ALE Incentive Grants

Guided by the university's Next-Gen K-State strategic plan, recurring Applied Learning Experiences, or ALE, incentive grants are now available to support, expand, deepen and scale applied learning experiences at K-State.

Fall 2025 Grant Recipients

Applied Learning Experiences (ALE) awarded incentive grants to 13 K-State faculty members or collaborative groups for their innovative course proposals that aim to earn the ALE designation while enhancing the student experience.

These faculty members serving as project leads will receive funding in January 2026:

• Recipients
  • Heather Bailey, Aging Well: Lessons from Blue Zones 

  • Dena Bunnel, Global Agriculture Solutions & Leadership Program 

  • Sydney Cochran, Community Outreach for Nutrition and Well-Being 

  • Huan Cui, Paleo-Climate Adventures through Time (Paleo-CAT): Tracing Kansas’ Lost Glaciers via Integrated Field and Laboratory Learning 

  • Sabine Emonts, Transdisciplinary Case Study Competition on Sustainability in Agriculture 

  • Nick Homburg, Stories from the Last Frontier: Alaska in Focus, a study away program 

  • Nathan Klembara, Deeper Digs: A Rejuvenated Anthropology Curriculum for Career Competence 

  • Yun Liang, From Classroom to National Parks 

  • Alyssa Morris, “K-State Reed Lab” and MKL Reeds Partnership: Creating Internships and Graduate Assistantships for K-State Oboists 

  • Isis S.P.C. Scott, Field Methods in Hydrology 

  • Andrew Smith, ALE Video Podcasting Studio 

  • Ashlee Westerhold, Returning to the Farm 

  • Ninghao Zhu, Entrepreneurship in Healthcare Technology (BME Hub) 

Previous Grant Awards

Previous Grant Applications

• Fall 2025

  K-State Program Curriculum Exploration

  Description: Seed funds for the purpose of supporting a unit to explore curriculum changes for a program that enhances applied learning. These grants help a unit to explore adding or enhancing applied learning in new or existing degree, certificate or micro-credential programs.

  Grant information

  Eligibility: Faculty member(s) with program chair and department head support.

  Funding Range: Up to $20,000.00

  Funding Period: A one-time grant will be awarded by January 2026. Funds are to be utilized for implementation of the experience by the 2028-29 academic year.

  Matching Funds Required: No matching funds are required, but applicants should demonstrate reasonable support for continuation two years beyond the grant period.

  Creativity in the utilization of funds is encouraged and could include:

  Academic materials or supplies

  Student transportation

  Student resources

  • Safety gear

  • Fees or professional dues

  Hosting events to bring groups of learners together

  Guest speakers, external consultants, facilitators, other professional services.

  Add-pay for faculty designing courses over the summer (Faculty pay not to exceed $3,000 per person, or $5,000 total add pay)

  • Add pay does not include guest speakers, external consultants, facilitators, or other external professional services.
  • And more!

  
  

  K-State Transdisciplinary Applied Learning

   

  Description: Funds to catalyze transdisciplinary applied learning across at least two units at K-State to launch pilot programming. This opportunity is an excellent way to bring teams from across the university community together to generate answers to the world's most challenging problems, while providing our students with excellent learning experiences.

  Transdisciplinary Definition

  "Experiences designed and implemented by faculty from different disciplines working jointly to create new applied learning opportunities that integrate and move beyond discipline-specific pedagogies."

  Grant information

  Eligibility: Faculty member(s) with program chair and department head support.

  Funding Range: Up to $20,000.00

  Funding Period: A one-time grant will be awarded by January 2026. Funds are to be utilized for implementation of the experience by the 2028-29 academic year.

  Matching Funds Required: No matching funds are required, but applicants should demonstrate reasonable support for continuation two years beyond the grant period.

  Creativity in the utilization of funds is encouraged and could include:

  Academic materials or supplies

  Student transportation

  Student resources

  • Safety gear

  • Fees or professional dues

  Hosting events to bring groups of learners together

  Guest speakers, external consultants, facilitators, other professional services.

  Add-pay for faculty designing courses over the summer (Faculty pay not to exceed $3,000 per person, or $5,000 total add pay)

  • Add pay does not include guest speakers, external consultants, facilitators, or other external professional services.
  • And more!

