Project Goals:
The FFIS is seeking proposals from Cornell faculty who are interested in advancing academic service learning and public scholarship on campus. Funds can be used for a variety of reasons including to support innovations in an existing service-learning course; undertaking curriculum development or evaluation; undertaking a specific service project, survey, or action research, as long as these are integral to a course and involve students and community organizations.  All proposals should mutually advance the pedagogy and research of academic service learning at Cornell. 

Since its inception, the Faculty Fellows-in-Service Program has been instrumental in launching academic service learning at Cornell, which directly engages the relationship between active citizenship and learning. With its focus on reflection and co-learning it directly links real world issues and community experiences with a student’s education. FFIS seeks to build a larger constituency of Cornell faculty who understand and embrace academic service learning and public scholarship while exploring its role in fostering an engaged university. It seeks to disclose and debate the various resistances and challenges facing faculty who engage in service learning while exploring the various tools, resources and support mechanisms needed to foster it. 

Proposal Review:
Proposals will be reviewed by FFIS governance committee, which is made up of faculty members representing the undergraduate colleges of the university. It is the FFIS committee’s policy to encourage their colleagues to participate in the program, and to assist them as much as possible in securing a grant.  A proposal will be evaluated on the basis of how well it adheres to the above stated goals and guidelines.

Each proposal should be a maximum of 4 pages and include the following:
I.    Project title page  (1 page)
Your name, title and affiliation
Contact addresses and numbers
Project Title and Brief Abstract.
II.  Project description and/or methodology (not to exceed 2 pages):
Project Intent
What public need or concern does the project address?
Who and how many will be participating (faculty, students and community) and what are their anticipated roles? What do you propose to do and what is the design of the service-learning project or program?
Course or Educational Program Design
What is the expected educational value of participation in this service learning project/program for the students? What specific theories and practices will they engage? Will academic credit will be awarded and how much? What specific service-learning reflection and evaluation processes will be utilized?
Community and Project Outcomes
How are community partners actively engaged in the project and what will be provided to them through the service? What are some of the expected project outcomes and products?
III. Project Budget (1 page)
How will you spend the money and what is the budget? Please note in-kind and project expenses needed to complete the project. 

NOTES on FUNDING:
Eligible expenses include all out-of-pocket expenses for carrying out the project including supplies and consumable materials, travel, telephone, copying, photography, etc. Grant requests may include full matching funds for Federal Work Study, but students who do not qualify for work study funding are eligible to participate as volunteers, or they may participate for academic credit.
Specifically excluded from funding are:
Personnel salaries, except for work study matching funds. Capital expenditures. No university overhead expense is allowed. Academic credit for students participating in service-learning experiences is encouraged.
 
FINAL REPORT and FFIS SYMPOSIUM
A brief final report discussing successes and challenges of the project, as well as the number of students involved and other demographic and qualitative information, is required at the end of the grant period. In addition, participants are invited to participate in the annual Faculty Symposium on Service-Learning. Participants may also be asked to contribute to the FFIS Annual Symposium and or for the publication of a forthcoming  FFIS Working Paper Series on Service-Learning. The annual conference and the publication of the papers presented there offer a forum for faculty to teach others about the educational value of service-learning in higher educational institutions such as Cornell University. 

Applicants will be informed of grants by December 14, 2007.
Applications should be sent electronically to Paula Horrigan, phh3@cornell.edu and Leonardo Vargas-Mendez, ljv1@cornell.edu by November 30, 2007.