The SLA program offers two different funding levels for support and has three application windows each academic year. Before applying, be sure to review the Funding and Proposal Review Criteria section to ensure your request aligns with the goals and priorities of the program. In addition, before determining if you want to request undergraduate or graduate level support, be sure to review the Student Eligibility section.
Applications, Eligibility, and Funding Criteria
Applications
How to Apply
A faculty or staff member is required to submit the application. Please be sure to leave yourself enough time to collect all of the necessary information, such as service learning course information. Required dean, chair, or supervisor recommendations will be completed through an online form. You may save the application at any time and finish it later, but be sure to hold on to the email with the link to re-access the application, as the CSL does not get a copy of this link.
Application Deadlines
CURRENT: May 1–June 30: General application window for AY 2018–2019
General VETERAN application: (ONLY use this application if you were awarded an SLA award during the 2017–2018 academic year, including summer.)
General Application: (Use this application if you are applying for an SLA award for the first time or if your last SLA award was BEFORE the 2017–2018 academic year.)
CLOSED: November 1–January 30: Summer 2018 application window
CLOSED: February 1–March 30: Priority applications window for AY 2018–2019 (All applicants during this window will know of their selection by early May.)
*Please note that the priority and general application windows are for fall AND spring applications. There is no spring only application window.
Types of SLA Funding Requests
Faculty and staff may elect to submit an academic year application when the following circumstances apply:
- The course, project, or program for which SLA support is solicited will span (or the same course will be taught in) the fall and spring semesters.
- During one semester a faculty or staff member plans to request support for a service learning course, and the other semester the request shifts to a community-engaged research project or vice versa. Both requests can be combined in a single application.
- NOTE: SLA funding is tied to the faculty or staff member rather than to the student. Funded faculty or staff mentors may elect to select different students or may select new students at the beginning of each semester.
Award levels are broken down as follows:
Academic Year Awards Undergraduate Graduate 7–10 hours per week
$1,500 per semester
$2,250 per semester
12–15 hours per week
$2,250 per semester
$3,375 per semester
Faculty and staff have the option to apply for a one-semester award during the academic year (e.g., fall only or spring only).
Award levels are broken down as follows:
Fall or Spring Semester Awards Undergraduate Graduate 7–10 hours per week
$1,500 per semester
$2,250 per semester
12–15 hours per week
$2,250 per semester
$3,375 per semester
Summer funding is contingent on the availability of funds. Separate applications must be submitted to be considered for summer support.
Award levels are broken down as follows:
Summer Awards (if available) Undergraduate Graduate 7–10 hours per week
$1,200
$1,800
12–15 hours per week
$1,800
$2,400
Funding and Proposal Review Criteria
In recent years, the Service Learning Assistant Scholarship Program has become more competitive as word has spread around the IUPUI campus, resulting in a higher demand for awards. As with many budgets, our funding base has experienced cuts. The reality is that we continually have more requests than we are able to accommodate. Consequently, it is increasingly more important that our review committee follow strict funding priorities and review criteria. We highly encourage all applicants to thoughtfully consider the priorities and criteria herein and to integrate components into the application narratives.
- The highest funding priority is given to faculty and staff proposals that will:
- Increase the number and diversity of IUPUI students involved in community-based civic and community engagement activities using curricular and cocurricular service learning pedagogy
- Improve the quality of learning in courses and programs that include civic and community engagement components by intentionally linking classroom, community, or service experiences with learning outcomes (e.g., civic learning, the Principles of Undergraduate Learning, essential learning outcomes, disciplinary standards)
- Support the innovative use of service learning pedagogy (e.g., international service learning, community-based participatory research, eService Learning, graduate-level service learning)
- Increase the knowledge base associated with:
- The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) as it relates to curricular and cocurricular service learning and community engagement
- Civic learning and civic-mindedness as a dimension of student, faculty/staff, and community partner learning and practice
- The scholarship of engagement
- Institutionalization of democratic practices at the campus, program, and departmental levels that support public problem-solving and community stewardship through community-university collaboration
- Increase the knowledge base associated with:
- Research using community-engaged, participatory methods
- Interdisciplinary, boundary-crossing research that addresses community-identified social issues
- Collaborative program planning and community outcomes evaluation/evaluative research
- Build capacity of departments, programs, and units to increase student involvement and community voice in civic and community engagement activities by improving the quality, monitoring, and outcomes associated with new or existing partnerships with community organizations and neighborhoods
- Increase participation of IUPUI faculty and students in discipline-based, collaborative research and evaluative projects that include active collaboration with the community and that align with best practices in community-university collaboration
Proposals will be evaluated by CSL staff on the basis of:
- Evidence that the request will support faculty/staff-led community-engaged teaching, research, and service consistent with the individual’s professional/scholarly goals, including evidence of support from the chair, dean, or head of the department
- Clarity of the activities the faculty/staff member has planned for the SLA and their alignment with campus and unit goals for community-engaged teaching, research, and service, including:
- Outline of how the faculty/staff applicant will provide effective mentoring of the student scholar in relation to collaborative teaching, research, and service projects conducted with community groups and organizations
- Outline of the potential benefits and learning of proposed experiences for the SLA, including descriptions of the mentoring and supervision that the faculty/staff member will provide the SLA
- Evidence that the contributions the SLA will make to an instructor’s or program’s teaching will:
- Increase the number of IUPUI students involved in curricular service learning courses
- Improve the quality of the learning experience for IUPUI students involved in curricular service learning or cocurricular community engagement experiences
- Support the enhanced retention and graduation of a diverse student body using high-impact practices
- Strengthen faculty, staff, or student relationships with diverse groups of community residents or organizations
- Evidence that SLA support will aid the faculty/staff member to improve the quality of or build capacity to expand existing curricular or cocurricular service learning and community engagement in a department, program, unit, or level of the curriculum
- Evidence that the faculty or staff member’s teaching, research, and service will contribute positively to community outcomes or will contribute new knowledge that supports collaborative stewardship and inquiry among campus and communities
- Past compliance of the previously funded faculty/staff with SLA program and reporting requirements
- Other proposals more clearly addressed their alignment with program goals and funding priorities.
