Purpose
The Faculty Development Endowment (FDE) exists to support scholarship, research, and creative activity in any field. Funded first by the Bush Foundation and by friends of the College in response to a matching grant from the Hewlett and Mellon Foundations, it supports both term-long projects during which the faculty member is freed from teaching obligations (“large FDE grants”) and summer or winter break projects (“small grants”). Projects should culminate in a visible product to be shared with the community or the profession generally: for example, book, journal article or publishable conference paper, artistic work or performance, or policy paper. These large FDE grants are funded by a number of named endowed funds, including the Hewlett Mellon Fellowships. Faculty members are automatically eligible for all appropriate funds by applying for a large FDE grant.

Eligibility
All tenured, tenure-track and PEAR faculty members from all departments who have taught for at least one year are eligible to apply both for large FDE and Targeted Opportunity grants.  Faculty on continuing appointments may apply for Targeted Opportunity grants. Faculty members should note the applicable provision in the Campus Handbook that “a faculty member will normally teach for six consecutive terms between leaves of absence, including sabbatical leaves.”

Deadline & Process
The deadline for Large FDE grant proposals for activities to be undertaken during the 2025-2026 academic year is Friday, September 13th.

Evaluation Criteria
Preference will be given to those for whom a grant in the coming academic year would be especially timely, to those who are also applying to appropriate external funders, and who have not had other Large FDEs in the last few years. Every effort should be made to secure outside funding and proposals should list foundations and/or agencies to whom requests have been made. Applicants are strongly encouraged to consult with the Grants Office for assistance with proposals for external grants. Proposals should be of quality comparable to proposals submitted for outside funding and will be evaluated on the following criteria:

  • Clarity of narrative
  • Contribution of the work to the discipline
  • Feasibility of the project within this timeline
  • Importance of the timing of the grant for the project and/or the faculty member’s research/creative work trajectory
  • Feasibility of the project if outside funding is not secured
  • Contribution of the project to the departmental or college curricular goals
  • Justification of time requested

If subsequent external project support is obtained, the Faculty Grants Committee will review the project and the status of its award. Normally, the College will limit its award to the amount needed to bring salary support to the maximum level permitted for large grants (one term’s salary for a term of leave or one year’s salary if combined with sabbatical and/or other grants). In other words, the large FDE grants are intended to serve as back-up support for faculty members whose attempts to obtain external funding have not been successful.

Leave Requests and Revisions

Approval of funding for a proposal by the Faculty Grants Committee does not constitute leave approval; a faculty member must still apply for official leave through the Provost’s Office.

If you do not receive the FDE grant and you plan to teach during the previously requested time off you need to submit another leave form indicating your new plans. See the “Leave of Absence Guidelines” which include a copy of the application that is required for leave with the FDE. A term funded through the Faculty Development Fund is not counted as a term accrued toward sabbatical eligibility.

PROPOSAL

Narrative Description

  • Abstract  (150-200 words)
  • Narrative Project Description (3-5 pages single-spaced)
    Describe the nature of the proposed program of scholarship, artistic work, and/or professional growth and its product using non-technical language. Faculty Grants Committee members come from a range of disciplines and may not be familiar with discipline-specific language, so you should write for a general audience, rather than an audience of your disciplinary peers. The project description should include:
    • A description of the activities to be undertaken with the support of the grant. If the proposal is for time, please be specific about why you need a term off to support these activities. Why would this funding be the most beneficial now?
    • The likely contribution of the work to the appropriate discipline, artistic field, or specialty and the intended visible product. Be specific about the intellectual argument or artistic shape you expect your project to take; give detailed examples. 
    • The likely contribution, if any, to departmental and College curricular goals.

Timeline and Feasibility

  • Timeline including how much progress you have already made on the project and when might you (realistically) expect to complete it?
  • Address the feasibility of the proposed project, including resources and time commitment.

Budget

Funding requests may include: salary or stipend, domestic or foreign travel, instructional fees, materials and supplies, administrative assistance, research assistance, publication and communication expenses, and any other categories of assistance which might be necessary to advance the faculty member’s program of activities. 

For applicants requesting salary funds, please indicate “one-third of salary”; do not include a dollar amount.

Note: Up to full salary for time off may be requested in the budget, but the full budget may not exceed a full term’s salary under any circumstances. The Committee reserves the right to review budgets and, exercising its judgment, reduce them if it feels this appropriate and necessary. Benefits will be paid by the College in the same manner as when faculty are on sabbatical

Applicants wishing to pool money from the Faculty Development Endowment and other support not yet received must show that their project would be viable and useful if they were to receive only the Carleton portion of the funds for which they are applying.

Funding Plan & History

  • A list of grant proposals being submitted to outside agencies for 2025-2026. If no other proposals are being submitted, explain why. The Grants Office can help identify possible sources; many are publicized in the Carleton Weekly. Also check the Grants Office website for a listing of on-line resources.
  • A list of all outside grants received and proposals submitted in the past five years, including current submissions.
  • A list of all previous FDE proposals submitted, including indication of any previous successful FDE grants.

Current Curriculum Vitae

Please note that the Provost’s office has sample Large FDE proposals available for review.

Class of 1949 Endowed Fund for Faculty Development

For Junior Faculty

The purpose of the fund is to enhance faculty development of the highest standards and to assure that Carleton College thrives and continues to attract the best liberal arts college faculty in the country. With this gift, the Faculty Grants Committee will award one term of leave with pay to at least one non-tenured member of the faculty who is combining it with a first sabbatical and who has competed successfully for a large Faculty Development Endowment grant. This will permit a full year leave with full pay and benefits for someone between the third year and tenure reviews. An application for a large FDE grant from an eligible faculty member will be considered for the Class of ’49 Fellowship, as well, as long as the faculty member so indicates. It would be helpful, however, if such proposals also included a statement about the activities during and benefits of an additional term free of teaching responsibilities.