Southern Illinois University Edwardsville College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) Dean Greg Budzban, PhD, is again demonstrating his strong support of faculty innovation by providing monetary support for 25 new faculty-proposed projects via the CAS Targeted Funding Initiative (TFI).
The CAS TFI utilizes funding acquired through the College’s Winter Session courses and is supplemented with other CAS internal funds. Since the initiative’s launch in 2015, Budzban has provided more than $600,000 to faculty and staff.
“It’s exciting that we have found a mechanism to fund the immense faculty creativity throughout the College of Arts and Sciences,” said Budzban. “It’s heartening that we received so many proposals and were able to fully or partially fund most of them. Our Targeted Funding Initiative offers a way to continuously innovate and find novel ways of doing things."
"This is how an institution renews itself," he added. "Funding comes back and goes to projects that have the potential to develop into applications that have impact across the College.”
The 2019 projects enhance learning, deepen community connections, and improve campus spaces and instructional technologies. They span the College’s diverse programming from theater, music, mass communications, international studies, sociology and criminal justice to geography, chemistry, historical studies, English, foreign languages and literature, environmental sciences and philosophy.
A sampling of funded projects includes:
- A collaborative community project with East Side Aligned to engage residents for community success, led by Suman Mishra, PhD, in the Department of Mass Communications
- SIUE Violence Research Center, a market exploration, led by Dennis Mares, PhD, in the Department of Criminal Justice
- East St. Louis Charter High School Creative Writing Club 2.0, led by Valerie Vogrin, MFA, in the Department of English Language and Literature
- Development of Learning Modules to Enhance Student Performance in Organic Chemistry, led by Sarah Luesse, PhD, in the Department of Chemistry
- Environmental Sciences Academic and Career Opportunities for Upward Bound Participants, led by Ben Greenfield, PhD, in the Department of Environmental Sciences
Photo: SIUE College of Arts and Sciences Dean Greg Budzban, PhD.