Community Engaged Learning (CEL) Awards

Degree-seeking UAF undergraduate students (enrolled in six or more credits), graduate students, faculty, postdoctoral researchers and staff from all disciplines and campuses are eligible to apply for awards of up to $500 to work with a community partner to explore a community need or problem through research or scholarly activity.

2022-2023 Application Schedule

justice

Poster from the Justice Department at
URSA's Research and Creative Activity Day.

 

Award Information

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General Eligibility:

  • Degree-seeking UAF undergraduate students, graduate students, faculty, postdoctoral researchers, and staff from all disciplines and UAF campuses are eligible to apply. Regardless of applicant status, the project must support undergraduate learning.
  • Applicants may only submit one proposal for each request for proposal (RFP).
  • Student and Mentor applicants may be awarded a CEL in addition to other URSA awards in any given academic year. CEL awardees may only receive URSA Community Engaged Learning awards two out of every three years. This policy allows for a greater number of students to receive awards with limited URSA funds.

Student Eligibility:

  • Must be a Degree-seeking undergraduate student
     Students of any year of study, from any UAF-affiliated campus, working toward an Occupational Endorsement, Certificate, Associate's Degree or Bachelor's Degree in any discipline are eligible to apply for and participate in CEL projects. Graduated undergraduate students are not eligible to apply.
  • Registration:
    • Fall and Spring Awards: Students must be enrolled in at least 6 credits at any UAF-affiliated campus for the funded semester.
    • Summer Awards: Students must be enrolled for at least 6 credits during the spring application semester and must plan to enroll in at least 6 credits for the fall semester following the award. Students who graduate in the spring term when the Summer Award opens are not eligible to apply.
  • GPA of 2.3 or higher
    Students with a GPA lower than 2.3 are not eligible.
  • Students that have received full funding from another UAF program for the same project are not eligible for additional funding from URSA (for example BLaST, INBRE, EPSCOR, Alaska Space Grant Program, amongst others) .

Mentor Eligibility:

  • Faculty, post-doctoral researchers, graduate students, and staff may serve as URSA mentors and apply for the CEL award.
  • Mentors must confirm their participation via the URSA Mentor Confirmation form prior to the application deadline.
  • Mentor applicants must have at least one eligible undergraduate project participant identified prior to awarding. 
  • Awardees must complete a Reflection Form by the end of the award period. Groups need only to complete one joint reflection.
  • Final products to be submitted (by the applicant) with the reflection form include: 
    • A poster representing your project (completed by the students involved)
    • 2-3 high resolution pictures (one of which features the students/s, mentor, and community partner working together)
    • Complete one approved outreach activity (**The awardee's outreach choice must be discussed with and confirmed by the URSA Coordinator prior to completion.) :
      • Create an URSA Outreach Video for YouTube (2-3 minutes).
      • Create a Poster Presentation Video for YouTube (2-3 minutes).
      • Complete a mid-award blog post/ student spotlight for the URSA website (Q & A format).
      • Provide 2 mid-award photos and updates for URSA's Social Media pages (Facebook & Instagram).
      • Attend an URSA Event as a Student Ambassador (Event Example: URSA RFP Open House, URSA Seminars, UAF Tabling Event, etc.).
      • Host an event related to your project (i.e. public presentation, art exhibition, public performance, workshop, tour of project site for prospective students, etc.)
  • Regardless of the applicant, students involved in an awarded project must present their project results at URSA's Research & Creative Activity Day in April of that academic year.
    • *Summer students will be expected to present the following April.*

IMPORTANT: Failure to submit a final evaluation, to submit final products, or to participate in Research & Creative Activity Day will make the student ineligible to receive future URSA funding.

 

  • SUPPLIES/SERVICES
    To support the undergraduate research project or creative activities. Funded supplies will remain property of the awardee's UAF Department. For this reason, personal supplies (i.e. personal technology, clothes, etc.) are considered ineligible expenses and their inclusion may impact an application’s eligibility for review. (Supply and service funds MUST be spent by June 15 of the awarded fiscal year).  

  • REGISTRATION FEES
    For undergraduate student(s) to attend a virtual conference/workshop or other professional meeting.   

For any given round of URSA funding, 25–70 proposals are submitted.

With limited funding we award between 8 and 12 proposals in each call. The competition is high.

  1. When an application period ends, proposals are distributed anonymously and randomly to four members of the URSA Faculty Review Board.These faculty members come from all disciplines in the arts/humanities/social sciences and natural/life and engineering sciences. One of the reasons that we request that students write their proposal for a broad audience is because there is a high probability that several of their reviewers will not be in a similar discipline as the proposal. Please see the Scoring Criteria section for more information regarding URSA’s review processes.

  2. The reviewers evaluate and score the proposals and provide comments using an established rubric.

  3. URSA funds submitted proposals in ranked order until the allotted amount of funding is distributed.        

Evaluations are made by a minimum of four faculty members on the URSA Faculty Review Board using the scoring criteria detailed below.

Each of the following are evaluated on a scale from 1 (high/exemplary) to 5 (low/insufficient):

  • The purpose of the student's proposed project/travel describes a working relationship with a community member, organization, or population
  • Proposed project Proposed project engages in real-world problem solving through connecting expertise/resources/learning to needs in a community
  • The explanation of the proposed project or travel's contribution to a scholarly discipline
  • The potential for the proposed project or travel to affect student learning or scholarly development
  • The written quality of the proposal
  • The feasibility of the proposed project or travel seems
  • The articulated goals and/or expected outcomes of the project or travel
  • Through articulate writing and inclusion of details, the student's case for funding appears…
  • The faculty mentor's role and/or participation in the project or travel

 Proposals are also evaluated based on:

  • Written quality of the proposal (written for a general audience)
  • Detailed budget and timeline
  • Purpose of the project or travel with respect to potential for academic/research development for the student
  • Potential for student learning and development as a result of the project or travel
  • Adequate faculty involvement in the project or travel
  • Completion of mentor confirmation form by the application deadline
Download the RFP (2023 PDF coming soon!)

Get a head start on your project prosopal today! Click here to download the Request for Proposal (RFP) questions for the current award cycle.

Submit your Reflection

All URSA Awardees are expected to complete a project reflection where they will also turn in their final products. Click here for the current reflection form.