Applicant Guidelines
The Mentoring Committee is responsible for evaluating proposals and distributing grant funds to members of the Wilkes community. All applications and reports can be completed and submitted online.
Mentoring Project Fund Application
All proposed projects selected for funding will support the University's mentoring culture. Requests for funding will be considered from individuals representing University departments and officially sanctioned campus organizations. Mentoring activities are those that enhance relationships to foster engagement, better learning, and opportunity for success. The Mentoring Committee is most interested in funding initiatives that:
- Focus on the developmental needs of the individual.
- Build better learning relationships.
- Create seamless support systems.
The Committee encourages University departments and campus organizations to submit proposals for projects that expand or create new opportunities for mentoring at Wilkes. Priority projects will include those that use grant funding for the greatest impact on improving the quality of student life and learning at Wilkes.
Student Travel Grants
There are two types of grants for student travel. Students will be funded a maximum of $1000 in any one academic year. Faculty and staff are not eligible for travel grants.
- Student Travel Grant for Presenters: grants up to $1000 to students who will be presenting at a conference or meeting on academic research done in collaboration with or under the guidance of a faculty mentor. A brief follow-up report is required prior to the processing of reimbursement.
- Student Travel Grant for Conference Attendance (non-presenters): grants up to $400 to students who will be attending a conference with a faculty member that includes the presentation and discussion of scholarly work.
Student Travel Grant Application
Additional Travel Grant Details
- For any one academic conference/meeting, a limit of $3000 will be awarded for either
presenter awards, conference attendance awards or a combination of the two.
- If more than one faculty member is attending, the limit is increased by $1000 for each faculty member after the first.
- Requests are reviewed on a rolling basis throughout the academic year.
- Requests should be submitted at least three (3) weeks prior to when the funds are required. Funds cannot be awarded for events that have already taken place.
- Student Travel grant applications must be authored by the student who will use the funds. Please be certain to address in your application the benefits derived from your mentoring experience.
- When traveling as a group, each student must submit a separate travel grant application with an original response pertaining to the expected benefits and connection to mentoring provided by the faculty member(s).
- A brief follow-up report is required prior to the processing of reimbursement.
Mentoring Project Funding Guidelines
- Proposals for Summer 2025 are due March 21, 2025. Should funding still be available after the initial review, applications received after this date will be reviewed on a rolling basis. The Committee's goal is to complete its review of applications by April 18, 2025.
- Based on the volume of applicants, it may be necessary to cap the number of grants that will be awarded to any one department or campus organization in a semester.
- A stipend to a member of the faculty supervising a summer scholarly, creative, or research project (noncredit) is limited to $1,000 per full-time student supervised, with an annual maximum stipend of $2,000. For mentoring non-full-time students, stipends for mentors will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. A fringe rate of 8.07% should be applied to faculty stipend requests.
- Maximum student support for summer undergraduate research, scholarly, or creative
projects (noncredit) carried out under the supervision of a faculty member will be
$3,000 per year for up to 12 weeks.
- Five wage rates have been established for students:
- First-Year Student: $9.50 per hour (315 hours)
- Sophomore: $10 per hour (300 hours).
- Junior: $10.50 per hour (285 hours)
- Senior: $12 per hour (250 hours)
- Post-Graduate: $14 per hour (214 hours)
- 7.65% (FICA) must be applied to wage requests for all students who are not taking a summer academic course that confers at least 3 credits.
- Five wage rates have been established for students:
- No one faculty member/mentor will be awarded more than $6,000 per year for student salaries. When the full $6,000 is requested, the committee will give priority to projects that provide funding for two full-time students. However, the committee will consider requests for up to four-half-time students per mentor.
- Faculty stipends will not be awarded to faculty who are already being paid on a 12-month contract. Similarly, staff stipends will not be awarded to 12-month employees, unless they can show that they took time off from their primary jobs to complete the additional work.
- Project grant supplies will be capped at $500.
- Awardees are encouraged to identify the names of students working on the projects to the Office of Sponsored Programs as soon as possible.
- With limited resources available, the committee will prioritize awards to undergraduate students.
- Funds awarded by the Mentoring Taskforce are intended for approved summer expenses and cannot be carried into the fall semester. (Deadline - start of the fall semester)
- An evaluator’s scoring rubric is available to use as guidance for grant preparation.
- The intention of the summer mentoring grants is to provide students with opportunities and experiences that would not be available through the standard course curriculum. If students are completing research for course credit or to fulfill a curricular requirement, they are not eligible for mentoring grants. Mentoring grants must not be used for the purpose of replacing a capstone/thesis experience, though they may share similar aims. The work completed using funding from the summer mentoring grant must be evaluated independently of the standard capstone course. Capstone/Thesis or other course related content must be evaluated distinct from any products created during the summer mentoring grant.
The Mentoring Resources Committee will not Fund
- Capital improvement projects or capital equipment.
- Wages for students who have graduated, unless they have matriculated to graduate student status.
- Activities or items already funded in the operating budget or basic operating requirements of existing programs.
- Scholarships to individual students.
- Activities related to academic course work.
- The purchase of computers or peripheral equipment.
- Funding for faculty/student social engagements. When resources are available, the committee has provided funding to each unit dean to subsidize these events.
- Faculty travel to conferences.