Project Vision is a collaborative initiative with community colleges that enables the nation's two-year institutions to grow National Science Foundation (NSF) Advanced Technological Education (ATE) funded STEM grant capabilities.

This initiative is led by a seasoned team of NSF ATE experts, former College President/CEO, and former NSF program officers.  Project Vision provides two-year colleges with expertise to generate ideas and subsequently supports capacity building at each college, so these colleges can regularly submit proposals when appropriate to NSF ATE and other Division of Undergraduate Education (DUE) programs.

This survey is an important early step for Project Vision; the purpose is to understand grant funding trends, motivators, and inhibitors at two-year colleges from the perspectives of faculty, administrators, presidents, and boards of trustees. The findings will be used to inform strategies that the Project Vision leadership team will employ to guide and mentor colleges. All responses will be kept confidential.

There are two values for you in completing the survey. 1) You will receive the study findings, which should be informative for your career, colleagues, and college, and 2) It will help us assess your college's fit for Project Vision, NSF ATE, and other NSF DUE funding opportunities, which we will communicate back to you.

Thank you for your insights, as they help advance STEM programs and higher education.

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* 1. What is your role?  Check all that apply.

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* 2. Is your institution a community college or university?

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* 3. Please indicate your level of agreement with each of these statements:

  Strongly agree Somewhat agree Disagree Don't know
Securing grant funding is a priority for my college's board of trustees
Securing grant funding is a priority for my college's president and senior administration
Securing grant funding is a priority for my department or division
External funding through grants is an explicit element of my college's strategic or academic master plan
My college's grant seeking efforts and its strategic or academic master plan are in alignment

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* 4. Please indicate your level of agreement with each of these statements:

  Strongly agree Somewhat agree Disagree Don't know
My college encourages faculty and administrators to pursue grant funding opportunities
My college is structured to incentivize faculty to pursue grant funding opportunities
My college is structured to incentivize administrators to pursue grant funding opportunities
My college's culture is a catalyst for developing and encouraging faculty and administrators to pursue grant funding

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* 5. Please indicate the extent to which each of these factors limits your interest or participation in applying for external funding through grants:

  Not a significant factor Somewhat significant Very significant
Need more information about the grant proposal process
Need more assistance identifying relevant grant funding opportunities
Need more assistance in formulating an innovative idea to match grant funding opportunities
Need more assistance in identifying and bringing together partners (industry, academic, community) as collaborators in a grant proposal

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* 6. Please indicate the extent to which each of these factors limits your interest or participation in applying for external funding through grants:

  Not a significant factor Somewhat significant Very significant
Need more institutional support in writing and submitting grant proposals
Need more institutional support in managing the grant after a proposal is funded
Need more commitment from my college's leadership to maintaining and/or establishing new CTE programs
Need more incentives from my college for the effort of developing a competitive grant proposal
Need more incentives from my college for the effort of implementing and/or managing a grant award

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* 7. Which of these best describes your previous involvement with grants.

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* 8. Which grants has your college sought (including or independent of your involvement)?

  Never submitted Submitted, not funded Currently funded Not currently funded, but received funding within the last 5 years Received funding but last funding was more than 5 years ago Don't know
NSF - ATE
NSF - other DUE programs
NSF - other divisions
Other federal agencies
State (e.g. FL, WA, CA)
Foundations

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* 9. How would you describe your previous experience with grants?

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* 10. To what degree would these incentives make you more likely to develop and submit a grant proposal?

  No change Would consider developing a grant proposal Probably would develop a grant proposal Definitely would develop a grant proposal
Release time and/or stipend for proposal development
Release time and/or stipend for grant management responsibilities
Professional Development (with no stipend)
Professional Development with stipend
Institutional recognition
Additional grant administrative support staff
Consideration of grant activity in promotion and tenure decisions

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* 11. What is the most important change your college could make to encourage you to develop and submit a grant proposal?

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* 12. How has the COVID-19 crisis affected your college regarding grant proposals?  Check all that apply.

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* 13. How many times has there been a transition in the presidency position at your college in the last 10 years

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* 14. In the first few years following each presidential transition, how were the number of submitted grant proposals affected?

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* 15. How has the transition(s) in the presidency of your college affected the overall mentality towards seeking grant funding opportunities?  Please explain.

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* 16. When a transition in the college presidency occurred, how long did it take until a new normal was established regarding the expectation for faculty and administrators to seek grant funding opportunities?

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* 17. Please describe your college.  Check all that apply.

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* 18. We'll send you the survey findings.  Please provide your email address.

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* 19. If you'd like to be added to the Project Vision contact list for announcements of upcoming opportunities and useful resources, along with receiving an assessment fit for Project Vision and/or NSF funding opportunities, please provide your contact details.

Project Vision is a collaborative initiative with community
colleges that enables the nation’s two-year institutions to grow
NSF ATE funded STEM grant capabilities.

This initiative is led by a seasoned team of NSF ATE experts, former College President/CEO, senior college administrators, and former NSF program officers. Project Vision focuses on providing two-year colleges with expertise to generate ideas and subsequently support capacity building at each college, so that these colleges can regularly submit proposals when appropriate to DUE.

The goal of this 5-year project is to catalyze submissions of proposals from 45 2YCs, specifically from smaller two-year colleges (with focus on rural colleges) or colleges with newer Presidents.

Interested in getting your college involved?
Email or call PI, Dr. Kevin Cooper @  kcooper@irsc.edu or 772-462-7546.
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This project is supported by a National Science Foundation Grant – DUE 2018198.
This survey is conducted by Project Vision's external evaluator, an independent research and evaluation company.  For questions regarding the survey, please contact Benjamin Reid of Impact Allies Inc  @  ben@impactallies.com

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