deadlines for submission for Fall 2012: August 31, September 28, October 31, November 30, and December 28.

Deadlines for submission for Spring 2013: January 31, February 28, March 29, and April 30.

Inquiries may be addressed to the DFE committee chair, Claire Farago at Farago@colorado.edu.