   

  Application Process

  All applications will be accepted through the relevant Microsoft Forms linked above. A PDF/Word list of questions is available for download for applicants' convenience.

  • Submission deadline: Wednesday, Oct. 15, 11:59 p.m. ​
  • Review period: Oct. 15 - Nov. 7​
  • Award announcements within the week of Dec. 1.​
  • Funds awarded by January 2026

  A panel of reviewers will be selected from across the University and approved by the University Steering Committee for Applied Learning Experiences.

  Scoring Criteria

  All applications will be evaluated for alignment with the ALE Framework. Criteria are clearly outlined below. Applications that are transdisciplinary in nature will also be evaluated for committment to movement beyond discipline-specific pedagogy.

  It is recommended to use this budget template and this timeline template with the application.

  Supporting Documentation

  Items in this section are required. Failure to meet these criteria will result in disqualification.

  Criteria	Present (1)	Not Present (0)
  An itemized budget was uploaded and included a "cost per learner" estimate.
  A timeline for the experience was uploaded.
  The applicant indicated an intended learner population.
  The experience has required support and potential to be sustainable beyond the grant period, as evidenced by letter(s) of support from department head or other administrator.
  An abbreviated CV was submitted for each applicant.
  The applicant shared if they had or had not applied for or received other funding.
  Document Score (Scores less than 5 result in disqualification of application): __ of 6

   Need and Learner Impact 

  Criteria	High (2)	Moderate (1)	Low (1)
  Need within department or unit.	No Applied Learning Experiences currently exist within the proposing unit	Few Applied Learning Experiences currently exist within the proposing unit	Many Applied Learning Experiences currently exist within the proposing unit
  Number of learners impacted.	41+ learners to be served per semester	11-40 learners to be served per semester	1-10 learners to be served per semester
  Impact Score: ___ of 4

   

  Criteria	Exemplary (3)	Present (2)	Developing (1)	Not Present (0)
  Engagement: The experience is equivalent in time and intensity to a one-credit-hour course, or 45 hours.	Clear and specific examples demonstrate how learner engagement fosters deeper learning.	The application clearly outlines learner engagement expectations.	The application attempts to outline engagement expectations.	Engagement expectations are not clearly outlined.
  Guidance: The activity and mentorship is designed to target skill development with agency given to the learner to self-direct learning.	Specific skill development is clearly accounted for in experience design and the inclusion of mentorship.	Specific skills are targeted in experience design. Learners have agency.	Either specific skills are targeted in experience design or learners have agency.	Specific skills are not targeted and learner agency is not considered.
  Purposeful Experience: The experience is connected to a community which extends relevance to authentic scenarios.	Learners engage with communities in specific ways, leading to clear application beyond the experience.	The experience is authentic and connects to community.	The experience is authentic or connects to community.	The experience is not authentic and does not connect to community.
  Active Engagement: The experience aids in a learner's sense of belonging and being within relevant communities or within their desired career path.	Examples of learners exercising independent judgement within the experience, leading to ownership and a sense of being, are clearly stated.	Learners develop a sense of belonging and being within their communities and career paths.	Learners develop a sense of belonging or being.	Belonging and being is not developed.
  Critical Reflection: The experience requires learners to self-reflect in an ongoing and meaningful way. Group reflection is used when needed.	Multiple modes of reflection are present throughout the experience. New understandings are shared formally.	Reflection is meaningful and ongoing.	Reflection is somewhat meaningful and ongoing.	Learners do not engage in reflection.
  Transdisciplinary Commitment: Transdisciplinary experiences designed and implemented by faculty from different disciplines working jointly to create new applied learning opportunities that integrate and move beyond discipline-specific pedagogies.		Present (Up to 5) The experience is deeply transdisciplinary.  Only relevant for transdisciplinary applications.	Developing (2) The experience is somewhat transdisciplinary.  Only relevant for transdisciplinary applications.	Not Present (0) The experience does not align with the definition of transdisciplinary.  Only relevant for transdisciplinary applications.
  Framework Score: _____of 15  Framework + Transdisciplinary Score:______ of 20
  Total Score: ______of 25 or 30
  Reviewer Recommendation:  Acceptable       Acceptable with Reservations        Not Acceptable