Our Mission
Our office strives to advance the educational mission of the College of Liberal Arts by providing the infrastructure that faculty, graduate students, and academic units within the College need in order to fund, conduct, and disseminate compelling and innovative research. Research by College faculty and students exemplifies our contribution to the people of Texas, to the academic community in the nation and beyond, and to the development of human knowledge in the humanities and the social sciences. Strong research is critical to the education we provide to our undergraduate and graduate students; indeed, a successful research mission is inseparable from our educational mission.
Liberal Arts Grants Services
To carry out our research mission, our staff of grants professionals identifies funding opportunities for Liberal Arts faculty and graduate students; educates faculty, graduate students, and staff about grant-seeking at UT Austin; and facilitates the preparation and submission of faculty and graduate student grant proposals with the Office of Sponsored Projects (OSP) and the University Development Office (UDO). We also facilitate the participation of faculty and graduate students in grant and fellowship competitions inside the University of Texas at Austin, at the state and national levels, and internationally, with a commitment to assuring compliance with all regulatory requirements.
As a service to the College, Grants Services circulates a bi-weekly Grants Digest with open grant opportunities that may be of interest to academic units, faculty, and graduate students in Liberal Arts. To subscribe to the Digest, please email Erica Whittington, or go to the UT Lists page (https://utlists.utexas.edu/sympa) and join this list: cola_grants_alert@utlists.utexas.edu.
We also offer a number of workshops throughout the semester. These cover the process of submitting grants at UT Austin, sponsor-specific application requirements (e.g., the National Science Foundation or the National Endowment for the Humanities), and preparing grant budgets. We send out invitation throughout the year, but also entertain requests from individual units on campus to hold workshops within the unit or introduce our services to the faculty and students.
Please note, we work with a large volume of proposals, which requires advance notices and a strict timeline. Consult our grant submission timeline for details (http://www.utexas.edu/cola/research/grants-contracts/grants-timeline.php).
For more information about Grants Services, please visit our website, or contact our staff:
Vanessa Lopez, Senior Grants Administrator
volopez@austin.utexas.edu
512-232-0716
Brook Davis, Senior Grants Administrator
davis@austin.utexas.edu
512-232-0760
Humanities Research Awards
Humanities Research Awards are College of Liberal Arts-sponsored grants that provide funding for tenured and tenure-track faculty whose work falls within the disciplines of the humanities. The awards support faculty in their efforts to bring to completion a research project already in progress, and the expectation is that the recipient will produce one or more publications and make his or her work known to the academic community through conferences and other venues. The award is $5,000 for three consecutive years, for a total of $15,000. We are preparing to announce the 2019 competition.
For more information, please contact:
Dr. Erica Whittington, Executive Assistant
whittington@austin.utexas.edu
512-232-2094
Graduate Studies
Our office takes a special interest in the success of graduate students in the College of Liberal Arts, from the period of enrollment and through graduation. We collaborate with the Dean of the Graduate School, with the Graduate Student Assembly, and with graduate student organizations to stay on top of campus-wide efforts that support the graduate student population and meet challenges that arise with the changing economy and job market trends. Within the college, we work closely with academic programs and graduate coordinators.
We continually seek to improve campus resources and procedures to benefit graduate students in the areas of professional development, funding, work-life balance, mentorship, career planning, and placement in academic and other training-related jobs.
Please stay in touch with us as you begin to advise and mentor graduate students and familiarize yourself with College expectations in these areas. Our Graduate Studies page provides information on our work, and can serve as an entry point for policies, resources, and data on demographics, placement, and more.
Work Environment
We study the work environment with an eye toward shaping the College as a workplace that is dedicated to the wellbeing of its faculty, staff, and students. Collaborating with colleagues across the University, we encourage members of the UT community to avail themselves of the resources and policies that enhance work-life balance and make our workplace an inviting, inclusive environment. Our Work Environment page provides information on resources available to the College community and reports on gender equity, lecturer appointments, and more.