Reading Group Funds
By awarding these funds, we hope to foster new ideas and increase our advising community’s level of expertise. We hope to reach faculty and staff who advise undergraduates who seek to stretch in new directions.
Academic Affairs anticipates making 5-10 funding awards for reading groups during each academic year (ending June 30) through June 2027, for a total of up to 30 awards over 3 years. The anticipated size of each award is $500-$1500 but may be adjusted for creative proposals.
Group Basics
Reading groups proposed for funding should be centered on book-length or a set of journal article-length publications about student development, advising, or student success. Ideally, group participants will come from different units and professional backgrounds. Groups should include at least 5 participants and plan for at least 3 meetings.
Who is eligible?
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Faculty and staff who advise undergraduates. This includes faculty and staff in all schools, Student Affairs, the Provost’s Office, and other central units. Graduate students employed in such roles can also be included as part of a reading group with full-time faculty and staff, but cannot organize/lead the reading group.
What criteria will be used in deciding whether to award funding?
Awards will be made for any reasonable proposal, where reasonable is defined as:
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The publication is related to student development, advising, or student success.
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The plan for the group size and meeting frequency is clear.
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There is a plan to include participants from several different units.
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There is a plan to include at least 5 faculty and staff and meet at least 3 times.
As we make awards over time, we will prioritize proposals from units and faculty/staff who have not yet received funds for reading groups.
Application Cycles
Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis, but with priority review windows. In other words, if you plan ahead and put in a proposal by the priority review deadline, you will receive priority consideration. Any additional proposals received after that deadline will only be considered if funds remain. In cases where more proposals are received during the priority window than can be funded, proposals will be awarded on a first-come basis for proposals deemed reasonable by the criteria noted above.
As we kick off this program in late 2024, we will accept proposals for groups that will begin during the spring semester of 2025 from November 20 – December 13, 2024 at 5 p.m. Decisions will be emailed on December 18, 2024.
After that, we will accept proposals for priority review between August 1 – August 15 and December 1 – December 15 each year. Other proposals will be reviewed on an ongoing basis, with decisions emailed within 10 working days.
Eligible Expenses
Each element is optional, but your proposal should include every element you aim to include.
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Purchasing books for each participant (Note: before purchasing books, you may wish to check if the UVA library has an electronic copy available).
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Meals or snacks for group meetings.
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Small honorarium for author appearance. (Recent examples include $200-$300 for a 60-90 minute Zoom appearance.) Honorariums are not available for authors who are UVA employees.
Additional Information for Applications
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Proposals do not have to include every eligible expense. For example, if you do not anticipate that the author would be available for a Q&A, you do not have to include that as part of your proposal. If your group will mostly meet online and hold one lunch meeting, then budget accordingly.
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We recognize that such proposals have an inherent chicken-or-egg problem: It may not be possible to plan for an author Q&A or recruit all participants until you are sure if funding is available. At the same time, to put together a proposal you need at least some sense of interest in your proposed reading group. We suggest asking around with colleagues to see if there is likely to be interest in the group you are proposing, and then writing a proposal for the group as you envision it. If you need a few more or fewer book copies than planned, or the author is not available after all, we will adjust the funding accordingly.
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If the proposal is awarded funding but you are not able to secure at least 5 participants who commit to attending all of the meetings of the reading group, please notify us ASAP. In this case, you can either forfeit or defer the funding to a subsequent semester.
Example Proposal
$1150 total request for:
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10 total participants from 5 different units
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Purchase a copy of the selected book for each participant ($400)
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Purchase 2 coffee breaks and 1 lunch for each participant ($450)
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Small honorarium for a Zoom Q&A with the author ($300)
Additional Information about Funding
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Funds are not promised until the awardee is notified in writing (i.e., via email). Academic Affairs will not reimburse or cover expenses incurred without prior confirmation that funding has been awarded In other words, do not spend money on an event or associated travel until funding is confirmed by email.
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The employee receiving funds will be responsible for placing orders and for following University procurement guidelines. The employee will access funding by submitting an expense report through Workday, charged to the worktags that will be provided. Employees who are not familiar with purchasing guidelines are encouraged to work with their units’ fiscal staff.
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You will be asked to provide a list of reading group participants at the time funding is awarded.