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Office of the Provost and Executive Vice President

K-State Mentoring Fellowships

This award has been suspended until further notice.

The K-State Mentoring Fellowships for tenure-track faculty in the sciences and engineering were originally established in 1995 with a grant from the Alfred E. Sloan Foundation. They are now funded by the Office of the Provost. These fellowships were originally designed to help tenure-track women and minority scientists and engineers find mentors and develop their research programs to a level that attracts external funding. The fellowships are now open to all tenure-track assistant professors in the sciences and engineering.

Below you will find the request for proposals, application procedures, criteria for selection, closing dates, and evaluation forms for both the fall and spring competitions.

Request for Proposals for the K-State Mentoring Program for Tenure-Track Faculty in the Sciences and Engineering

K-State seeks to assist new tenure-track professors in the basic sciences, applied sciences, and engineering disciplines work with mentors to learn how to obtain significant external funding. The K-State mentoring program will support up to five mentees per year at approximately $6,000 each. Typically, four awards are made in the spring competition and one award is made in the fall competition of each year.

The fall competition is open only to new tenure-track assistant professors in the sciences and engineering appointed at K-State since January 1 of the current calendar year. The funds provided for the Fall award are to be used during the current academic year.

The spring competition is open to all tenure-track assistant professors in the sciences and engineering. The Spring awards will be provided for the next academic year. Eligibility for both the fall and spring competitions is limited to those who have not yet received significant external funding.

The goal of the mentoring award is to provide tenure track assistant professors with mentors who can assist awardees in developing research proposals that could attract the external funding usually necessary for achieving tenure in their respective fields. Mentors may be internal at K-State or external at other institutions. The award monies can be used for such things as personnel, attendance at short courses, meetings that enhance professional development and other research-related, travel, seed money for research, equipment if justifiable, or other possible research-related uses.

Each award recipient is required to submit a report to the Provost’s Office, 108 Anderson Hall, toward the end of the academic year that describes the results of the progress achieved as a result of the fellowship. Individuals who are awarded fellowships graduate from the program upon receipt of substantial external funding. If a fellowship recipient does not receive extramural funding during the year of the award, a request for renewal for a subsequent year may be submitted, but it is important for applicants to show both progress in their research and attempts to obtain extramural funding to be considered for a renewal.

Application Requirements

  • A project description (not to exceed two pages). The project description should be informative and understandable to a scientifically literate, but nonspecialist, reader. The two-page description should include:
    • A detailed budget for the project and budget justification.
    • Description of importance of the project to the professional development of the applicant.
  • A list of previous, current, and pending research support, including the amount of your start-up package at K-State. For all funding, please include the name of the funding agency, names of other principal investigators, amount of support, start and end dates. Also include this same information about proposals and fellowships applied for, but not funded.
  • A description of the extent of the applicant’s involvement in obtaining previous and/or current funding and in carrying out any previously and/or currently funded research projects.
  • A detailed description of the role of the mentor and the proposed interactions between the mentor and mentee. Specifically, how is the mentor going to contribute to the project, beyond simply serving as a departmental mentor?
  • Two-page curriculum vitae from both the mentor and mentee.
  • Detailed letter of commitment from the mentor.

Selection Criteria

  • Scientific merit of a research project in a basic science, applied science or engineering discipline
  • Importance of the project and specific budget request to the professional development of the applicant
  • Appropriateness and design of the mentor/mentee collaboration
  • Potential for attracting external support

Closing Dates

Fall: October 1
Spring: February 8

Submit one copy electronically in .pdf format to provounivawards@ksu.edu

For more information, email provounivawards@ksu.edu.

K-State Mentoring Fellowship Evaluation Form