- Other proposals more clearly expressed how scholarship support would advance the applicant’s development as a community-engaged scholar or practitioner.
- At the program level, other proposals more clearly expressed how receipt of the scholarship will improve the quality of the cited project or program (e.g., teaching and learning, research, partnerships) in ways that will lead to improved outcomes for those involved.
- Other proposals more clearly illustrated epistemological and methodological consistency with the scholarly literature on the tenets of community-engaged scholarly practice as expressed in teaching, research, creative activity, or community-university partnerships.
- The level of SLA scholarship request(s) from an individual applicant exceeds the maximum set for the program.
- The level of SLA scholarship request(s) from your department/unit overly concentrates SLA scholarship funding in a single campus unit or school.
- CSL records indicate a pattern of noncompliance with program expectations for mentors (applies to returning faculty/staff mentors only).
- The level and number of SLA scholarship request(s) will overly concentrate SLA scholarship funding at the graduate versus undergraduate level.
For previously funded faculty and staff, satisfactory completion of SLA scholarship program expectations in past funding cycles is taken into account during the proposal review process.
Maximum Number of SLA Scholarships
Most faculty and staff who apply for an SLA scholarship support one to two SLAs at a time. On occasion, a mentor may demonstrate the need for additional SLAs. CSL will review requests for additional SLA scholarships up to a maximum of four awards per semester per individual faculty/staff mentor. This number includes undergraduate and graduate awards, and explicit justification for this level of scholarship support must be included in the application narrative.
Important Notes
- SLA scholarships may not be used to support independent student research or service projects in the community.
- Funding priority is given to proposals that utilize undergraduate students to serve as SLAs.
- Funding requests to award SLA scholarships to graduate students are welcome. However, additional rationale and justification for the graduate-level request will be required at the time of application.
Eligibility
Scholarship Awards
IUPUI faculty and staff apply for Service Learning Assistant Scholarships to support their community-engaged teaching, research, and scholarly activities. Scholarships are awarded to faculty and staff who, if funded, select a student as the recipient of the scholarship intended to provide support for educational expenses (e.g., tuition, fees) at IUPUI.
Scholarship monies are credited to the student’s account in the Office of the Bursar, and students are responsible for the impact an award may have on their financial aid eligibility or limits. If accounts have no balance due, a refund will be distributed to the student. Prior to selecting a student to receive the scholarship, the faculty or professional staff mentor should have the student check on how the award will impact his or her financial aid eligibility.
Student Eligibility
Funded faculty and staff are responsible for verifying the eligibility of students for the SLA program. Students must be enrolled at IUPUI/IUPUC to be considered for the program. Other requirements include the following:
An IUPUI undergraduate student who is selected by faculty or professional staff must:
- Have completed at least 15 credit hours at IUPUI
- Carry at least a 2.75 grade point average
- Enroll in and complete at least 9 credit hours at IUPUI/IUPUC during the semester in which he or she receives the SLA scholarship (The minimum for summer awards is 3 credit hours.)
Review the fall/spring/AY eligibility flowchart to see if you are eligible for an SLA award. If you are a summer scholar, use this eligibility flowchart instead.
An IUPUI graduate student who is selected by faculty or professional staff must:
- Complete at least 6 credit hours at IUPUI
- Carry at least a 3.0 grade point average (or 3.0 undergraduate GPA if in his or her first semester of graduate school)
- Enroll in and complete at least 6 credit hours at IUPUI/IUPUC during the semester in which he or she receives the SLA scholarship (The minimum for summer awards is 3 credit hours.)
Review the fall/spring/AY eligibility flowchart to see if you are eligible for an SLA award. If you are a summer scholar, use this eligibility flowchart instead.
SLA scholarships may be requested on a per-semester basis or as an academic year award. For more information about the differences, please refer to the application information.
Scholarship amounts are based on the average number of hours per week that the student scholar contributes to a faculty or staff mentor’s community-engaged work.