Downloadable Proposal
Format and Application

RSPG and Hemingway Expenditure Guidelines

General Funding Criteria 
and Eligible Expenses

Hemingway Vitality 
Web Site

Summary Report

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General Funding Criteria

The proposal must demonstrate the significance of the problem or issue.

The proposal must provide a brief review of the relevant literature and/or other back ground issues.

The proposal must identify the intended outcomes of the project

The procedures must be stated clearly.

The proposal must demonstrate project feasibility in terms of cost, procedures, personnel, time and available resources.

The proposal must explain and justify budget items.

The proposal must be written clearly and simply.

Checklist - A"no" answer to any of these questions will result in your proposal being excluded from consideration.  Lack of "no" answers will not guarantee funding.

1. Is the proposal presented in the RSPG Committee's standard "Application for Funding" format?

2. Is the proposal signed by the investigator's department chair and by all deans, chairs, and program directors who might be responsible for committing funds to the project?

3. If the project involves human subjects and/or animals, have you obtained signature(s) from the chair(s) of the Institutional Review Board (Human Subjects) and/or the Animal Use Committee

4. Is the budget clearly itemized on the budget page and explained in a budget narrative appendix?

5. If you are requesting reassigned time or a stipend, is there a letter from your chair stating that the project is above and beyond basic faculty duties?

6. Are personnel costs properly justified and calculated?

7. Does the body of the proposal occupy no more than three typewritten, single-spaced pages?

8. Have you submitted final project reports (or annual update reports, if appropriate) on all projects previously funded by RSPG or the Hemingway Trust?  Submit Hemingway Faculty Vitality reports to both the Provost and RSPG Chair.

Funding Guidelines
Passed by the RSPG Committee Spring 2003

Reassigned time or stipends for full-time faculty or professional staff acting as project director(s), or for payment to off-campus consultants may be eligible. Funds are not intended to compensate faculty for performance of customary professional responsibilities.

Due to limited funds, RSPG will not fund more than three credit hours of reassigned time per person per project; nor will we fund a stipend worth more than three credit hours per person per project. In order to be eligible for release time or a stipend the department chair must write a letter of support indicating:

1. What is normally expected of faculty or staff in his or her area of instruction at WSU?
2. What specifically sets this project above and beyond what is done by other faculty or staff in the department or program without release time or a stipend.?
3. If the proposal requests release time, the letter should detail what the normal base teaching load is and should also identify any other reassigned time the faculty member will receive during the academic year.  Finally, the chair should identify any overload teaching done during the academic year.

Activities suitable for reassigned time or stipends include, but are not limited to:

1. Course Development beyond basic faculty responsibility and expectations of the discipline. In order to be eligible for funding, the proposal must be accompanied by a letter from the department chair justifying the need for release time or stipend.
2. Scholarly activities beyond basic faculty responsibility and expectations of the discipline. In order to be eligible for funding, the proposal must be accompanied by a letter from the department chair justifying the need for release time or stipend.
3. Hourly wage/student assistants may be eligible. Departments are encouraged, however, to assume secretarial support, unless the magnitude of the project demands additional help.
4. Travel to attend meetings of professional societies may be eligible if the applicant is presenting a paper, chairing a symposium, or acting as a symposium discussant.  Conferences sponsored by professional societies or focused on a narrow topic may be given first priority.  Justify why the conference you are attending is relevant to your scholarship.  Please submit proof of acceptance.
5. Travel for data collection or related scholarly activities may be eligible.
6. Equipment and materials may be eligible if the research cannot be completed without them. Alternative means of equipment acquisition, such as lease or rental, should be considered. Materials (such as office supplies) in excess of what a department can provide and materials unique to a project (such as software) may be funded.

1. Projects primarily intended as commercial products rather than for scholarly dissemination.
2. Research undertaken as part of a program leading to a Masters or Doctoral degree.
3. Travel simply to attend meetings of professional societies.
4. Literature searches per se.
5. Retroactive requests for funding.
6. Licensing fees and costs of certification examinations.
7. Memberships in professional societies and journal subscriptions.
8. Computer expenses.
9. Direct student expenses such as travel to conferences, meals, books, etc.

Proposals should contain a budget appendix which provides rationale for all items listed in the budget.