The grant will help the College identify barriers to external partnerships and launch a new faculty fellows program that supports professional development and community engagement.
“By sharing expertise and resources with our partner institutions, we’re building a stronger foundation for collaborative scholarship.”
A $400,000 three-year grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) will help Guilford College strengthen faculty research, resource sharing and professional development in partnership with three other institutions.
The award is part of a larger $1.6 million grant awarded to Guilford, the Rhode Island School of Design, Southern University of Arkansas and the State University of New York at Brockport for EPIIC-SPARK: Supporting Partnerships for Advancement, Research and Knowledge.
The objective of the grant is to bring together the unique strengths of each institution to promote innovation and knowledge exchange. While the grant supports shared goals among the four partners, each institution also has individual objectives tailored to its needs.
At Guilford, the project’s primary focus is identifying barriers that limit faculty engagement in external research and partnerships, says Samantha Roth, the College’s Economic Development Administration Build to Scale Grant Project Manager. The findings will guide strategies for improving institutional infrastructure and removing obstacles to collaboration.
In the grant’s second year, Guilford will launch a Faculty Fellows Program, a paid professional development initiative designed to help selected faculty members build the networks and skills necessary to lead external research projects and partnerships.
“This effort is really about creating sustainable pathways for faculty to expand their research and community engagement,” says Sam. “By sharing expertise and resources with our partner institutions, we’re building a stronger foundation for collaborative scholarship.”
Sam says the grant also emphasizes strengthening local partnerships with businesses and community organizations. She envisions this to look like creating opportunities for project-based learning.
Pursuit of the NSF grant began with a rigorous national process that included a pre-proposal stage, workshops pairing institutions with complementary strengths and a competitive selection round for full proposals. Guilford and its partner institutions were chosen after nearly five months of review and collaboration.
Chief of Staff Meredeth Summers helped secure the grant.
“This is a tremendous opportunity for Guilford to deepen our culture of research and collaboration,” says President Jean Bordewich. “It’s about investing in our faculty and their capacity to make a broader impact locally, nationally and globally.”