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Arts and Sciences Summer Professional Development Award

The College of Arts and Sciences Summer Professional Development Award (SPDA) is intended to stimulate the development of excellence in creative activity or research among Arts & Sciences faculty by providing time to think, design, create, and write. Unlike other internal grants available at USA, this award can provide a stipend to faculty members.  All tenured and tenure-track Arts & Sciences faculty members are eligible to apply. However, preference will be given to untenured tenure-track faculty members who have not previously received this award.

Instructions:

  1. Read the award description below to ensure that your intended summer project fits with the intent of the award.

  2. Download and complete the "SPDA Application Form 2026" at the link below. Form fields will expand to accommodate your responses, although note you may optionally include your proposal description as a separate text document attached to the form PDF as indicated on the form. 

  3. Append a current copy of your CV to the end of the SPDA Application Form to form a single PDF document that includes your description (if included as a separate page) and CV. 

  4. Name the file as follows: [first initial.last name-SPDA].pdf.  E.g:  "j.smith-SPDA.pdf".

  5. Submit the completed form with appended CV via email as a single PDF file attachment to: asawards@southalabama.edu.

Your department chair will be provided an opportunity to submit a supporting recommendation after your form is submitted.

The deadline for the submission of SDA Applications is Monday, January 11th 2027.

Award announcements will be made in February of the spring semester, via a letter from the Arts and Sciences dean's office.

Questions about this award application can be directed to the USA College of Arts and Sciences at asawards@southalabama.edu.

 

 

 
Application Form
 

Award Description:

All tenured and tenure-track Arts & Sciences faculty members are eligible to apply for an Arts & Sciences Summer Professional Development Award. However, preference will be given to untenured tenure-track faculty members who have not previously received this award.  

Unlike other internal grants available at USA, the SPDA can provide a stipend to faculty members. The intent is to stimulate the development of excellence in creative activity or research among Arts & Sciences faculty by providing time to think, design, create, and write.

The pool of funds available for these awards in 2027 is $15,000. The maximum amount of an award will be $5,000 plus applicable payroll deductions. Because the awards are intended to free faculty from summer teaching so they may devote attention to professional development, proposals from those who plan to devote full time to creative activity or research will be given preference. Those who plan to teach will be considered but may not teach more than one course during the summer of the award. The budget may include funds for equipment, travel, and other non-salary items necessary to the completion of this project.

Among the review criteria used by the committee will be the degree to which the proposal provides a clear statement, understandable to a multi-disciplinary audience, of well-planned activity that has achievable goals.

Awardees must provide the Dean a one-page report of activities performed and preliminary outcomes by October 12, 2027.