EUE News & Notes

This page is provided to keep faculty, staff, and students informed about current developments in the Excellence in Undergraduate Education program. Questions and comments may be directed to Geert Pallemans, EUE Coordinator through e-mail to gpallem@siue.edu.

Additional information can be obtained by exploring the links on the EUE home page.

· Summary of Changes in EUE 2013 Program Guidelines

· Summary of Changes in EUE 2011 Program Guidelines

· Summary of Changes in EUE 2005 Program Guidelines

· Summary of Changes in EUE 2004 Program Guidelines

· Summary of Changes in EUE 2003 Program Guidelines

· Summary of Changes in EUE 2002 Program Guidelines

· Summary of Changes in EUE 2001 Program Guidelines

· Summary of Changes in EUE 2000 Program Guidelines

· Submitting Multi-year Requests

· Support for International travel

· Questions about your budget?

Summary of Changes in EUE 2013 Program Guidelines

There are five main changes to EUE Guidelines this year.

1) EUE 2013 Special Focus to be:

1) Projects or improvements that lead to increased student retention (engaged learning, experiential learning, faculty mentoring for undergraduate students in research or creative activities, service-learning projects, co-curricular retention projects, etc.).

2) Projects that make sustainable changes in the program (not just a one-time activity).

3) Projects that support the scholarship of teaching and learning.

4) Projects that support the development of on-line and blended learning.

2) Proposals are to 1) have a timeline for work completion, 2) identify measurable outcomes, and 3) identify how outcomes will be measured.

3) As in EUE 2012, an additional step is required for these proposals that are of of the study-abroad or travel-study type. All such proposals are to coordinate their proposed project with the Director of the Center for International Programs. As such, applicants are to submit their EUE proposal, inclusive of budget, to the Center for International Programs (Attention Ronald Schaefer, Campus Box 1616) in order to obtain from that office a Unit Support Statement. This coordination and submission fo study-abroad, or travel-study type applications to the Center for International Programs is to be done in the time frame of January 2, 2012 and January 20, 2012. If you have questions reguarding this change in program guidelines, please contact the EUE Coordinator.

4) As in EUE 2012, Applications for multiple year funding will no longer be considered. If you have questions regarding this change in program guidelines, please contact the EUE coordinator.

5) EUE awards will be given pending budget availability.

Summary of Changes in EUE 2012 Program Guidelines

There are five main changes to EUE Guidelines this year.

1) EUE 2012 Special focus to be 1) blended and/or on-line learning, 2) student retention efforts, and 3) new freshman seminar innovation.

2) Proposals are to 1) have a timeline for work completion, 2) identify measurable outcomes, and 3) identify how outcomes will be measured.
3) As in EUE 2011, an additional step is required for these proposals that are of of the study-abroad or travel-study type. All such proposals are to coordinate their proposed project with the Director of the Center for International Programs. As such, applicants are to submit their EUE proposal, inclusive of budget, to the Center for International Programs (Attention Ronald Schaefer, Campus Box 1616) in order to obtain from that office a Unit Support Statement. This coordination and submission fo study-abroad, or travel-study type applications to the Center for International Programs is to be done in the time frame of January 3, 2011 and January 21, 2011. If you have questions reguarding this change in program guidelines, please contact the EUE Coordinator.

4) As in EUE 2011, Applications for multiple year funding will no longer be considered. If you have questions regarding this change in program guidelines, please contact the EUE coordinator.

5) EUE awards will be given pending budget availability.

Summary of Changes in EUE 2011 Program Guidelines

There are four main changes to EUE Guidelines this year.

1) An additional step is required for these proposals that are of of the study-abroad or travel-study type. All such proposals are to coordinate their proposed project with the Director of the Center for International Programs. As such, applicants are to submit their EUE proposal, inclusive of budget, to the Center for International Programs (Attention Ronald Schaefer, Campus Box 1616) in order to obtain from that office a Unit Support Statement. This coordination and submission fo study-abroad, or travel-study type applications to the Center for International Programs is to be done in the time frame of January 4, 2010 and January 22, 2010. If you have questions reguarding this change in program guidelines, please contact the EUE Coordinator.

