Aspire Internal Grants

The aim of this program is to help new faculty members purchase supplies, research-related items, and travel to conferences or workshops with a one-time, $5,000 supplies, expenses, equipment, and travel (SEET) grant.

Tenure-track faculty in their first year of employment with Ball State University who have not received significant research-related or creative endeavor start-up funds from their department or college are eligible for Alpha Support. Faculty members receiving start-up funds greater than $5,000 and/or dedicated summer stipend from the department for research or creative endeavors are not eligible for this program.

To apply for this grant, faculty members (tenure-track only) in their first year must apply through our online portal. Recipients must also provide a final report.

The deadline for this program is September 20.

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2025-2026 Awardees

Congratulations to the following recipients of this grant for the 2025-2026 Academic Year:

• Se Won Kim (CAP) 
  
• Anne Beck (CFA) 
• Jongwook Kim (MATH) 
• Juan Zhang (MCOB) 
• Samuel Luis Massaro (CFA) 

This program is designed to support the professional advancement of faculty engaged in scholarly and creative pursuits that use humanistic or any creative discipline. Awardees will be selected based on peer review of the quality of the proposed project, the degree to which the project will lead to the applicant’s professional advancement, and the potential academic or discipline impact. Projects must result in the presentation of a public forum (gallery exhibition, screenings, performances, etc.) or publicly available printed material (monograph, edited collection, journal article) Maximum request: $12,500

Faculty members must be in a tenure-line appointment. An individual may be awarded once every four (4) years.

Early Career (Years 1-7 pre-tenure): This award will be granted only once during the Early Career stage (previously referred to as Junior Faculty).

Tenured: This award may be granted multiple times over the course of employment as long as all prior award’s reporting and external submission commitment has been met.

To apply for this grant, faculty members must apply through our online portal. Recipients will be required to provide a final report through the same portal.

Deadlines of this program

Early Career - November 1
Tenured - February 1

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2024-2025 Awardees

Congratulations to the following recipients of this grant for the 2024-2025 Academic Year:

• Wendy Soltz (CSH) 
• Platt Heather (CFA)

The Office of the Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs has provided for a second year of funds to award tenure-line faculty members funds to present their research and scholarship at professional regional or national meetings or to perform or exhibit creative works. This funding is designed to supplement travel funds provided by the faculty member's college and department and cannot be used as research funds. A maximum award of $500 is available per faculty member. Deadline: 15th of each month.

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Sponsored by the Office of the Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs, these funds provide NTL faculty funding to support activities undertaken to advance their development as scholars, including, but not limited to, workshops or conference travel for excellence in teaching, scholarly presentations/performances, and/or for professional development. Deadline: 15th of each month.

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For tenured and tenure-track faculty members looking to travel abroad for academic or creative activity Aspire offers the International Travel Program. Deadlines: February 1st, April 1st, June 1st, August 1st, October 1st, December 1st.

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The Joseph and Marcella Hollis Award is for faculty and students who wish to conduct psychology-based research projects. This competition is open for Graduate Students and Faculty Members only.

The maximum amount for this award is $700 for graduate students and $2,500 for faculty members. This award can be used for travel, supplies, payments to subjects, and presentations of work at professional meeting. Students are also expected to complete a final report form upon the completion of the project.

Apply for this grant through our online portal. Recipients must also provide a final report.

Annual Deadlines: October 1, April 1

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2025-2026 Awardees

Congratulations to the following recipients of this grant for the 2025-2026 Academic Year:

Students

• Carlie Merriweather (PSY) 
• Alicia Van Duyn (PSY) 
• David Akolgo (TC)

Faculty

• Hesham Allam (CICS)
• Faisal Kalota (CICS)
• Grace (EunHae) Park (SJSC, TC)

The purpose of this opportunity is to support preliminary research or scholarly projects to enhance the expertise needed to be successful in seeking funding from an external agency. The expected outcome is the submission OR resubmission of a competitive grant proposal to an external funding agency within 12 months of the project's completion. Maximum request: $12,500

Faculty members must be in a tenure-line appointment. An individual may be awarded once every four (4) years.

Early Career (Years 1-7 pre-tenure): This award will be granted only once during the Early Career stage (previously referred to as Junior Faculty).

Tenured: This award may be granted multiple times over the course of employment as long as all prior award’s reporting and external submission commitment has been met.

To apply for this grant, faculty members must apply through our online portal. Recipients will be required to provide a final report through the same portal. 

Deadlines for this program

Early Career - November 1

Tenured - February 1

Read Guidelines

2025-2026 Awardees

Congratulations to the following recipients of this grant for the 2025-2026 Academic Year:

• Tengfei Ma (NUTR)
  
• Brittany Acquaviva(CJC) 
• Somanita Kheang(TC) 

Provides support to aid in expenses associated with publication, reprints, article processing or open access charges, page charges, and subventions. Work must be accepted for publication or published in a refereed or other scholarly journal. Support can be used for open access, peer-reviewed publications listed in the Directory of Open Access Journals or for publication in subscription journals that allow some articles to become available openly based on a published fee schedule (sometimes known as hybrid open access). Deadline: 15th of each month.

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