Apply - Working Groups

Proposal Information for Working Groups

The Calvin Center for Christian Scholarship funds several Working Groups each academic year. Each Calvin Center Working Group is composed of 8-15 participants, from a variety of academic disciplines or professional fields, who meet monthly to discuss a common reading and to explore from interdisciplinary perspectives a particular issue, problem, or topic.

Applications should include the names of those committed to the Working Group, but all funded Working Groups must also issue a general invitation to Calvin faculty to apply for participation in the group.

Working Groups are encouraged to share their conclusions with the entire faculty and to host a speaker at a year-end event. Working Groups may also provide impetus for Major Grant proposals in subsequent years.

The Governing Board anticipates developing and funding Working Groups in the sciences, social sciences, arts, humanities, and in professional fields.

How to apply for a Working Group:

The CCCS Governing Board encourages colleagues to meet with the director of the Calvin Center, Professor Susan Felch, as they develop their vision for these Working Groups.

Submit an online application. You may download a Word document to draft your proposal, from which you may copy and paste your information into the appropriate fields of the online application. Please note that the budget and the proposed reading list must be submitted in separate PDF documents.

The CCCS funds Working Groups up to $5,000. Budget items may include: refreshments for monthly meetings and periodic meals together; the cost of books or printed materials; an honorarium and expenses for a concluding speaker. Your budget must be in PDF format for the online application.

In special cases, a Working Group may conduct preliminary research (such as collecting survey data) that involves human subjects. In such cases, permission must be granted by the Institutional Review Board (IRB). See # 5 below.

Faculty involved in the planning of research that involves human subjects in any way, from interviews or questionnaires to medical procedures with living persons or bodily substances, must submit a research proposal to the current chair of the IRB. The IRB is mandated by governmental agencies to review and approve research with human subjects using one of the following processes:

• Provide an exemption
• Conduct an expedited review approval, or
• Approve the project after full review

As a small board that meets regularly, the IRB is committed to facilitate the advancement of faculty research programs as quickly and easily as possible. Applicants must have applied for IRB approval by April 15 and must certify IRB approval before receiving CCCS monies. Please consult the IRB website for further instructions if your research involves human subjects.