2) Applications for multiple year funding will no longer be considered. If you have questions regarding this change in program guidelines, please contact the EUE coordinator.

3) The need for multiple Project Co-Directors should be clearly demonstarted and justified. The EUE application for EUE projects with multiple Co-Directors should address specifically what portions of the project will be undertaken by whom, and why the need for Multiple Co-Directors exists. If you have questions regarding this change in program guidelines, please contact the EUE coordinator.

4) EUE awards will be given pending budget availability.

Summary of Changes in EUE 2005 Program Guidelines

There are four main changes to EUE Guidelines this year.

1) The carry over requests are streamlined and related form is revised. The project directors of funded projects need to check with their department fiscal administrator and verify the balance before submitting a carry over request. This will ensure the accuracy of the records between departments and university budget office.

2) The directors of the funded projects are required to acknowledge the existence of cost sharing funds above $500 before project funds can be released to school accounts.

3) To support our institutions effort in establishing a Bioengineering program, interdisciplinary undergraduate education related initiatives in Bioengineering or related fields are encouraged to apply.

4) The budget expectations for study abroad and travel to a site type of projects are revised. It is recommended that these projects should request approximately 1/3 of their budget from EUE. The rest of the project budget should be supported by other sources such as departmental funds, student cost sharing in terms of travel expenses, room and board, and other external sources. The rationale behind this change was reoccurring nature of some of these projects with relatively large budgets. Please also note that student tuition is not considered as part of cost sharing in these projects.

Summary of Changes in EUE 2004 Program Guidelines

There are five changes in EUE Guidelines this year.

1) We have introduced two categories for proposal submission based on dollar amount requested.

I. Proposals requesting more than or equal to $20,000

II. Proposals requesting less than $20,000

The main rationale behind this change is to provide a better review process for those proposals requesting a significant portion from limited EUE funds.

Contrary to Category II proposals, Category I proposals will be reviewed by all panels with a special emphasis on their assessment plan. A set of example assessment plans will be posted on the EUE web site for different types of projects such as travel, laboratory improvement, new course development, etc. In addition, the EUE coordinator will preview assessment plans of Category I proposals before panel reviews and contact the project director if it needs improvement.

2) In addition to the guidelines given below for multi-year projects, a new requirement is imposed regarding the assessment plans. These proposals should have a clear assessment plan for all years when they are first submitted and must provide assessment results from previous year(s) to be considered for future funding.

Funding of a multi-year project by DOES NOT guarantee that your project will be funded for the entire period. EUE funds are only made available to us each fiscal year and there is no means of assuring funding beyond the current fiscal year.

If your multi-year project is funded, you still MUST submit a proposal during each of the subsequent years. It is the responsibility of the project director to submit the proposals, along with a brief update on the initially funded portion of the project.

The budget listed on the cover page should reflect the cost for the current fiscal year only. An estimate of the total project for the entire grant period should be given in the Budget Justification portion of the proposal. This justification should provide an estimate of the budget for each year of the project.

Multi-year projects may not be used to circumvent matching requirement

3 The budget expectations for study abroad and travel to a site type of projects are revised. Now, It is recommended that these types of projects should request approximately 1/3 of their budget from EUE. The rest of the project budget should be supported by other external sources such as departmental funds, student cost sharing, external sources, etc. The rationale behind this change was reoccurring nature of some of these projects with relatively large budgets.

4) The projects with direct impact on teaching using information technology or technology related techniques, methods are especially encouraged in 2004. Innovative ideas that will be a test bed for the rest of the discipline and/or academic unit will be given priority in the review process.   However, the project directors should explain why the proposed project couldn’t take advantage of university resources such as Faculty Technology Center.

5) The review process will be transparent. The members of review panels will be asked to list the strengths and weaknesses of each proposals reviewed anonymously as well as suggestions on how to improve the proposal for future submissions. These comments will be compiled and summarized by the EUE coordinator and will be explicitly communicated to the project directors.

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Summary of Changes in EUE 2003 Program Guidelines

No substantive changes were made to the FY 03 guidelines.

Summary of Changes in EUE 2002 Program Guidelines

No substantive changes were made to the FY 02 guidelines. Clarifications were made on the policies and practices of submitting multi-year requests.

