Key Transitions in Postsecondary Education Initiative – USA Funds is accepting applications from organizations working to provide education support services that help students and adult learners complete college. Through its Key Transitions in Postsecondary Education initiative, the organization will award grants of between $400,000 to $800,000 to three organizations for programs that support recent high school graduates, adult learners transitioning into a postsecondary education environment, and students transitioning between the first and second year of college, particularly at the community college level. Qualified programs must primarily serve high school seniors or undergraduate students from USA Funds target populations, including students from low-income households, students who are the first in their family to attend college, and students of color. For more, see: http://www.usafunds.org/GrantsPartnerships/Documents/KeyTransitionsRFP.pdf

Weekly, you will receive an e-mail of the newest funding opportunities with links to the OER funding opportunities webpage. The e-mail newsletter and webpage will replace the pdf version of the OWL.

Monthly, the OER will send an e-mail version of its Research Bulletin to keep you informed about recently submitted and funded projects, upcoming research events, and other helpful news. The stories will link to the OER Research Bulletin webpage. The e-mail newsletter and webpage will replace the pdf version of the ORB.

Watch for the new OER e-newsletters coming this summer!

From Left to Right: Thomas Moore, Melanie Acosta, Associate Dean Thomasenia Lott Adams, Shaunte Elliott, and Frank Conic

The UF College of Education Holmes Scholars represented UF at the 65th Annual Meeting of the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE), “Meeting Emerging PK-12 Needs,” Feb. 28 – March 2, in Orlando, Florida.

The UF COE Holmes Scholars participated in activities designed to provide academic, social, and emotional supports. They presented original research on the topic of cultural diversity in research-intensive universities and received beneficial feedback that will refine their skills.

The scholars met with faculty and peers from across the nation helping to build their professional networks. They also attended conference sessions on developing a personal identity as a researcher, preparing a dissertation, and becoming a scholarly writer.

Associate Dean Adams accompanied the scholars at the conference and noted that the college’s effort to strengthen diversity among doctoral students is undergirded by the college’s participation in the Holmes Scholars Program. She also emphasized that “targeted mentoring of the college’s Holmes Scholars by faculty in each school is critical to the scholars’ success.”

The Holmes Scholars® Program, established in 1991, is designed to enrich the scholarly experience and professional training of talented graduate-level students from underrepresented minority backgrounds or students with disabilities pursuing careers in education. For further information, please visit the AACTE Holmes Scholars Program at http://aacte.org/programs/holmes-scholars-program/.

Panel Members: Pasha Antonenko, Brianna Kennedy-Lewis, & Tina Smith-Bonahue

April 10, 2013
12:00 pm – 1:30 pm
Terrace Room

RSVP to Rosie: rconnolly@coe.ufl.edu by Monday, April 8.
Bring your lunch. Refreshments and cookies will be served.

Outstanding Statistical Application Award — This award was established in 1986 to recognize the authors of papers that demonstrate an outstanding application of statistics in any substantive field. The award is given annually if an eligible and worthy work is nominated. The award is bestowed upon a distinguished individual or individuals based on the following criteria: (1) the impact of the statistical application in addressing a significant problem in a substantive field, and (2) the ingenuity and or novelty of the statistical treatment of the problem. Eligible work includes papers, monographs, reports, and other substantive evidence appearing two years prior to the presentation of the award. All nominated work must have been subject to external peer review and, preferably, to formal refereeing. For more, visit
http://www.amstat.org/awards/outstandingstatisticalapplicationaward.cfm

Mid-Level Student Affairs Professional Award — This award recognizes individuals who demonstrate outstanding commitment to the profession, who have contributed to programs that address the needs of students, and who are experienced in creating campus environments that promote student learning and personal development. NASPA membership is required for this nominee. The nominee must have served a minimum of five years in student affairs, demonstrate an outstanding commitment to the profession, have contributed to programs that address the needs of students, and be experienced in creating campus environments that promote student learning and personal development. Visit http://www.naspa.org/programs/awards/annual.cfm for more.

National Book Fund — The NBF provides local adult basic education and literacy programs throughout the United States with New Readers Press books and other educational resources needed to support their literacy initiatives. The NBF funds organizations providing services in the following areas: basic literacy, adult basic education, English as a second language (ESL), and family literacy. Priority will be given to nonprofit organizations, as well as to those programs that provide literacy instruction at no charge to participating students. To be eligible for an NBF grant, applicants must (1) demonstrate a clearly defined, specific need or project for the materials and/or online courses being requested; (2) provide evidence that the NBF materials and/or online courses will be used directly with students receiving literacy instruction, and/or with literacy staff, instructors, or volunteers; (3) provide evidence that the materials requested will be used to support an educational program; (4) express willingness to participate in public relations/public awareness activities; (5) not have received an NBF grant during the 2008-2009 or 2009-2010 program cycles; and (6) describe the organization’s financial need for the requested materials. For more, visit http://www.proliteracy.org/our-solutions/nbf/about

