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Wilkinson encourages interdisciplinary collaborations among its faculty and bridging initiatives involving faculty in other schools and colleges. Our students help faculty conduct high-quality research and creative activity and also engage in their own scholarly and creative endeavors.
Generate Your Idea: Getting Started
A poorly packaged good idea will not get funded, nor will a well-packaged mediocre idea. You need both a good idea and a good package to win a grant.
Consider the problem or question you have in mind; perhaps this is an initial idea you’ve talked over with your colleagues and peers. Investigate your idea to ensure that your proposed project is new and innovative. This process will also provide you with an enriched background on the subject matter. Once you have your idea, use the below worksheets to help you refine your project. What are the goals and objectives of your project, and what activities, personnel, and budget are necessary for you to achieve those goals?
Resources:
Find Your Funding: Internal Funding Resources
Find Your Funding: External Funding Resources
Wilkinson College encourages faculty to seek external funding to support their scholarship. There are many sources and types of funding available to advance faculty research as well as programmatic and creative activities. Below are links to some helpful resources to begin your search.
- Cast a Wide Net: Pivot - Chapman University subscribes to Pivot, an online, searchable database that includes federal, state, local, international, and private funding opportunities. Currently, there is over $75 Billion in available funding. Searches can be made by funding type, funding source, keywords, deadline dates, and many other criteria. This service is free to all Chapman faculty, staff, and students when you register with your Chapman email account. Pivot also contains searchable faculty profiles, including information about research interests and recent publications. You can claim your profile and update it to receive targeted funding opportunities. You can also search for potential collaborators internally and externally.
Three Ways to Identify Federal Funding
- Grants.gov - An online clearinghouse to search for grant and cooperative agreement opportunities from the 26 federal grant-making agencies. It is free to use, and individuals do not need to register to search.
- Federal (direct agency links)
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- Department of Education
- Environmental Protection Agency
- National Science Foundation
- National Institutes of Health
- National Endowment for the Humanities
- National Endowment for the Arts
- Department of Agriculture
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- Department of Energy
- Department of Justice
- Fulbright Scholar Program
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- CA Arts Council
- CA Department of Education
- CA Emergency Management Agency
- CA Energy Commission
- CA Department of Fish and Wildlife
- CA Natural Resources Agency
- American Council of Learned Societies Grants and Fellowships
- Research Corporation for Science Advancement
- Henry Luce Foundation
- Lilly Endowment
- Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Grants and Fellowships
- John Templeton Foundation
- California Humanities (in partnership with National Endowment for the Humanities)
- William T. Grant Foundation
- The Spencer Foundation
Develop Your Proposal
- Draft narrative based on guidelines and gather documentation (e.g., biosketch, letters of support)
- Solicit feedback from department and colleagues and identify any specific project resources needed
- Identify financial resources needed (e.g., personnel, travel, materials, and supplies)
- Coordinate with Manager of Grant Development and Administration to finalize proposal budget
Submit Your Proposal: External Grant Submission
Manage Your Award: Post-Award Administration
Federal law and agency regulations dictate how grant funds are disbursed and can be used. Understanding this part of the process is essential. The Manager of Grant Development and Administration will schedule meetings with the grant recipient(s) and their department administrative assistant to ensure timely and correct use of funds.
Awards are made to Chapman University, with the technical work being managed by the Principal Investigator (PI) of that award. Sponsored Projects Services (SPS) Administrators are the institutional officials tasked with the financial monitoring and oversight of sponsored activity funds and work in conjunction with PIs and departmental grant support staff to provide post-award administration for all externally funded projects and programs.
Student Research Opportunities
Wilkinson College’s new Student Research Opportunity Fund provides opportunities for individual student research and student collaborative research with faculty. Specifically, this fund supports three initiatives for student participation in research:
- Undergraduate Research Fellows - Wilkinson College provides faculty with the opportunity to hire and mentor a limited number of undergraduate research fellows to collaborate on research and creative activity projects.
- Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship - SURF is an exciting opportunity for Chapman University undergraduate students to pursue research and creative activity under the guidance of full-time faculty mentors during the summer. SURF is a paid, on-campus summer fellowship with a faculty member that includes monetary support and on-campus housing. The deadline for students to apply is in late February.
- Undergraduate Student Research Grants - Wilkinson College is pleased to offer a limited number of research grants up to $500 for undergraduate students majoring in the college’s programs. These grants are available to students to help defray expenses related to completing a capstone or thesis project.
- (WIRE) Wilkinson Interterm Research Experience Application - WIRE is a paid, four-week, on-campus program running during January Interterm. It provides Wilkinson College undergraduate students (major or minor) an opportunity to engage in hands-on research or creative activity under the guidance of a Wilkinson faculty mentor.
Faculty/Staff Achievement Submission Form
We want to celebrate and share the amazing achievements of the Wilkinson faculty and staff!
We have created a new submission system to compile the achievements of faculty and staff who distinguish themselves including:
- Scholarly or creative works
- Presentations at state, national, and international conferences
- External or internal grant awards received
- Honors or awards received from professional associations or organizations external to Chapman
- Recognition and awards received at external festivals, juries, and competitions
- Other types of honors or achievements
These submissions will be shared in our weekly, monthly newsletter, social media and for our end of year Faculty Recognition Celebration.
Faculty/Staff Achievement Submission Form
If you have more than one achievement to enter, please do so by submitting the form again - DO NOT combine multiple achievements in one entry.



Need support?
Allison DeVries is Wilkinson College’s Manager of Grant Development and Administration. Allison is available to help every step of the way, from initial brainstorming to identifying funding opportunities, providing guidance related to proposal preparation and submission, and award management.
