Ampersand Program Development Grant Criteria and Evaluation

The College of Arts & Sciences is interested in supporting new Ampersand Programs that foreground exciting new pedagogical innovations and creative experiential learning opportunities.

New Ampersand Programs:

• allow students to engage in sustained inquiry within or across multiple disciplines and/or fields of study that challenges them to think critically about themselves and the world around them;
• inspire students to explore, innovate, and create in a supportive, community-centered environment;
• integrate meaningful experiential learning opportunities to help students connect course-based knowledge with application outside the classroom.

The College of Arts & Sciences is particularly interested in supporting New Ampersand Program Proposals that align with some, though not necessarily all, of the following areas:

• Research: A&S seeks to expand Ampersand Program offerings that involve research as the primary experiential learning opportunity. Proposed research activity should be appropriate for first-year students and focus on the introduction to and development of research methodologies and related skill-building activity. Research activity should also be clearly connected to course learning objectives and require no or minimal prerequisite experience, as all necessary training should be provided to students through course activities.
• Social Sciences and Humanities: A&S seeks to expand Ampersand Program offerings that engage with Social Sciences and Humanities disciplines and is interested in proposals for new Ampersand Programs that forge innovative cross-disciplinary collaborations that engage with social sciences and/or humanistic social sciences methodologies.
• Interdisciplinary Collaboration and Pedagogy: A&S seeks to expand Ampersand Program offerings that present innovative co-teaching models and cross-collaboration within or across disciplines, fields of study, departments or programs, and more.

While The College of Arts & Sciences has identified funding priority areas, proposals from all disciplines and with a range of experiential learning opportunities are welcome, with one exception: New Ampersand Program Grant Proposals that involve overnight travel (domestic or international) will not be accepted for the 2026-2027 academic year.

The criteria above will be used to evaluate the required application materials to award New Ampersand Program Grant Proposals. 

The evaluation period will proceed as follows:

• October 27, 5 p.m.: Proposal Deadline
• November 3-14: Faculty who submitted proposals will be required to meet briefly with Ampersand Programs staff to discuss the proposal and address any necessary clarifications or questions.
• November 14-24: Proposal evaluation period
• November 25: Grant recipient notifications

How to Apply

Interested faculty are invited to complete the webform with the following information:

• Proposed program name and overall program description (500 words or less)
• Program faculty names (minimum of two), emails, and departments/programs
• Confirmation of support and preliminary approval to teach from all relevant department chairs or program directors
• Program learning goals
• A short statement that describes the faculty team’s approach to teaching first-year students (500 words or less)
• A preliminary draft of the fall and spring course titles, descriptions, and learning goals to demonstrate how the courses are connected to one another and the program learning goals.
• A preliminary experiential learning plan that describes the proposed experiential learning opportunities associated with this new Ampersand Program and explains how they support course goals (500 words or less). If relevant, please also include a list of anticipated expenses to support experiential learning opportunities in the program.
  • Please note: proposals with domestic or international travel components will not be accepted this academic year.

Proposals should be submitted via this webform by October 27 at 5 p.m.