Final Report ISA Grant Workshop 1998-1999

The 1998-1999 ISA Grants Workshop Committee (see Table 1) issued a call for proposals early in the fall (see Attachment 1); we received and reviewed seven (7) proposals (see Table 2) this year. The overall quality of the proposals remains high. The range of topics, fields of study and participants is impressive. We recommend the following awards for 1998-1999 (see Table 2 for greater detail):

OVERALL TOTAL     $23,432.00

     The Committee requests that the remainder - $4,568.00 - be rolled over into next year's funding.

     Once again, the Committee was concerned that we did not receive more grant proposals.  The Committee was also concerned that some of the proposals failed to address the stated criteria. These Criteria have been published in the ISA Newsletter and are readily available from ISA Headquarters.  Last year's recommendations noted the need for better publicity and specifically requested an e-mailing to all members receiving the ISA Newsletter on-line with the RFP URL embedded in the text; however, ISA Headquarters was unable to comply with these requests as completely as the Committee had anticipated.  So, once again, the Committee urges ISA headquarters and ISA (a) to publicize the availability of the grants more effectively, (b) to acknowledge the successes previous recipients have achieved more overtly and (c) to issue the RFP more publicly and in a more "user friendly" fashion.

     We have identified several suggestions below to expand the publicity of this program.  We ask the Executive Committee and Governing Council to consider increasing the possible amount of each award from $5,000.00 to $7,000.00 as travel and lodging costs are constantly increasing and one of the explicit criteria is that participants represent significant geographical diversity.

     Few proposals ask for less than $4500.00.  With $28,000.00 and a larger award possibility, we could fund between four and six projects.  Given the benefits which accrue to ISA and its members, the Workshop Grants Committee recommends the following:

Recommendations:

1. Select the next chair of the committee from among the current members.
    

2. Maintain the balance of field and gender representation and have at least two members who were former grant recipients
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3. Include the checklist used in 1996-1997 for applicants to use as a cover sheet.  Proposals are more likely to meet all the criteria and come in complete that way (see attached Checklist)
    

4. Attach a copy of the "Rating Scheme fr Evaluation of ISA Workshop Proposals" developed by the committee in 1995 to remind applicants of the several criteria which should be met (see attached Rating Scheme).
    

5. "Showcase" panels or poster sessions of a select number of previous grant recipients at subsequent ISA Annual Meetings.
    

6. Ask for a 150-200 word abstract of each proposal to be used for publicity of successful proposals.
    

7. Ask previous recipients to assess what worked and what didn't work about the workshop program (e.g., what besides more money might have helped?)
    

8. Perhaps include the RFP in each ISA Newsletter from April through August
   .

9. Consider sending separate e-mail announcements to ISA members receiving the on-line version of the Newsletter, with a hot-link to an on-line application and checklist form.
    

10. To help provide more publicity and an increase in hight quality proposals, announce annual recipients at the Plenary Session when we announce new officers.
     

11. Reconsider timing of RFP - so funding and Spring ISA meetings coincide more logically.
     

12. Consider setting aside some portion of the money to support teaching initiatives, such as the one we received this year which focused on curriculum and teaching development.
     

13. Consider instituting some mechanism to achieve greater accountability by ensuring that final reports are submitted and that a good faith effort was made to achieve the proposed activity.  We could designate a committee member to oversee each funded proposal.  The task would be ensure that, within one year of the workshop, the organizers submit (a) a status report on the project (i.e., have they found a publisher for an edited book?  did the individual chapters become journal articles?), (b) a financial report to ISA (copied to designated committee member) indicating precisely how the money was spent (in the case of institutional transfers, the institution would presumably prepare such a report).  A two-month grace period seems appropriate for tis (since it sometimes takes a while to process reimbursements, etc.)

         In this context, it should be noted that, in the past, ISA has emphasized the need for financial accountability but not much else.  Thus, in addition to a check sheet for the proposal, we could develop a similar set of requirements/requests for a status/final report.
     

14. Consider increasing the total award possibility for each project to $7,000.00 from the current $5,000.00

Table 1:
ISA Workshop Grants Committee Members
1998-1999

Responsibilities and Terms:

• Publicize the criteria and selection process for the Workshop program and develop and implement selection procedures for awards to be made by the Executive Committee
• Responsible for post-Workshop evaluation and report to the Governing Council
• Committee members serve three-year, staggered terms