CAL Internal Funding Opportunities

Community Engagement Grants đź’°

The Community Engagement Grant Program supports faculty research and teaching that extends our interests, expertise, and curiosity to community partners in San Diego and beyond. These grants are designed to encourage project-based collaborations that can address needs and issues in the communities we serve, promote research into new areas and/or funding sources, and enable student learning outside the classroom.

Support funding from this program can be used for a variety of non-salaried expenses that enhance research and teaching partnerships with established community organizations or related entities. At least four grants of up to $1500 will be available in Fall 2024.

  • All College of Arts and Letters faculty are eligible to apply (including lecturers)
  • For the first round of grants awarded in Fall 2024, only those faculty with demonstrated established relationships with community organizations are eligible to apply. 

Fall 2024 deadline for submission:

  • Monday, November 25, 2024
  • Fall awards must be expended by the end of the fiscal year on June 30, 2025. (If needed, a one-time-only time extension request may be considered with a strong justification.)

  • Eligible activities include (but are not necessarily limited to) travel, participant honorariums or stipends, and meeting costs.
  • No salary support or release time may be funded with these grants.
  • Any remaining funds after the grant’s termination date are to be returned to the College of Arts and Letters.

Apply at https://forms.gle/YRLR1gh5GXudxywu9.

CAL Critical Thinking Grants đź•‘

The aim of this award program is to encourage the examination and testing of propositions that lead to the creation of new knowledge. Applicants may apply for one-course release during the grant cycle for such purposes as writing a peer reviewed article, substantive content for a book, external funding application or a teaching/training tool that embeds research outcomes for the betterment of student experience at SDSU. 

The CAL Research Committee will review the proposals and make ranked recommendations to the Dean. The Dean will make the final award decisions. The CTG grant period is one academic year, starting in August and ending in May. 

Department chair approval is required on all applications. 

  • All Unit 3 faculty in the College of Arts and Letters, regardless of rank, are strongly encouraged to apply: Professors, Associate Professors, Assistant Professors, and Lecturers.  
  • CTG awards cannot be received by the same faculty member in consecutive academic years.
  • Faculty members cannot receive CTG and sabbatical or DIP in the same academic year,

  • Wednesday, October 15, 2025: Call for proposals 
  • Friday, November 14, 2025: Deadline for submission
  • December/January: Award notification by email (date is subject to change and dependent upon when sabbatical/DIP recipients are announced)
  • March (Fall awards) June (Spring awards): Final Reports due

The awardee will submit a brief final report of the project by March 1, 2027 (Fall awards), or by June 30, 2027 (Spring awards). These reports must focus on publications (or external funding) resulting from CTG or delineate progress toward publication (or external funding). Awardees who fail to submit a final report will be ineligible to apply for future funding in this program.

Awardees who fail to submit a final report will be ineligible to apply for future funding in this program.

Each application will be forwarded to the appropriate department chair for a recommendation. The CAL Research Committee will review the applications and make ranked recommendations to the Dean. The Dean will make the final award decisions.

Applications from tenure and tenure-track faculty should demonstrate how the proposed project will contribute to their professional growth within the College of Arts and Letters, with particular attention to research impact. Applications from lecturers should clearly show how the project will advance their research in ways that align directly with and enhance their teaching responsibilities at SDSU.

Your application should be succinct, well organized, and written so that a non-expert reader can understand the proposed project. 

Please upload a PDF document in the form link below containing the following information: 

(1) Project Summary (max 200 words)

A concise overview of your project. 
Should answer: What is the big question? Why does it matter? How does it push critical thinking forward?

(2) Project Description (max 1300 words) including:

Aims and Objectives

  • Clearly state the purpose of the project.
  • Define your central research questions or conceptual problems and outline aims and objectives.

Background and Rationale

  • Contextualize your project within existing debates.
  • Highlight gaps, limitations, or assumptions in current knowledge.
  • Position your project as a response: Why this problem? Why now?

Methodology / Approach

  • Explain how you will pursue critical thinking (e.g., conceptual analysis, cross-disciplinary methods, case studies, workshops, creative experimentation).

Innovation and Contribution

  • Show what’s new about your project—conceptually, methodologically, or in terms of reach.
  • Explain the transformative potential: how it reconfigures a field, creates new insights, or advances public discourse.

Outputs and Dissemination

  • Identify your planned outcomes: scholarly publications, teaching resources aligned with research, or funding application/s. Provide details of publisher/publication outlet and impact measures. 

Impact

  • Detail how the project will matter to SDSU (CAL Research, Students), and beyond.

Work Plan / Timeline

  • Provide a phased outline with milestones to justify how time will be spent. 

Track Record

  • Demonstrate your capacity to deliver.
  • Highlight experience, publications, leadership, collaborations, and previous grants.
  • Provide a statement on how this CTG will benefit your career development relative to the terms of your hire and career stage. 

(3) Abbreviated CV (max 3 pages)

Apply at: https://forms.gle/TDyD5iz51BwugWUH8
(To access, you will need to sign in using your SDSUid)

CAL Microgrants đź’°

CAL Microgrants are monetary awards (up to $500) available to help defray expenses incurred for research assistance, fieldwork, equipment, travel to collections, and other items not covered by university, college, or departmental sources. Does not cover conference travel or publishing fees. Microgrants are awarded twice a year (Fall and Spring semesters). The CAL Research Committee will review the proposals and make ranked recommendations to the Dean. The Dean will make the final award decisions. 

