Members of the faculty involved with the humanities, arts and social sciences met Tuesday to discuss the development of proposals for external funding at the University. The meeting, held at Lincoln Hall, was focused on resources available on campus that support the development for the arts, social sciences and humanities. 

Brian Ross, executive associate dean of LAS, said the college is interested in having faculty access to receive external funding. Ross said there are two parts that seem daunting when someone begins to seek external funding. The first is creating an interesting idea and putting it in words that others will appreciate. The second is combining the physical part of the proposal and the budget.

Ross said Tim Tufte, coordinator of the Pre-Award Shared Services, works for the Law, Media, FAA and LAS colleges and helps with external funding in the humanities, arts and social sciences.

Tufte said external funding is important for faculty members because they appreciate having their work validated by external sources. He said it normally takes perseverance and dedication for someone to get external funding.

External funding is not only about securing money, according to an article written by Sally J. Southwick, director of Sponsored Research at Colorado College. The work required to receive the funding is more about faculty development, which involves becoming better educators.

According to the Office of Sponsored Programs’ web site, Tufte’s position was created to assist faculty in the arts, humanities and social sciences for the colleges of the LAS, FAA, Law and Media. Tufte assists faculty in creating proposals, among other tasks, to help faculty members pursue external funding. 

Nancy Abelmann, associate vice chancellor for research and Maria Gillombardo, external funding coordinator, were also in attendance. The two discussed how to identify external funders and proposals.

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