Submitting a Proposal

Please contact Associate Director for Research Development Josh Tychonievich (College of Arts and Letters) or Pre-Award Program Managers Lori Loftis (most social science disciplines) or Amelia Lutz (economics, arts, and humanities) if you plan to apply for an external grant or fellowship. Faculty in the College of Arts and Letters apply for more than 200 grants a year, so please notify us well in advance of the proposal deadline. 

All proposals must be reviewed for compliance with university and federal regulations, conformity to sponsor guidelines, and appropriateness of the budget. You, your department chair, the associate dean, and the assistant vice president for research must review and sign off on all proposals. Lori Loftis or Amelia Lutz will draw up the required paperwork and route this paperwork and your proposal through the University's electronic system for signatures and approvals. Ideally, we would like to have proposals at least five days prior to the application deadline in order to complete this process.

Research staff will also assist with finding potential funding sources, reading and critiquing draft proposals, formulation of budgets, and other administrative needs.

Submitting a Grant or Fellowship Application

Consult funding guidelines

Once you have found a suitable funding source, read their application guidelines carefully. Do not hesitate to contact Josh Tychonievich, Lori Loftis, or Amelia Lutz for assistance in locating and deciphering the guidelines.

Developing the budget

Many funding agencies require detailed, line items budgets. Please contact Lori Loftis or Amelia Lutz if you need assistance with identifying appropriate costs.

Fellowships and grants recovering salary money 

In order for you to receive retirement benefits in the salary money obtained from a fellowship or grant, these funds must be routed through the University via a restricted grant account. In order to obtain a University account, you must route your proposal as described above rather than sending your proposal directly to the funding agency.

Submitting proposals

Once you have completed your proposal and it has been routed for signatures, Pre-Award Program Managers Lori Loftis and Amelia Lutz will help upload the proposal into the required electronic proposal system or will arrange for photocopying and mailing of the proposal prior to the deadline. Typically, hard-copy proposals are sent by express mail to funding agencies. ISLA will pay for the duplication and mailing costs associated with submitting the proposals to the agencies.