Acorn

Feeling limited by Drew University�s academic, social or scholarly options? Well, here is your chance to change it all.

The soon-to-be inaugurated University President Bob Weisbuch recently announced his plans for a Presidential Initiative Fund. The new fund will dispense money to faculty and students with proposals for new and innovative programs at Drew.

The $250,000 fund, compiled by the Board of Trustees and parents of current Drew students, will be divided among the approved proposals which will be submitted in the coming weeks.

�The fund � has been created from generous donations,� Chief of Staff Erin Hennessy said. �The idea is to offer similar amounts of money for three years � this year and two additional years.�

Students, faculty and other members of the Drew community are welcome to submit proposals to three separate categories for consideration. The first, focused on strengthening current academic programs and creating new ones, offers $5,000 to $15,000 for approved proposals. The second, targeted at student proposals, involves Student Life Initiatives, and offers $1,000 to $15,000. The third and final category grants funding for the planning of scholarly research at Drew, and offers $2,000 to $10,000.

The deans of the college will determine approval for the academic program with the assistance of two faculty advisors, Director of the Business, Society & Culture Program Richard Greenwald and Associate Vice President of Finance Christopher Van Wyk. A committee of three faculty members, two Student Government Association representatives, and student representatives from the Caspersen School of Graduate Studies and the Drew Theological School, along with Weisbuch will approve the proposals for Student Life Initiatives. Approval for the scholarly research category will be determined by a small ad hoc committee.

�The president has indicated that for the first two categories, student-initiated proposals will receive priority consideration,� Hennessey said. �This is not going to be just a faculty thing. Weisbuch wants it to be a partnership and wants students to be actively involved.�

Applications must include a three-to-four page narrative, detailing the plans for the proposal. The proposal must also include a budget, r�sum�s for the faculty involved and transcripts for involved students. Additionally, several factors will be taken into consideration for each of the three categories individually.

�The president is also interested in looking at the potential of suggested programs, and a suggested process for results,� Hennessy said. �For the second [category], there needs to be evidence of widespread student interest. proposals in the area of diversity will especially be welcomed. For research, there must be two letters of support, with at least one from an outside scholar,� she added.

Despite the fact that the Initiative was released during a busy time of year, Weisbuch is expecting a large degree of interest from the Drew community, Hennessy said. There will be a second review of proposals in October for applications not submitted by the May 1 deadline, if funding permits.

�I think anytime you say there�s money available, there�s going to be interest,� Hennessy said. �I think the president realizes that this is a difficult time in the semester, and so while we expect to see wonderful proposals for this round, we think we�ll probably see more for the fall.�

�I�m already thinking of ideas,� Dean of Educational and Student Affairs Edye Lawler said. �I think that the fund will be a wonderful incentive to have people think about new initiatives. I�m hoping to see involvement both on the part of students and faculty. If students have ideas about anything that Educational and Student Affairs could work on, we would welcome the opportunity to help them work out the costs and planning. That�s really what the fund has been created for,� she said.

Final decisions about all submitted approvals and funding will be made by the end of the spring semester. Proposal approval is expected to be highly selective, since only well-organized ideas that are likely to succeed will receive funding for planning.

�I think the president is going to be looking for initiatives that will really enhance the educational opportunities here at Drew,� Lawler said. �I think he�s going to look for the best possible ideas and encourage us to move forward with those.�

�I think its going to be pretty rigorous,� Van Wyk, who will advise the deans about approval decisions regarding academic programs, said. �I think that the president is expecting the plans that go forward to be very solid. I wouldn�t expect him to say, �we have the money, let�s spend it.� If he doesn�t see enough solid proposals, I wouldn�t expect that he would necessarily spend all the money. It would be used in a succeeding year,� he said.

Although the program will provide funding for the planning stages of all approved proposals, it does not guarantee that the proposal will be put into action. It will be the responsibility of the parties involved to find funding for the program.

�Just because you get the grant to plan the program doesn�t mean that it will necessarily take off,� Hennessy said. �Once the proposal is made, those things will be considered by the cabinet and the president, but doesn�t mean it will actually be implemented.�

�Even if you had the greatest proposal, unless we can fund it somehow, it�s not going to move forward,� she said. �Certainly having these great ideas we can say this is what we want to do, whether we enlist the help of private donors or other sources.�

�The most important thing is that we are creative as a community,� Hennessy said. �The Initiative is designed to get people to thinking outside the box and looking at different things, and all will be considered as we move forward. You always want to have good ideas in the pipeline.�

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