Pathways Annual Grants
2024-25 Annual Grants: Off the Beaten Path(ways)
Want to revise your Pathways course or minor to re-envision how your students engage with your discipline? Interested in helping your students learn how to be active citizens and positively engage in their communities? How about introducing them to undergraduate research, service learning, or studying abroad? We know these experiences provide significant benefits to our students, but we also know that they require a great deal of time and resources to implement.
This year’s grants will support faculty in revising existing Pathways courses and minors to incorporate civic learning and democratic engagement or high-impact pedagogies such as study abroad, undergraduate research, service learning, and more—in a sense, building experiences that take students off the beaten path(ways).
This year, you can also apply for funding to create a 1-credit Pathways course. This semi-experimental call will help us expand students' options for how and when to fulfill their requirements. You can develop a 1-credit course on your own, work with colleagues to create a group of three related 1-credit courses, or even explore a humanities/STEM collaboration.
There are six different grant options available. Please click on the accordions below to read more about each one. We have provided a few examples for what each grant could be used for, but these suggestions are by no means exhaustive; please feel free to propose your own ideas for integrating these experiences into your course or minor. Many of these pedagogies overlap with one another, so please choose the grant that most closely aligns with your goals or that you need the most support for (if you are the lead of a minor and your proposal does not fit into one of the first four options, please select the Pathways Minors option).
The Pathways to Study Abroad grant will support the development of opportunities for students to learn abroad as part of their Pathways experience. The grant is available for programs of varying length and may be associated with either a course or a minor.
What can this grant be used for?
Developing and/or delivering a meaningful, Pathways-aligned, credit-bearing study abroad experience for students, including but not limited to the following options:
- A winter or summer course or program
- A semester-long program that incorporates (in whole or in part) Pathways courses
- A study abroad experience embedded in a Pathways course
- Incorporating a study abroad component into a Pathways minor
- A short-term or semester-long program at the Steger Center
- For semester-long programs, this could be a Pathways course that connects to other programs being offered in the same semester. Interested in pursuing a specific theme during your semester at the Steger Center? Not sure what that might be? Email Sara Steinert Borella.
- For short-term programs, the Steger Center is eager to welcome programs during the month of June. They work closely with faculty interested in developing new programs with a focus on engaged, community learning and encourage you to consider coupling a short-term program with an Italian language class offered on site or online.
What is required of the grantees?
Awardees must commit to all of the following to receive funding:
- Attend a Zoom information session (date TBD) or watch the recording of the session if you cannot attend
- Attend the Pathways 2024 Summer Institute or alternative (see note below)
- Participate in 3-4 cohort meetings over the course of the 2024-25 academic year
- Submit a brief progress report by May 1, 2025
Note: If the grantee is completely unavailable for the Summer Institute, the Office of General Education will work with them to develop an alternative professional development plan.
What can funding be used for?
- Development time (summer salary or course buyout)
- Faculty travel
- Materials or resources needed to develop the program
Need more information about study abroad before you write your proposal?
- Check out The Global Education Office’s trainings and resources
The Pathways to Service Learning grant will support the time and resources needed to develop a mutually-beneficial community partnership in a Pathways course or minor. The service learning experience should include sufficient preparation prior to going into the community and meaningful reflection after the experience.
What can this grant be used for?
- Incorporating service learning into your course
- Local community partnerships
- Community partnerships abroad
- Virtual partnerships, if travel is not feasible
- Incorporating a service learning experience into your minor
What are the grantee commitments?
Awardees must commit to all of the following to receive funding:
- Attend a Zoom information session (date TBD) or watch the recording of the session if you cannot attend
- Attend the Pathways 2024 Summer Institute or alternative (see note below)
- Participate in 3-4 cohort meetings over the course of the 2024-25 academic year
- Submit a letter of support from your community partner by May 1, 2025
- Submit a brief progress report by May 1, 2025
Note: If the grantee is completely unavailable for the Summer Institute, the Office of General Education will work with them to develop an alternative professional development plan.
What can funding be used for?
- Summer salary or course buyout for development time (including time to research community partners)
- Honarariums for community partners
- Books/materials/professional development on relevant pedagogy
- One-time funding for reusable equipment and/or instructional materials
Need more information about service learning before you write your proposal?
Check out VT Engage’s resources for faculty
The Pathways to Undergraduate Research grant will support faculty in creating “a mentored investigation or creative inquiry conducted by undergraduates that seeks to make a scholarly or artistic contribution to knowledge” (Council on Undergraduate Research, n.d.).
What can this grant be used for?
- Embedding an introductory undergraduate research experience in your Pathways course
- Incorporating undergraduate research into a Pathways minor
What are the grantee commitments?
Awardees must commit to all of the following to receive funding:
- Attend a Zoom information session (date TBD) or watch the recording of the session if you cannot attend
- Attend the Pathways 2024 Summer Institute or alternative (see note below)
- Attend the Mentoring Undergraduates in Research PDN training offered by the Office of Undergraduate Research
- Submit a brief progress report by May 1, 2025
Note: If the grantee is completely unavailable for the Summer Institute, the Office of General Education will work with them to develop an alternative professional development plan.
What can funding be used for?
- Summer salary or course buyout for development time
- Stipends for graduate teaching assistants
- One-time funding for reusable equipment and/or instructional materials
Need more information about undergraduate research before you write your proposal?
Check out information on structuring undergraduate research on the Office of Undergraduate Research’s website.
The Pathways to Civic Learning grant will support efforts to develop students’ civic engagement knowledge/skills within the disciplinary context of a course or minor.
What can this grant be used for?
