The Evergreen Fund for Innovation

The Evergreen Fund for Innovation supports pioneering efforts by members of the Evergreen community, affording them time and resources for initiatives that will shape the college's future. Former president Jane Jervis-inspired by the planning year when founding faculty developed the Evergreen's ground-breaking curriculum-launched the endowment in 1996 to keep Evergreen on the leading edge of higher education.

The competition for 2011-12 has not yet been announced. Watch this space for future developments.

Proposed projects must designate a permanent faculty member as project leader. Leaders of each awarded proposal will be identified as a distinguished Evergreen Innovator.

Successful proposals may be broad or narrow in scope and should:

• Focus on innovative ideas that can be sustained after the award.
• Be unlikely to receive funding from regular college resources.
• Depart from the ongoing work of the project leader(s).
• Be submitted by teams of two or more Evergreen community members. (Teams may include faculty, staff, students, alumni and, with adequate justification, individuals from outside the college.)
• Represent the best Evergreen has to offer in interdisciplinary and cross-divisional collaboration.

Proposal narratives may be no more than 5 pages and include the following:

• Need or opportunity for the proposed project. What problem would this project help solve? What possibilities might it create? (30%)
• Project description and anticipated outcomes. (30%)
• How outcomes would support the mission of the college. (20%)
• How the project would support new approaches to teaching, learning and other aspects of the student experience. (20%)

In addition to the 5-page narrative, application packets should include the following attachments:

• A cover sheet including the title of the proposal; total funding request; name, signature and contact information for the faculty leader; names and roles of other team members (student team members should include their ID number).
• A detailed, 1-page budget with justification.
• A timeline for the major benchmarks of the project. (Projects must be completed within 18 months of the proposed start date.)
• Resumes or vitae for all team members. (2-page maximum each. Selection panel may request references for non-college participants.)
• Statements from the appropriate dean or director authorizing staff or faculty release time for members of teams requesting it.

Awards are selected by a committee that includes the college's president and four vice-presidents or their designees and one participant each from faculty, staff and students.

Email proposals (a single document in .pdf format is preferred) to sponsres@evergreen.edu , or submit a single, one-sided paper original of the proposal to the Academic Grants Office, LIB 2211.

For more information, contact John McLain, Academic Grants Manager, at ext. 6045 or mclainj@evergreen.edu.