  • All College of Arts and Letters faculty are eligible to apply (including lecturers)
  • Preference is given to faculty who did not receive an award in the last cycle of Microgrants
  • CAL lecturers can use Microgrants to fund publishing fees: Tenured or tenure-track faculty should request publishing fee support through the Dean’s Author Support Fund (see below).
  • All equipment purchased, even if only partially funded with Microgrant funds, will belong to SDSU.
  • Microgrants are supported with SDSU Research Foundation funds.
  • Requests to hire student assistants with state funds must be approved by the Dean’s Office prior to starting the hiring process. Contact Bart Chafe ([email protected]) regarding the approval.
  • Microgrants cannot be used to pay expenses incurred prior to the award notification date.
  • A faculty member cannot pair fall and spring Microgrants for the same expense.

Fall deadline for submission:

  • Friday, October 10, 2025
  • Fall awards must be expended by end of the fiscal year on June 30

Spring deadline for submission:

  • Early March
  • Spring awards must be expended by December 31

Microgrant proposals should not exceed the word count indicated on the application form. Proposals must include a timeline and an explanation of how the funds will be used.

Apply at: https://forms.gle/USNYk4A7Pw6fJK5n7
(To access, you will need to sign in using your SDSUid)

CAL Dean’s Author Support Fund 💰

In recognition of changes in academic publishing and in support of CAL’s research and publishing mission, the Dean’s Author Support Fund is available to assist full-time tenure-track/tenured faculty in publishing their work. This award cannot be used to fund travel or research expenses. One one award per academic year is authorized. An allocation of up to $1,000 is available on a competitive basis, with most awards being in the $500 range.

Available to full-time tenure-track/tenured CAL faculty.

No deadline: Funds are allocated on a rolling basis.

Applications that are most likely to receive strongest endorsement include one or more of the following characteristics:

  • refereed publishing press or venue
  • first books by professors and academic professionals at the assistant rank
  • authored rather than edited manuscripts

Page charges for journal articles, reviewed articles, and “for profit” textbooks are excluded for consideration. Support for previously published work will not be considered and only one subvention grant per published work will be allowed. This award cannot be used to fund travel/research  expenses. Only one award per academic year is authorized.

Important Information: Before we can make any payments for services, to include editing, proofreading, etc., the service provider needs to submit an Independent Contractor Pre-Selection Checklist. The form should be returned to you and then forwarded to Bart Chafe in the CAL Dean's Office. Bart will submit the form to the Research Foundation. Once The Research Foundation staff determine if an independent contractor relationship should be established, we can request payment for the service. The checklist should be submitted before any services are provided. If a service is performed prior to the checklist being reviewed by the Research Foundation, payment for the service with Foundation funds may not be approved.

Apply at: https://forms.gle/fDZq2PbxKMPJstnw7
(To access, you will need to sign in using your SDSUid)

Dean’s Fund Support for Colloquia, Lectures, & Special Programs 💰

CAL faculty members, centers, departments, or institutes may request up to $2,000 to support activities that advance the College’s scholarly, teaching, and engagement mission (e.g. colloquium speakers, small workshops, conferences, support for undergraduate and/or graduate studies, etc.)

  • While funding is limited, units may apply for more than once in the course of the academic year if they have identified an extraordinary proposal.
  • Priority will be given to programs of high quality and relatively broad interest.
  • The Dean's Fund replaces the current ad-hoc system for allocating resources and is a competitive, transparent, and inclusive process to enable broad and tangible initiatives, regardless of their academic origins. It is also intended to provide supplemental assistance in cases where departmental resources (i.e., Open University, scholarships, endowments, development funds) are not sufficient to support the proposed activity. In most cases, CAL will only be in the position to provide matching funds at some level.
    Individuals or groups requesting funding should first arrange co-sponsorship from other relevant units before approaching CAL. 

No deadline: Funds are allocated on a rolling basis.

Apply at: https://forms.gle/gjwP9aQ1aLiQXp8G6
(To access, you will need to sign in using your SDSUid)

Following the event, a one-page, double-space description of the outcome of the program and/or activity shall be provided to Associate Dean Michael Borgstrom ([email protected]).

CORI 2025-2026 Grants: Developmental Editing đź’°

The aim of this award is to provide $1,000 in funding to CAL faculty authors in order to contract with developmental editors and significantly move their book projects forward. Recipients will choose from a list of developmental editors and the CAL Dean’s office will arrange for direct payment to the chosen editor.  Up to 3 awards to be funded in 2025-2026 academic year. Funds must be spent by 6/30/2026.

  • T/TT faculty in CAL

  • 9/2/2025: Call for applications
  • 9/26/2025: Deadline to submit application
  • 10/3/2025: Award notification
  • 6/26/2026: Final reports due

Award recipients will be required to complete a final report form, indicating:

  • Description of work completed
  • Value/impact of grant to RSCA agenda and professional development
  • Feedback about the experience/process

Please submit your application: CORI 2025-2026Grants: Developmental Editing Application Form