Holy Cross is dedicated to supporting the research and professional development of our excellent liberal arts faculty as teacher-scholars at every stage of their career.
Faculty Research and Professional Development Program
Effective immediately, all tenured and tenure-track faculty have a permanent research and professional development account (an “RPD” account) into which the College will make an annual deposit of $3,000 to support eligible expenses. This is base funding and does not require an application. To provide flexibility, unused RPD funds may roll over annually up to a limit of $6,000. Eligible expenses include: research and conference travel; original research activity; publication costs (indexing, page costs, manuscript preparation etc); books (when critical to the research agenda); professional memberships; activities related to innovative teaching and effective learning strategies. All tenured and tenure-track faculty begin this new program with $3,000 (regardless of any conference travel already reimbursed or pre-approved this academic year).
Faculty may plan for eligible activities without pre-approval; upon completion of the activity, simply submit an expense report in Chrome River to process reimbursement. Department Chairs and the Provost’s Office will review expense reports. Detailed guidance and step-by-step instructions are linked below. Emeritus, continuing non-tenure-track, and visiting faculty as well as administrators with faculty status in the division of academic affairs are eligible for support through the Provost’s Supplemental Research Fund.
The Provost’s Supplemental Research Fund
The Provost’s Supplemental Research Fund is administered by the Deans of Faculty to provide additional support for faculty research and professional development beyond the base allocation. Tenured and tenure-track faculty may apply for supplementary funding of up to $3,000 by submitting a simple online application to the Dean of Faculty using the following recurring deadlines:
- January 15
- April 15
- September 15
- November 15
Faculty do not need to be on the program of a conference to qualify for additional funding from this source. Applications must be received in advance. The Deans of Faculty will review applications in batches and will endeavor to notify faculty of the status of their request within 10 days after the deadline. Repeat applications are permitted, but in order to distribute funds equitably, second applications may have lower priority.
In addition, the Provost’s Supplemental Research Fund supports research and professional development activity for non-tenure-track, emeritus, and visiting faculty as well as administrators with faculty status in the division of academic affairs who are presenting at a conference or attending a professional development program. Non-tenure-track, visiting, and emeritus faculty may apply for annual funding of up to $1,500 for domestic activity and $2,000 for international activity by submitting a simple online application to the Dean of Faculty using the following recurring deadlines:
- January 15
- April 15
- September 15
- November 15
Applications must be received in advance. The Deans of Faculty will review applications in batches and will endeavor to notify faculty of the status of their request within 10 days after the deadline.
Committee on Faculty Scholarship
The Committee on Faculty Scholarship will review faculty proposals for large research grants (e.g. budgets larger than $3,000), and will also continue to award grants and fellowships through existing programs (Faculty Fellowships, Batchelor Ford Summer Fellowships, COVID O’Leary awards, Williams Career Development Awards). The Committee’s proposal deadlines are posted on its website.