The Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education Faculty Professional Development Council, established by Board of Governors’ policy in 1985, is designed “to encourage continuous attention to the professional growth and development of System faculty as teaching scholars.”
Annual Grants Program
Guidelines and Submission Instructions for FPDC Collaborative Academic Grants Competition 2025–26
The deadline to submit is January 6, 2026, by 4:30 p.m. Proposals should be submitted via the electronic application available in InfoReady Review. Proposals received after this date and time will not be reviewed. No paper copies will be accepted.
The guidelines (downloadable) provide information about the purpose of the Annual Grants Program, faculty eligibility, evaluation criteria, submission requirements and deadline, application categories, budget instructions and limitations, format guidelines, content guidelines, and other useful information.
IUP may submit a limited number of proposals. Proposals will go through a limited submission review process to determine which will advance to PASSHE FPDC reviews.
Applications will be accepted in five categories described within the guidelines:
- 1-A: Joint Faculty-Student Basic or Applied Research
- 1-B: Scholarly Research: Basic or Applied
- 2: Joint Faculty-Student Public Service
- 3: Creative and Performing Arts
- 4: Innovation in teaching and improvement in student learning outcomes
- 5: Individual Career Enhancement in Off-Site Settings
Questions regarding the development of proposals and budgets may be addressed to Dr. Tracy Eisenhower, IUP Research Institute (tracye@iup.edu, 724-357-1915), and questions about the on-campus review process or the IUP-FPDC can be addressed to the committee chair, Dr. Lynanne Black (lblack@iup.edu, 724-357-4757).
Examples of Model Proposals for Annual Grants Program
- Steve Loar (Department of Art)
- Judith Villa, Rosalee Stillwell, and Laurel Black (Department of English)
- Nicholas Deardorff (Department of Geosciences)
- Linda Jennings (Department of Music)
- Krys Kaniasty (Department of Psychology)
- Veronica Watson (Department of English)
According to Article 44 of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, $375,000 will be provided each fiscal year to the statewide FPDC to support professional development programs and activities approved by the council.
From this funding, the council solicits proposals from PASSHE faculty for the Annual Grant Program. Proposals are reviewed first by the IUP Faculty Professional Development Committee, which was formed in response to the creation of the FPDC.
The IUP committee provides feedback to proposal writers, narrows the field if necessary, and forwards our allotted number of proposals to the PASSHE FPDC committee for review.
See a list of recent Faculty Professional Development Council (FPDC) Annual Grants Program award winners.