New Directions Initiative

Resources for preparing and submitting a proposal to the New Directions Initiative:

• The Call for Proposals contains a description of the goals of the New Directions Initiative, submission requirements, and proposal review criteria
  
• The Proposal Preparation and Submission Guidelines describe the contents and format of a proposal
  
• Each proposal must include a completed Institutional Awareness form
  
• You may find it useful to read about lessons learned from proposals that have been returned with a recommendation of "Revise and resubmit"
  

Proposals will be reviewed three times in the fall and the spring.

Fall 2009 review dates: September 28, November 2, and December 14.

Spring 2010 review dates: January 25, March 8, and April 19

The Great Lakes Colleges Association has received a generous grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to launch the New Directions Initiative. The program's focus is to support the renewal and continued professional growth of liberal arts faculty members in `mid-career' - the extensive professional period between receiving tenure and thinking seriously about retirement.

A particular emphasis of this program is to help faculty members think outside traditional boundaries and divisions of their discipline and of typical faculty work - to chart a course that leads beyond the familiar waters of one's early academic achievements and embarks on the extended journey of a stimulating faculty career. Three themes within the initiative capture this emphasis:

To Broaden Intellectual Perspectives, helping mid-career faculty to expand their horizons and understand issues beyond the context of their own disciplines in conjunction with other faculty members who share similar interests

To Stimulate Innovation in Pedagogy, providing opportunities for faculty to work together in sharpening pedagogy, based on expanding knowledge and best practices for teaching both within and beyond particular fields of study;

To Pursue Singular Explorations, which accord individual faculty members the time required to explore a new career direction.