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The purpose of the Arts and Sciences Fund for Excellence (ASFE) is to assist college faculty members in their own teaching excellence and research/creative work endeavors. Funding for ASFE comes entirely from annual gifts made to the College by friends and alums.

The ASFE has provided modest funding in the past for a variety of projects, e.g.: conference presentations, on-campus conferences, research assistance, travel for research purposes, equipment for increasing teaching efficiency, software, etc. Partial funding is possible, and most awards are for $1,000. The committee will consider funding up to $1,500 for international travel based on airfare costs. There may also be instances when domestic research travel requiring a longer stay than a traditional conference may also be funded for a higher amount (no greater than $1,500).

Full-time instructors as well as tenured and tenure-track faculty are eligible to apply.

The committee does not entertain requests for funds after a trip or event that has already taken place, which includes applications requiring funding before its regularly scheduled application review meetings during the Fall and Spring semesters. Although the committee meets regularly during the Fall and Spring semesters, it may take 2-3 weeks to review applications, thus applicants are advised to apply early to avoid missing this "deadline." Submitting requests by (or before) the deadlines listed below will ensure that the committee has had ample time to evaluate the request prior to the need for funds. Of special mention are requests for Summer projects: the committee does not meet during the summer months, so if you have any fund requests for summer, please be sure to submit them prior to the April deadline date. Please also note that awards are made until the funds run out, which is another cause to apply earlier vs. later.

Faculty can only be awarded funds once per academic year. However, a second application may be allowed to finance visiting speakers to campus, as this benefits the university community as well as the research of the applicant.

ASFE application form

Proposals should be 1-2 pages in length and include the application form with the following information:

• A description of the nature of the project;
• A compelling rationale for how the project will advance the teaching, research and/or creative work of the faculty member or group submitting the proposal;
• For requests to support conference travel, we request documentation that the paper has been accepted;
• A detailed budget for the proposed project, including travel;
• For travel requests, airfare needs to be documented with a quote from the travel agent. We prefer the CU agent Christopherson, but other sources are acceptable;
• A statement regarding use of or application to other funding sources, e.g., the A&S College Account, GCAH, CRCW, President’s Fund for the Humanities;
• A statement indicating the status of the yearly $1,000 faculty account and any other account that you have access to for these types of activities (e.g. some departments have funds or endowments for faculty use); and
• We expect applicants to have no funds available in other accounts before applying to ASFE. If they have funds in other accounts committed elsewhere, we request an explanation with specific budget figures.

Proposals should be submitted electronically in a single PDF with application form attached to Karalyn Wright, Interim Dean Daryl Maeda's dean's operations manager, at karalyn.wright@colorado.edu.

Deadlines for submission for Fall 2024:

Aug. 31, Sept. 30, Oct. 31, Nov. 30 and Dec. 31

Deadlines for submission for Spring 2025:

Jan. 31, Feb. 28, March 31 and April 30.

Inquiries may be addressed to Anna Jensen, Senior Executive Aide to the Dean, at Anna.Jensen@colorado.edu.