Katie Conboy Fund for Faculty Development
The Katie Conboy Fund for Faculty Development—established through the generosity of Professor Barbara Estrin in memory of her husband, Mark W. Estrin—provides a course release to advance the research of an Assistant or Associate Professor.
A faculty member is eligible to apply for a Conboy award as long as he/she does not plan to:
- take another course reduction during the same academic year;
- go on sabbatical during the same academic year
- teach an overload during the same semester as the Conboy award.
Department Chairs and Program Directors are invited to nominate one Assistant or Associate Professor who meets the criteria above and who is in a position to make productive use of the research time. The nomination should include a clear recommendation for the award and an explanation of how the release time will impact departmental course offerings. Nominations from the Department Chairs and Program Directors must be submitted to the Associate Provost for Diversity, Assessment, and Faculty Development by close of business on the first Friday of December for a Conboy award to be given the following academic year.
Each nominee will be asked to submit to the Associate Provost the following no later than the third Friday in December:
- a one-page proposal outlining the work to be accomplished during the period of research and how it will advance long-term scholarship goals identified in their three-year plan
- a current CV and a copy of their three-year faculty development plan (examples of three year plans are available on the Faculty website).
Proposals will be evaluated by a committee comprised of the Associate Provost, the Dean of the Business School and the Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences on the basis of the quality of the scholarship, the likelihood that the course reduction will substantially advance or complete the project, and the faculty member’s history of scholarly work. The chosen Conboy award recipients will submit a brief report to the Associate Provost on the impact of the award on their work following the semester of their reduced teaching load.
The College is able to award a one-course release to two faculty members each year. While it is preferable that one occur in each semester, we do not wish to have the timing of these awards negatively affect any application. Thus, the course release proposals may be for either the fall or the spring semester—whichever departments can best accommodate.