Department of Communication
Policy on Grants Activity
(adopted 11/12/14)

I.          General Statement of Expectations:

Faculty are expected to seek grant funding to support their research activity. While probationary faculty may rely largely on sources of internal funding (including college, university and MU system grants), they are encouraged to seek external funding as needed to support their research, perhaps as a co-investigator with a PI or as part of a collaborative research team endeavor. Tenured faculty are encouraged to apply for external grant funding (private or public sources).

II.        Grant Submission Incentives:

            For each grant submitted, one of the following two submission incentives will apply:

Small Grants:

• $200 for an external grant application over $10,000; $600 per calendar year max; any faculty member listed as investigator receives incentive following submission.

Larger Grants:

• $500 for an external application of $50,000 or more, with an annual maximum of $1,000; any faculty member listed as investigator receives incentive following submission. This policy applies only to external grant applications for which F&A costs apply.

Also, the Department will provide a faculty member working independently as an investigator a one semester (5 hrs. per week) Research Assistant, or provide two or more faculty members collaborating as co-investigators with a full year (5 hrs. per week) Research Assistant per external grant submission to assist in developing the grant application. This policy applies only to external grant applications for which F&A costs apply.

III.       Reward for Securing External Grants:

• The Department’s GCI/RIF policy stipulates that a faculty member may buy out a single course at 10% of their salary. A second course release will be provided by the Department following a first course buyout at 10% of one’s salary with two maximum course buyout/releases allowed per year (this policy applies only to external grants for which F&A costs apply).