Summary of Changes in EUE 2001 Program Guidelines

The only substantive change for the FY 01 program was the addition of a new priority category for "Projects by individuals or groups that incorporate peer review of teaching, use of portfolios for improvements in teaching, or other related activities." This priority was added to provide support for some of the teaching inititiatives taking place on campus.

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Summary of Changes in EUE 2000 Program Guidelines

The guidelines for this year's EUE program are essentially the same as during the past two years. We have introduced two clarifications. The first addresses EUE emphases in regard to the funding of computer labs. In the past, EUE has been instrumental in starting many of the computer labs on campus. Beginning in FY 96, the EUE budget was reduced by approximately $250,000 to fund the computers for faculty and staff as part of the Campus Connectivity program. As a result, EUE no longer has sufficient resources to fund requests for general computer labs on campus. Requests for computer labs should be coordinated through the Academic Computing Council and OIT.

The second clarification addresses issues related to "Recurring Projects." In reviewing EUE proposals, the program often receives requests for funding similar projects from year to year. Such projects may include funding for guest artists and lectures, student travel to particular conferences or tours, support for continuing on-campus activites, etc. Many of these projects were initially funded by EUE because of their innovation and EUE has continued to support many of these projects. While the purpose of EUE is to support projects which are innovative, we also recognize that many worthwhile projects may not continue without additional support from EUE. However, continued support for these types of projects by EUE may be contingent upon matching support from the department or unit, either through internal or external resources.

An excellent example of this type of project is funding for student travel to the conference of the American Marketing Association submitted each year by the Marketing Department. This project has been funded continually for the past five years by EUE and represents the type of commitment from the from the unit that makes support likely in the future. EUE has funded 1/3 of the program cost with 1/3 of the support coming from the department and the final 1/3 from the student. This program provides students with an outstanding educational experience at a modest cost and is backed by a commitment from the department.

Submitting Multi-Year Requests

The time period for an EUE Grant is for one fiscal year starting on July 1. On occasion, EUE has provided support for multi-year grants up to a maximum of three years. If you are considering a multi-year request, there are several important factors that you must keep in mind.

Funding of a multi-year project by DOES NOT guarantee that your project will be funded for the entire period. EUE funds are only made available to us each fiscal year and there is no means of assuring funding beyond the current fiscal year. Multi-year requests that are initially funded are normally assigned a higher priority in the subsequent years.

If your multi-year project is funded, you still MUST submit a proposal during each of the subsequent years. It is the responsibility of the project director to submit the proposals, along with a brief update on the initially funded portion of the project.

The budget listed on the cover page should reflect the cost for the current fiscal year only. An estimate of the total project for the entire grant period should be given in the Budget Justification portion of the proposal. This justification should provide an estimate of the budget for each year of the project.

Multi-year projects may not be used to circumvent matching requirements.

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Support for International Travel

Some of the most difficult decisions for the review panels are related to funding of international travel for students or faculty. These types of proposals are normally very expensive, and while they may have a substantial impact on the students who can take advantage of the opportunity, the long-term impact on undergraduate education on campus is not as great as many of the other projects. Project Directors of programs that involve international travel are strongly encouraged to minimize the cost of such programs by obtaining additional support from sources outside of EUE.

Questions About Your Budget?

You can save yourself considerable headaches if your EUE budget is properly prepared. There is often confusion about the budet categories used by the State of Illinois. Here are some general guidelines:

·         Items under $100 are usually categorized as "Commodities"

·         Software (regardless of price) is categorized as "Contractual Services"

·         Photocopying expenses are now categorized as "Commodities"

·         Most travel expenses fall under"Travel" EXCEPT

·         Conference fees are "Contractual Services"

·         Local transportation by car is categorized as "Auto"

·         Funding for Graduate Assistants should be categorized as "Salaries"

·         Support for undergraduate student work should be categorized as "Wages"

If you have any questions about budget lines or preparing your budget, please contact the EUE Coordinator:

Geert Pallemans
Phone: (618) 650-3548
Peck Hall, Room 2327
E-mail: gpallem@siue.edu