Grants and Sabbatical Opportunities for Faculty

The Office of the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs offers a number of competitive grant, stipend, and sabbatical opportunities as outlined below.

For detailed information about individual funding mechanisms and application guidelines, click the appropriate call for proposals link.

Each funding mechanism has a template for creating your application narrative to insure you are including all necessary information and to make the review process more efficient for FDAC members. Download the template and replace any bracketed, purple text with the text for your application narrative. Please change the added text color to black. Save the file and upload it with your application and other required materials.

All applications are reviewed by the Faculty Development Advisory Committee (FDAC), which issues recommendations for funding to the Provost. More information about FDAC review criteria can be found in the  FDAC Review Process. Questions about any of these funding opportunities can be directed to FDAC leadership by emailing FDAC@montevallo.edu.

Proposals for fiscal year 2027 are now open. Please see below for submission forms and due dates.

Pre-Tenured Faculty Summer Stipend

The Pre-Tenured Faculty Summer Stipend Program is intended to assist pre-tenured faculty in completing research or creative projects at a critical time in their careers. The program provides a $5,000 stipend for 2 months of continuous full-time research or creative endeavor during the summer of the award year. For Summer 2027 projects, the submission deadline is October 16, 2026.

Mid-Career Faculty Summer Stipend

The Mid-Career Faculty Summer Stipend Program is intended to assist faculty at the rank of Associate Professor in completing research or creative projects to support of future application for promotion to Full Professor. The program provides a $5,000 stipend for 2 months of continuous full-time research or creative endeavor during the summer of the award year. Please note, faculty may not apply for both a Mid-Career Faculty Summer Stipend and a Sabbatical in the same grant cycle. For Summer 2027 projects, the submission deadline is October 16, 2026.

Sabbatical Leave

Sabbatical leave provides faculty with opportunities for professional development, scholarly pursuits and professional and intellectual renewal. Because the sabbatical leave applications follow a different format than other funding mechanisms, the review procedure for this mechanism is different. Sabbaticals are reviewed as described in this document. Please note, faculty may not apply for both a Mid-Career Faculty Summer Stipend and a Sabbatical in the same grant cycle. For Sabbatical Leave to be taken in the 2027-2028 Academic Year, the submission deadline is October 16, 2026.

Please see below for application instructions and templates:

Teaching and Scholarly Projects Grant

Teaching and Scholarly Projects Grants are designed to support and promote faculty innovation in scholarship, creative endeavors, and/or teaching. The grant provides up to $2,000 for supplies and expenses necessary to achieve the project’s stated goals. Eligible expenses include but are not limited to the purchase of books, software, and consumable materials; the payment of student assistant(s); and the payment or reimbursement of participant expenses. For projects to be completed between October 30, 2026, and September 30, 2027, the submission deadline is October 16, 2026. There will be a second round of applications considered in Spring 2027, deadline for submission TBD.

Academic Development Stipend

The Academic Development program is intended to support faculty efforts in developing new courses, significantly redesigning existing courses, or pursuing other major academic development initiatives (i.e. creating a new minor). The program provides a $2,000 stipend for summer efforts. If multiple faculty members will be working on the project, the stipend may be split among the faculty. This stipend is awarded in the Spring FDAC application review cycle to be awarded in Summer 2027. Application deadline TBD.