Investing in Innovation Fund (i3), Development Grants — The Investing in Innovation Fund (i3) provides funding to support (1) local educational agencies (LEAs), and (2) nonprofit organizations in partnership with (a) one or more LEAs or (b) a consortium of schools. The i3 program is designed to generate and validate solutions to persistent educational challenges and to support the expansion of effective solutions across the country to serve substantially larger numbers of students. Development grants provide funding to support the development or testing of practices that are supported by evidence of promise or strong theory and whose efficacy should be systematically studied. Development grants will support new or substantially more effective practices for addressing widely shared challenges. Development projects are novel and significant nationally, not projects that simply implement existing practices in additional locations or support needs that are primarily local in nature. All development grantees must evaluate the effectiveness of the project at the level of scale proposed in the application. Notice of Intent (NOI) to submit pre-application due April 16, 2013. Pre-application due April 26, 2013. For more, see http://www.grants.gov/search/search.do?mode=VIEW&oppId=228234

Travel Funds — Faculty members from an ORAU sponsoring or associate institution or branch campus can request up to $800 to facilitate travel by a faculty member. Criteria for decisions to award travel grants include the following: potential engagement of others, especially students; probability of a long-term collaboration; new collaboration (proposed partners have no strong current ties); and well-defined outcome(s), such as a proposal to an identified opportunity, a white paper in anticipation of future funding, or a publication as a result of data collected during the visit. Applications must be for travel to collaborate with researchers at ORNL, Y-12, ORAU laboratories or work sites, or another ORAU institution. This program is not intended to support travel to work with current collaborations or to interact with potential collaborators at locations other than their laboratories, such as conferences. Please note that requests must comply with federal travel expenditure guidelines, and applications must be submitted BEFORE the travel takes place (no grants will be awarded after the fact). UF may only submit one application during ORAU’s current fiscal year, ending September 30. Interested applicants must submit a Letter of Intent to the UF Office of Research (Attn: Maura Pedersen, programdevelopment@research.ufl.edu) by April 22, 2013 for internal coordination. Please provide the following information: name of traveler, traveler’s email, traveler’s mailing address, total funding requested, budget request (including leverage from other sources), location and potential partner to be visited, purpose or objective of visit, history of contact between the two parties, and anticipated outcome(s) of the travel. For more information, see http://my.research.ufl.edu/Applications/FundingOpportunities/ArticleDetail.aspx?id=31759

Research and Program Evaluations in Early Education — The foundation seeks to close the achievement gap by increasing the school readiness of children at risk for poor school outcomes due to environmental factors associated with living in poverty. The foundation pursues its mission by promoting collaboration between researchers and educators via the funding of research and program evaluations in early education. The Brady Education Foundation funds two types of projects: (1) Evaluations of existing model programs; and (2) Innovative research on model development, including both efficacy and effectiveness studies. The foundation favors projects that bring researchers and service providers together to prove and improve the effectiveness of early care and education environments for at-risk children, projects that leverage other funds, projects with the potential to inform or guide policy or funding decisions, and projects that structure time for researchers/evaluators and program providers to collaborate. Applicant organizations must provide proof of non-profit status. There is no citizenship or residency criteria. For more information, please visit the following website: http://www.bradyeducationfoundation.org/applicationguidelines.html

Women and Minorities in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Fields Program (WAMS) — This program supports research and extension projects that have robust collaborations to increase the participation of women and underrepresented minorities from rural areas in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields that are relevant to USDA priorities identified by the Secretary: (i) Promotion of a safe, sufficient, and nutritious food supply for all Americans and for people around the world; (ii) Sustainable agricultural policies that foster economic viability for small and mid-sized farms and rural businesses, protect natural resources, and promote value-added agriculture; (iii) national leadership in climate change mitigation and adaptation; (iv) Building a modern workplace with a modern workforce; and (v) Support for 21st century rural communities. For more, visit http://www07.grants.gov/search/search.do?&mode=VIEW&oppId=228093

In-STEP Teacher Education Program — USAID/India seeks a U.S. School of Education (SOE) to implement a three to five month customized teacher training program for approximately 100-110 teacher educators from India. The first group of 50 plus teacher educators would arrive in the U.S. on or around September 15, 2013 and the second group on or around September 15, 2014. The purpose of the proposed project, the India –In-STEP, is to build the capacity of Indian teacher educators (and administrators) by exposing them to the talent, methodologies, and expertise offered by U.S. Schools of Education (SOEs). It is expected that these teacher educators will take the practices and methodologies learned in the U.S. and apply them to the Indian context. For more information, please visit the following website: http://www07.grants.gov/search/search.do?&mode=VIEW&oppId=228393

