Consortial Support Funds Collaborative Faculty and Staff Efforts

July 13, 2018, @ 9:11 AM

Students and faculty gather at the Lehigh Valley Molecular and Cell Biology conference at DeSales University in Spring 2018.

The LVAIC Collaborative Funding program provides resources to groups within the LVAIC community who, through collaboration, wish to engage in activities that advance LVAIC’s priorities. These programs can have a wide range of purposes from innovating ideas, broadening inclusion, or sharing resources across member campuses; however, while each has its own mission, all programs are set to increase collaborative opportunities with LVAIC support.

This funding is available for faculty and staff collaborating across three or more LVAIC campuses with the intent of benefiting LVAIC faculty, staff, and/or students with learning objectives or targets that fit into the goals of LVAIC. Some noteworthy funded programs have included the following:

• Women and Gender Studies Conference
• Bridging the Gap Conference
• Adults Learners’ Conference
• Campus Sustainability Conference
• Information Literacy Workshop
• Undergraduate Mathematics Conference
• War and Peace Building Conference
• LGBTQ+ Conference
• Undergraduate Psychology Research Conference
• Lehigh Valley Society for Neuroscience Conference
• Lehigh Valley Ecology and Evolution Seminar

Proposals for collaborative programs are typically due in early March annually. After an evaluation by the LVAIC leadership (Provosts, Senior Student Affairs Officers, and the LVAIC Board of Directors), decisions are typically announced in mid-May for funding to be made available in July for the following fiscal year. The eligibility parameters and the rubric for assessing each program is available on the LVAIC Funding for Collaborative Programs page. The funded program Frequently Asked Questions are available here.

The LVAIC collaborative funding program is a true example of LVAIC’s campuses maximizing their resources and joining forces to further initiatives on each of the member’s priorities. This program has been in existence since 1990 and has been an integral part of the professional development of hundred of LVAIC faculty, staff, and students. As new programs come into existence, LVAIC’s staff supports their planning and facilitates their collaboration until the program becomes self-sustaining. This allows for rotating priorities to remain front-of-mind for all funding decisions. To learn more about this program, visit the LVAIC Funding for Collaborative Programs page.