June 2, 2020
Strategic Investment Fund proposals awarded
Dear Colleagues,
The strategic investment fund is the key component in the budget model for investing in the strategic priorities of the university. While much of the fund is currently invested in subvention for teaching, research, service, and administrative services across the university, we announced last fall that a small pool of monies within the fund was set aside for units to request through a new proposal process. In the inaugural year of the request process, a total of 27 proposals from units across the university requesting approximately $2.4 million in funding were submitted for consideration.
President Myers and I are happy to announce that the following proposals were approved for funding after review by the University Budget Planning Team and approval by the Core Budget Team:
- Hale Library — Open Access for Teaching & Research ($90K over 3 Years)
Additional funding for the Open/Alternative Textbook Initiative, The Textbook Affordability Program, and the K‐State Open Access Publishing Fund. - College of Engineering — Computational Core Courses ($147K over 3 Years)
Partial salary support for a computer science instructor to develop, deliver, and maintain computational core (CC) courses. - College of Engineering — Building the Pipeline: Computer Science Teacher Education ($149K over 3 Years)
In partnership with the College of Education, train K‐12 teachers in teaching and guiding students as they move through Computer Science curriculum developed at KSU. - College of Arts & Sciences — Start Up Support for the Bachelor's Degree in Applied Computer Science ($117K over 3 Years) Start up support to assist in covering the costs for advising and administering the new bachelor’s degree.
- College of Arts & Sciences — Reset Options for Struggling Students in Large Freshmen Courses ($181K over 3 Years)
Funding to expand the offering of “reset” options for students in courses in the Physical Sciences and Social Sciences who find themselves struggling after the first month of class in courses that have a significant enrollment of freshmen. - Provost’s Office — Programming Support for the Kansas State Office for the Advancement of Women in Science and Engineering (KAWSE) Office ($30,984 — One Time Funding)
One—time funding to support the activities of the office in FY 2021. - College of Business — Enhancing the MS in Data Analytics ($34K — One Time Funding)
One—time funding to provide a high‐performance server to simulate a big data computing environment for education purposes as well as GTA support for the program.
We thank everyone for their creative and thoughtful proposals. While it is true we are facing critical budget challenges, it is important for us to continue to support innovative and strategic ideas that advance our priorities. I look forward to receiving the next round of proposals in the fall.
Sincerely,
Chuck Taber
Provost and Executive Vice President