General Guidelines for Course Development Grants
During the early years of the institute’s existence, a substantial portion of the institute’s annual operating budget shall be devoted to grants to faculty members. In this way, the institute will add its financial support to the faculty’s efforts to develop courses and/or programs appropriate to the goals of the institute. The portion of the annual operating budget dedicated to this purpose shall be recommended annually by the advisory board of the institute.
The director of the institute shall provide applicants for course development grants with an appropriate application form. The application for the course development grant should include a narrative description of the course or project and an explanation of the relationship between the proposed course or project and the criteria of the institute. In addition, the application should include a budget request, a budget justification, and a statement of duration during which the project will be accomplished. The appropriate department chair and the dean of the faculty member’s college must endorse the application for the development grant before being submitted to the director of the institute.
A course development grant awarded by the institute may fund the following expenses directly related to an approved project: purchase of books and other related materials such as films or videos, supplies, equipment rental, modest travel costs, wages for an assistant with specialized skills, and duplication. Grant money allocated for the purchase of books, films, videos, and related materials will be transferred to the university library, which will obtain the requisite materials as part of the permanent collection of the library. Course development grants cannot be used to fund: salary support, typing, extensive travel, major capital equipment or events, which have been previously funded in full by any unit of the university. A course development grant can be approved to fund a part-time replacement instructor in one course per semester for courses or projects when deemed appropriate by the dean of the college. It is understood, however, that any course sponsored by the institute will be taught at least once in conformity with university regulations for new or experimental courses. However, it should be noted that all courses that have received support from the Loyola Institute for the Study of Catholic Culture and Tradition remain subject to the normal course approval processes of the university before they can be included as part of the regular university course offerings.
Faculty members receiving grants are required to submit, in a timely manner, a written report to the director of the institute that will include their assessment of the completed course and suggestions for future areas of sponsorship by the institute. Moreover, student course evaluations, which assess the effectiveness of the particular course in meeting the goals stated in the course development, will be prepared by the director and supplied to the faculty member. These evaluations are to be returned by the faculty member to the director of the institute.
Course development grants are subject to the following stipulations. If project costs exceed the grant award, the excess costs are the responsibility of the grant recipient. If the funded project produces income for the grant recipient, it is university policy that the recipient of the grant shall reimburse the university from income generated by the sale or use of the property made possible by the grant. The projects funded by course development grants shall be completed within the time stated in the grant application. If the project is not completed at the stated time, a no-cost extension to complete the project may be granted by the director in exceptional cases. The course development grant recipient must apply for an extension prior to the termination of the grant and must give strong justification for the extension.