New fund to promote cross-school collaboration in teaching and scholarship
The Provost’s Office is pleased to announce the launch of the University Fund for Cross-School Inquiry and Learning, a new funding opportunity designed to foster innovative, interdisciplinary academic initiatives.
As part of its commitment to advance academic excellence in alignment with the Strategic Framework, the Provost’s Office reviewed the funding opportunities offered to faculty and staff and created this new fund to support those who are working across disciplines to develop academic initiatives or programs that stimulate teaching and scholarship.
The fund offers up to $15,000 per project for initiatives that encourage collaboration across schools, supporting efforts that enhance Wake Forest’s core identity, embody the spirit of Pro Humanitate, and drive excellence in teaching and scholarship. Projects may run for up to 24 months, with teams submitting a final report within 60 days of project completion to document accomplishments, ongoing impacts, and future potential for both the University and, where relevant, external communities. Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis.
Successful proposals will:
Align with the University’s strategic framework by enhancing the core identity of Wake Forest (i.e., Who We Are and Who We Will Become), realizing our vision (i.e., the embodiment of Pro Humanitate), or focusing on one of the areas of excellence as identified in the strategic framework (i.e., Aim 2.2),
Embrace the teacher-scholar ideal. The proposal should include components related to research, scholarship or creative activity in addition to curricular activities. The scholarship could be pure, applied, or pedagogical/andragogical. Curricular activities should support classroom or experiential learning activities, consistent with the aims associated with establishing a community of lifelong learners, and
Engage in interdisciplinary efforts by involving faculty and staff from at least two different schools.
Preferred Proposals
Preference will be given to projects with the potential for lasting impact. Teams are encouraged to design sustainable initiatives and include at least one full-time faculty member from each represented school as a project lead. Staff involvement is welcome, either as team leaders or participants.
With this new funding opportunity, the Provost’s Office aims to strengthen the University’s community of inquiry and lifelong learning by advancing initiatives that bridge academic disciplines and inspire meaningful collaborations across campus. Interested faculty and staff are encouraged to start developing proposals that will help shape the future of teaching and scholarship at Wake Forest.
Details on application instructions and the evaluation process are available on the Provost’s website. Please contact Stacie Petter, associate provost for faculty affairs (petters@wfu.edu) with additional questions.