Redesigning a Pathways course or minor to help students develop the content knowledge, interpersonal skills, cultural awareness, and motivation to be active, informed citizens of their communities (local, state, national, and/or global).
Proposals should include student-centered, high-impact pedagogies that allow students to practice these skills (inside or outside of the classroom). Examples include but are not limited to:
- Community-based learning
- Problem-based learning focused on issues of public concern
- Action research and projects
- Frequent, substantive class discussions on topics of public concern
- Frequent engagement with outside speakers/activists/experts on topics of public concern
- Adding to a minor a common experience, text(s), or project related to civic engagement
Successful proposals will move beyond adding one or two civic-related discussions/assignments and will meaningfully integrate civic learning objectives into the course or minor.
What are the grantee commitments?
Awardees must commit to all of the following to receive funding:
- Attend a Zoom information session (date TBD) or watch the recording of the session if you cannot attend
- Attend the Pathways 2024 Summer Institute or alternative (see note below)
- Participate in 3-4 cohort meetings over the course of the 2024-25 academic year
- Submit a brief progress report by May 1, 2025
Note: If the grantee is completely unavailable for the Summer Institute, the Office of General Education will work with them to develop an alternative professional development plan.
What can funding be used for?
- Summer salary or course buyout for development time
- Books/materials/professional development on relevant pedagogy
- One-time funding for reusable equipment and/or instructional materials
Need more information about teaching civic engagement before you write your proposal?
- Read about the Civic Engagement Learning Spiral
- Check out the Civic Learning and Democracy Engagement (CLDE) Coalition resources
Your minor is already awesome: students from a variety of majors are coming together, exploring your topic from multiple disciplinary perspectives, and synthesizing what they’ve learned in a capstone experience. The Pathways Minors grant will support efforts to take your already-great minor to the next level (make it more cohesive, increase opportunities for student interaction or faculty collaboration, create co-curricular programming, etc.).
What can this grant be used for?
If your proposed minor revisions do not fit into any of the other grant categories, you can apply for the Pathways Minors grant. Examples for grant proposals in this category include, but are not limited to:
- Introducing a common experience or common text(s) to tie the courses of the minor together
- Implementing a lecture series on topics related to your minor (see the PPE Research Speaker Series as an example of what this could look like)
- Implementing activities that allow students in different stages of the minor to interact with one another (e.g., field trips)
- Implementing regular events to build community and collaboration among the instructors who teach courses in the minor
- Introducing a new track to your minor
What are the grantee commitments?
Awardees must commit to all of the following to receive funding:
- Attend the Pathways 2024 Summer Institute or alternative (see note below)
- Participate in 3-4 cohort meetings over the course of the 2024-25 academic year
- Submit a brief progress report by May 1, 2025
Note: If the grantee is completely unavailable for the Summer Institute, the Office of General Education will work with them to develop an alternative professional development plan.
What can funding be used for?
- Summer salary or course buyout for development time
- Materials (e.g., books, lab materials)
- If your project would require funding beyond one year, please reach out to us. Multi-year funding may be available.
The 1-Credit Pathways Course grant will support faculty in creating new, 1-credit Pathways courses.
What can this grant be used for?
- Creating a 1-credit Pathways course aligned with 1-2 core concepts and 1-2 integrative concepts.
- Coordinating with colleagues to create a 3-credit experience across several different courses. For example, creating three 1-credit courses that are each 5 weeks long and could be offered consecutively over a semester.
- Creating 1-credit courses for summer sessions or wintermester.
What are the grantee commitments?
Awardees must commit to all of the following to receive funding:
- Attend the Pathways 2024 Summer Institute or alternative (see note below)
- Participate in 3-4 cohort meetings over the course of the 2024-25 academic year
- Submit a brief progress report by May 1, 2025
Note: If the grantee is completely unavailable for the Summer Institute, the Office of General Education will work with them to develop an alternative professional development plan.
What can funding be used for?
- Summer salary or course buyout for development time
- Stipends for graduate students to assist with the course creation
- One-time funding for reusable equipment and/or instructional materials
Do you have an idea that isn’t listed here? Maybe a high-impact practice that we haven’t specifically listed? Or something else that will take your course or minor off the beaten path while also enhancing student learning? We’re open to other ideas! Please email Jenni Gallagher with any ideas that don’t fit into the categories above.
In the spirit of general education, proposals must serve a broad range of majors in Pathways courses at the introductory level to be considered. Due to the current size of the Pathways program (600 approved courses and 30 minors), only proposals that revise existing courses/minors will be considered (with the exception of 1-credit courses). The creation of new 3-credit courses and minors will not be considered this year.
Deadline for submission: February 15, 2024.
- To support the incorporation of high-impact pedagogies such as study abroad, service learning, and undergraduate research across the Pathways curriculum.
- To support the inclusion of civic learning and democratic engagement across the Pathways curriculum.
- To support the growth, expansion, cohesiveness, and interdisciplinarity of Pathways minors.
- To expand the flexibility of the program through the creation of 1-credit Pathways courses.
Proposals can be submited through the Google form. As part of your proposal, please download the Excel file, fill out your requested budget (see an example on the second page of the spreadsheet), and upload the file with your proposal.
If you would like to draft your proposal before submitting it, you can do so in the Word doc and then copy and paste your responses into the Google form when you are ready to submit.
The deadline for submission is February 15, 2024.
Pathways Grants will support the work of an individual or a team of faculty members. Funding will be determined by the specific needs of each proposal. Historically, grants for an individual course ranged from $2000 to $10000. Funding may be provided for a number of purposes, including but not limited to summer salary, TA/GA support, and instructional materials.
Specific commitments vary by grant type and can be found in the descriptions above for each of the grant options.
Please email Jenni Gallagher with any questions.
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