Arthur D. and Florence S. Graffam Grant Proposal Process

The College of Education offers grant funding opportunities for Educate and Engage Experiences at the local, U.S. and Global level. The college seeks proposals from faculty to provide students with opportunities that broaden horizons, encourage new perspectives and provide growth through hands-on learning. These experiences will be funded through the generosity of the Arthur D. and Florence S. Graffam grant.

Funding Overview

As the primary purpose of the Arthur D. and Florence S. Graffam Grant is to promote and enhance student experience and engagement through meaningful experiential learning opportunities, grant funds may only be used to support costs that directly enable student participation and learning, including, but not limited to:

• Student and faculty travel that is necessary to carry out the approved experiential activity.
• Equipment, materials and supplies required for the experience.
• Programmatic costs directly tied to the experiential learning opportunity.

Grant funds may not be used for expenses that do not directly advance student engagement. This includes, but is not limited to:

• Faculty compensation, stipends, or course releases.
• Conference registration or conference travel for faculty that is not inherently part of the approved student experiential learning activity.

Funding for any Educate and Engage experience may not be renewed for more than three years, ensuring broad access to resources and continued innovation across experiential learning initiatives.

Proposal Overview

Proposals should not exceed five single-spaced pages (no smaller than 12-point font) and should include the following sections:

• Educate and Engage Experience (Educate Local, Educate U.S., Educate Global, Engage Local, Engage U.S. or Engage Global).
• Program Description (goals of the program, nature of the experience and student impact).
• Student Overview (eligibility details specifying undergraduate/graduate and degree programs if applicable, number of student participants, recruitment and selection process).
• Alignment of Experience to our Strategic Action Planning Framework.
• Timing Overview (pre-departure expectations, if any, as well as timing of the actual experience).
• Program Evaluation Process (how will you define success and gather feedback).
• Itemized Budget. All proposed expenditures should clearly demonstrate a direct connection to improving or expanding the student learning experience.
• Note, for Educate Global or Engage Global proposals, please include a budget line item for the Study Abroad Fee of $375 as well as Travel Insurance for $21.19 per participant for trips up to 14 days or $38.51 per participant for trips 15-45 days.

Other supporting documentation can be included and will not be included in the above five-page limit:

• List of external and internal partner(s) and letter(s) of support.
• List of references (only if cited in proposal).
• List of alumni or donor relations engagement as part of the experience.

Proposal Deadline

Please email your proposal and supporting documents (if applicable) to cedu@niu.edu by March 1 for the following fiscal year. All proposals will be reviewed by the appropriate committee members and decisions will be communicated by the associate dean of academic affairs by April 1.

Experience Forms

Faculty and staff grant recipients for Educate Local, Educate U.S., Engage Local or Engage U.S. experiences will need to review and sign the Policy Acknowledgment for NIU-Sponsored Domestic Travel form and submit to the associate dean for academic affairs a minimum of one week ahead of the travel departure date. 

Faculty and staff grant recipients for Educate Global or Engage Global experiences will need to review and sign the Policy Acknowledgment for NIU-Sponsored International Travel form and submit to the associate dean for academic affairs a minimum of one week ahead of the travel departure date.