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Pathways Annual Grants

Innovating Pathways: Elevating Student Learning Through High-Impact Practices

Want to re-envision how your students engage with your Pathways course or minor? Interested in helping your students learn how to be active citizens and positively engage in their communities? How about introducing them to undergraduate research? 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 courses and minors to incorporate civic learning and democratic engagement or high-impact pedagogies such as study abroad, undergraduate research, and more.

Funding will be determined by the specific needs of each proposal. Funding may be provided for a number of purposes, including but not limited to summer salary, TA/GA support, and instructional materials. 

There are four different grant options available. Please click on the accordions below to read more about each one. We have provided a few examples of 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 Elevating Your Minor option).

Abiding by the spirit of general education, priority will be given to courses and minors that serve a broad range of majors. Proposals that only serve one major will not be considered.

Priority will also be given to the revision of existing courses and minors, but we will consider new courses and minors that substantially and meaningfully incorporate a high-impact pedagogy and align with a high-need concept (i.e., Quantitative and Computational Thinking, Advanced Discourse, or Critique and Practice in Design and the Arts).

Please note: if you have an idea that does not fit into this grant call, you may still submit a proposal. Priority will be given to proposals that align with the call, but other proposals will be considered.

Deadline for submission: Feb. 15, 2025

We have a unique opportunity in higher education to endow the upcoming generation with the skills needed to talk across difference and work in collaboration with others to solve intractable societal problems. The State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV) has called attention to this opportunity, naming civic learning a top priority for Virginia colleges and universities. This year’s Pathways grant program seeks to answer that call.

The Pathways to Civic Learning and Engagement grant will support efforts to develop students’ civic knowledge, values, and skills within the disciplinary context of a course or minor.

What can this grant be used for?

Redesigning an existing 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 global). 

Proposals should include student-centered, high-impact pedagogies that allow students to acquire and practice civic 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

Successful proposals will thoughtfully and meaningfully integrate civic learning throughout the course, teaching civic content, values, skills, and/or action through the lens of the course's discipline. The course does not need to teach all four aspects of the civic learning framework (content, values, skills, and action), but should extensively integrate at least one, and ideally two or three.

What are the grantee commitments?

  • Participate in 3-4 cohort meetings over the course of the 2025-26 academic year
  • Submit a brief progress report by May 1, 2026
  • If requested, share your work with the larger Pathways community

What can funding be used for?

  • Summer salary for revision/development time
  • Graduate student wages to assist with course revision/development
  • Books/materials/professional development opportunities on civic engagement pedagogy
  • Stipends for community partners

Need more information about teaching civic engagement before you write your proposal?

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:

  • Participate in 3-4 cohort meetings over the course of the 2025-26 academic year
  • Submit a brief progress report by May 1, 2026
  • If requested, share your work with the larger Pathways community

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?

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:

  • Participate in 3-4 cohort meetings over the course of the 2025-26 academic year
  • Submit a brief progress report by May 1, 2026
  • If requested, share your work with the larger Pathways community

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?

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 Elevating Your Minor 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 “Elevating your Minor” 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:

  • Participate in 3-4 cohort meetings over the course of the 2025-26 academic year
  • Submit a brief progress report by May 1, 2026
  • If requested, share your work with the larger Pathways community

What can funding be used for?

  • Summer salary or course buyout for development time
  • Materials (e.g., books, lab materials)

 

  1. To support the incorporation of high-impact pedagogies cross the Pathways curriculum.
  2. To support the inclusion of civic learning and engagement across the Pathways curriculum.
  3. To support the growth, expansion, cohesiveness, and interdisciplinarity of Pathways minors.

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, 2025.

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, to a maximum of $2000. Funding may be provided for a number of purposes, including but not limited to summer salary, TA/GA support, and instructional materials.

Please email Jenni Gallagher with any questions.