Early Care and Education Research Scholars: Child Care Research Scholars — The Administration for Children and Families, Office of Policy, Research and Evaluation plans to solicit applications for Child Care Research Scholars grants to support dissertation research on child care policy issues. These grants are meant to build capacity in the research field to focus research on questions that have direct implications for child care policy decision-making and program administration, and to foster mentoring relationships between faculty members and high-quality doctoral students. For further information about prior awards made to Child Care Research Scholars, see http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/opre/cc/ccr_scholars/index.html. For further information about the Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation, see http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/opre/. Child Care Research Scholars projects address issues of significance related to Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF); inform policy decisions and solutions, particularly for underserved/understudied populations; and utilize the most rigorous research methodology for the selected research question. Applicants must consult with a CCDF administrator in the development of the proposal. For CCDF State agency contact information and links to State CCDF administration web sites, please visit https://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/occ/resource/ccdf-grantee-state-and-territory-contacts. Awards are dependent upon the availability of federal funds and whether the award is in the best interest of the federal government. For more information, see: http://www.acf.hhs.gov/grants/open/foa/view/HHS-2013-ACF-OPRE-YE-0577

Community-Based Violence Prevention FIRE Program — OJJDP will fund the Community-Based Violence Prevention (CBVP) Field-Initiated Research and Evaluation (FIRE) Program to support methodologically rigorous research and evaluations that inform policy and practice consistent with the Department of Justice’s mission. OJJDP will fund field-initiated studies to inform efforts to prevent and reduce youth violence (including gun violence) and violence exposure at the community level. OJJDP welcomes joint applications from two or more eligible applicants; however, one must be clearly indicated as the primary applicant (for correspondence, award, and management purposes) and the others indicated as co-applicants. For details, see: http://www07.grants.gov/search/search.do?&mode=VIEW&oppId=228273

Field-Initiated Research and Evaluation Program — This program will support methodologically rigorous research and evaluations that inform policy and practice consistent with the Department of Justice’s mission. OJJDP will fund field-initiated studies that advance the understanding of how the application of a child and adolescent development framework to juvenile justice system approaches, policies, and programs impacts juvenile delinquency, justice system involvement, and recidivism. OJJDP welcomes joint applications from two or more eligible applicants; however, one applicant must be clearly indicated as the primary applicant (for correspondence, award, and management purposes) and the others indicated as co-applicants. For more information about this award, please visit the following website: http://www07.grants.gov/search/search.do?&mode=VIEW&oppId=228596

National Girls Institute — Through this program, OJJDP seeks to support its National Girls Institute (NGI) to advance the understanding and application of promising and evidence-based prevention, intervention, treatment, and aftercare programs and services for at-risk and juvenile justice- involved girls. NGI accomplishes its mission through a broad range of activities, including training and technical assistance (TTA); information dissemination; collaboration with researchers and program developers; partnership with federal, state, and local agencies; policy development; and other leadership functions. OJJDP welcomes joint applications from two or more eligible applicants; however, one applicant must be clearly indicated as the primary applicant (for correspondence, award, and management purposes) and the others indicated as co-applicants. For more information, please visit the following website: http://www07.grants.gov/search/search.do?&mode=VIEW&oppId=228596

National Training and Technical Assistance Center for Youth in Custody — Under this program, the successful applicant will operate the OJJDP National Training and Technical Assistance Center for Youth in Custody (the Center) to provide resources, training, and technical assistance for state, local, and tribal departments of juvenile justice and corrections, service providers, and private organizations that operate juvenile facilities. The Center will serve the range of facilities in which juveniles are placed, including detention, corrections and adult facilities, and the unique population of juveniles in these institutions. The Center will emphasize the rehabilitative goals of the juvenile justice system and provide comprehensive training, technical assistance, and resources directly to justice facilities that detain or confine juveniles. The Center will also update and contribute to the knowledge base of best practices in detaining or confining juveniles. For more, see: http://www07.grants.gov/search/search.do?&mode=VIEW&oppId=228593

Minority Science and Engineering Improvement Program (MSEIP) — The MSEIP is designed to effect long-range improvement in science and engineering education at predominantly minority institutions and to increase the flow of underrepresented ethnic minorities, particularly minority women, into scientific and technological careers. For more, see: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2013-04-01/pdf/2013-07559.pdf

Grants for Educational Institutions — Grant applications will be considered where outside funding (including governmental) is not available, the project will be largely funded by the grant unless the grant request covers a discrete component of a larger project, and the funds will be used for capital projects including equipment or endowments. Applications for direct salary support will not be accepted. Grant applications from universities, colleges and secondary schools will be considered generally for educational endowments to fund scholarships based solely on educational achievements, leadership and academic ability of the student; endowments to support fellowships and teaching chairs for educators who confine their activities primarily to classroom instruction in the liberal arts, mathematics and the sciences during the academic year; or erection or endowment of buildings, wings or additions thereto of buildings, and equipment for educational purposes. For additional information see: http://www.gladysbrooksfoundation.org/guidelines.html

Missing and Exploited Children Program Support – Through this initiative, OJJDP seeks to identify an organization to serve the Missing and Exploited Children (MEC) Program through a variety of services and program support including but not limited to providing: meeting and conference support; information management; and publications to local, state, and tribal law enforcement, nonprofit organizations, and other juvenile justice practitioners. The MEC Program is OJJDP’s primary vehicle for building an infrastructure to support the national effort to prevent the abduction and exploitation of children. For more information regarding this opportunity, see: http://www07.grants.gov/search/search.do?&mode=VIEW&oppId=231037