These mini grants are to support faculty and staff interested in career development and/or navigating the university environment and culture. The purpose of these peer collaboration grants is to increase job satisfaction, retention, connectedness, and overall success of our faculty/staff leveraging targeted self-defined projects.
WiSTEM is dedicated to the equitable promotion and recognition of individuals in STEM.
We are launching our new Peer Collaboration Mini-Grants in collaboration with support from NASA Nebraska Space Grant and UNO Center for Faculty Excellence.The purpose of these mini-grants is to encourage professional community-building among UNO faculty and/or staff by financially supporting Peer Collaboration activities to enhance our teaching and scholarship capacity and/or support retention and job satisfaction at our institution. The deadline for applications is December 17th. If funded, recipients will be asked to respond to a survey documenting their peer collaboration activities and outcomes and consider participation in an interview/focus group to learn more about the peer collaboration experience and grant opportunity. A progress report will also be requested in the spring. Mini-grants are $500/participant and participation is required for the calendar year of 2023. Please email unowistempro2@unomaha.edu with questions.
You do not need to be a member of WISTEM to apply. Anyone is open to apply.
FAQ Document regarding Peer Collaboration Mini-Grants (you must be signed into your UNO Google account to access)
Examples of Previous Peer Collaboration Project Descriptions
Submission available through this form. Submissions are due December 17th.
Types of Peer Collaboration projects:
(1) Peer Classroom Visit/Conversations ($1000/partnership -$500 each) — This kind of project would involve visiting a colleague’s classroom, having a planned focus area for the observation (called "problem of practice"), and having a debrief following each observation. Ideally, the planned focus and the debrief should allow for both the observer and the observed to learn from the experience. Funds can be used to help pay for meals during debrief and incentivize time spent. Observations can happen in person or online. 2-3 observations are encouraged to have ongoing conversations about implementation progress.
(2) Research/Grant Dialogue ($1000/partnership -$500 each) -This kind of project would involve pointed conversations around particular aspects of publication, research and/or grant funding. Funds can be used for the purchase of books/resources, food or snacks during meetings (including online meetings!), and to incentivize time spent.
(3) Career Navigation & Culture ($1000/partnership -$500 each)-- There are many unspoken rules, processes, practices, and avenues for success many individuals lack access to within an organization. This kind of project invites partners to attend workshops, have informal or formal conversations around culture and navigation of work at UNO, etc. Funds can be used to help pay for meals during conversations and incentivize time spent.
(4) Other Projects (up to $500 each participant based on scope of project) — We are open to hearing your ideas for other projects that cross-pollinate teaching, scholarship, and/or career navigation here at UNO.