Office of the Dean

Planning Initiative Grants

School of Languages, Cultures, and World Affairs

1.0  Purpose

This document outlines the policy and related procedures for awarding School of Languages, Cultures, and World Affairs Foundation funding designated to support new programs, courses, or other projects and activities that promote the goals of the School. This is not intended to serve individual professional research goals.  This is separate from   funding allocated to departments or funds available from offices outside the School.

2.0  Guidelines

Applicants should identify which LCWA or departmental goals will be furthered by their proposal and include a description of the project, the funds needed, the implementation procedures to be used, and the anticipated outcome.  Note:  A list of current LCWA goals is located in Section 7.0 below.

If you are requesting funding in terms of a stipend for research to take place over the summer in lieu of teaching a summer course, please note that awarding of the funding is contingent upon your not teaching a course the summer in which you receive funds for research. Please be sure to state that specifically in your application. No funding in the form of a stipend for your time will be awarded during the regular school year.

3.0  Application procedure

Applicants should fill out the application form available on the LCWA website and turn it in to the Dean before the deadlines as described on the website. Applications should include the chair’s or program director’s signature and date, as well as the applicant’s signature and date. 

4.0  Eligibility:

Individual faculty, departments, committees, programs, or ad hoc groups in and outside LCWA are eligible to apply for these funds.

5.0  Timetable

Applications for funding are due by October 15 and February 15 preceding the semester in which funds are needed.

6.0   Evaluation

The key variable for awarding grants will be the alignment of the proposal with the goals and objectives of the School and/or individual departments within the school wherever possible.  The applicant should reference specific School and departmental priorities as can be found in various planning documents and/or the vision and goals statement of LCWA. The three main elements of the evaluation rubric are:  Cost effectiveness, feasibility of the project, and the long-term effect on LCWA  and/or departmental goals and vision. The Dean and the Associate Deans will review the applications and award funding.

7.0 Priority Goals

  • Priority # 1A: 
  • Enhance faculty incentive and research grant programs.

  • Priority # 1B: 
  • Increase the number of roster faculty within the School.

  • Priority # 1C: 
  • Implement external proficiency testing for language majors.

  • Priority # 1D: 
  • Make Latin American Caribbean Studies a stand alone major.

  • Priority # 1E: 
  • Establish an Asian Studies major.

  • Priority # 1F: 
  • Require one semester of immersive study abroad for all cultural and area studies majors.

  • Priority # 1G: 
  • Create Murray Fellows to promote teacher/scholars in line with the vision, mission, and academic goals of the school.

  • Priority # 1H: 
  • Build the organizational and administrative environment of the School.

  • Priority # 1I: 
  • Develop and implement an Information Technology strategy for the School.



  • Priority # 2A: 
  • Create a new major in International Studies which brings together the interdisciplinary minors with in-depth foreign language study and study abroad.

  • Priority # 2B: 
  • The existing programs in Jewish Studies, Hebrew and Arabic will lead to additional majors and/or minors.

  • Priority # 2C: 
  • A structured partnership will be created with the new campus-wide Global Scholars program.

  • Priority # 2D: 
  • Signature LCWA courses will be created for incoming CofC first year students.

  • Priority # 2E: 
  • The school will develop a plan for systemically furthering the cultural components of the curriculum within LCWA courses.  Course offerings that examine values and traditions both past and present, and the ways in which the past informs the present will be introduced.

  • Priority # 2F: 
  • Language tracks will be developed or enhanced as need and school partnership opportunities exist to tailor language acquisition to specific business, science/technology and government requirements.

  • Priority # 2G: 
  • Existing expertise and programs in language translation and interpretation will be strengthened and developed to a minor or concentration.

  • Priority #2H: 
  • Additional internationally-oriented internships and service learning opportunities will be designed for the needs of the students and implemented.

  • Priority # 2I: 
  • A brand-based marketing effort will be initiated to define the distinctiveness of LCWA for others at the College and to project it across the region, the state, and the nation.

  • Priority # 2J: 
  • Summer immersion language programs will be created and focused on high school students and teachers as well as college students.

Download the Application Form

To apply for the Planning Initiative Grant, complete the PDF form and print it out. After obtaining the signature of your chair or program director, please send the complete 3 page document via campus mail to: Shawn Morrison at LCWA.

Application Form