Seeking External Sources of Support
Grant-seeking and proposal development are scholarly activities that can help faculty members focus on the larger context of their research and creative activity and encourage articulation of its importance and impact. Applying for external funding is an incentive to think about your work’s relevance within the field and an opportunity to bring resources to campus for the benefit of your colleagues and students.
To view the full suite of tools and information available to facilitate proposal development, visit the Collaborative for Learning and Teaching here. Then go to the Funding Resources tab in the Digital Sandbox. Note, you must be logged into T-Learn to access the documents on the Digital Sandbox.
Search for Funding Opportunities
The Director of Sponsored Programs provides assistance to faculty and staff who are seeking external funds to support their research or programmatic ideas by:
- Strategizing about their research agendas and professional goals;
- Searching for funding opportunities that fit their ideas;
- Preparing grant and contract applications;
- Providing institutional documentation;
- Reviewing and/or editing proposal drafts and budgets; and
- If successful, negotiating the contract or subcontract.
Institutional Information
If your proposal requires you to provide contextual information about Trinity University, our students, and other pieces of institutional data, you can consult:
- The Trinity University Factbooks, which provide multiple years of statistical, graphical, and tabular information about student enrollment, admissions, academic majors and minors, financial aid, faculty demographics, and other topics.
- The Office of Institutional Research and Effectiveness also collects additional data that may be useful to grantseekers, including survey data and common data sets.
Forms and Compliance
Proposal Authorization Form
Per the guidelines established in the Faculty Handbook, employees must obtain institutional approval prior to submitting any proposals or applications for external funding by completing an approval form (found below).
Budget Template
If the external funding source does not provide a required budget template, you may use a generic budget spreadsheet to plan your funding requirements.
Conflict of Interest
On an annual basis, faculty members who have active grants must complete an Annual Disclosure Form to address possible conflicts of interest. Faculty who answer “yes” to any of the questions related to business interests (Questions 4 - 9) will be asked to complete Part B of the disclosure as well.
Research with Human Subjects
All research projects involving human subjects must be approved by the Institutional Review Board. Questions can be referred to interim IRB Chair, Dr. Bill Ellison (Psychology).
Research with Animal Subjects
All research projects involving animals must be approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC). Questions can be referred to the committee chair, Dr. Troy Murphy (Biology).
Research in an Undergraduate Institution Eligibility
If your proposal requires certification that Trinity qualifies as a “Research in an Undergraduate Institution” (RUI) site, you can download the necessary letter.