Presidential Awards

Since 2013, the President's Office of the University of North Georgia (UNG) has invested over $2.7 million in faculty and staff professional development through the Presidential Awards program. This program offers three awards – semester, summer, and innovation - to provide extraordinary institutional support for faculty and staff to pursue new and innovative ideas that support UNG in fulfilling its mission. Find more details about the application process for each award below.

Presidential Semester Award
Application deadline: Thursday January 25, 2024 at 5:00 p.m.

Apply Now for the Presidential Semester Award

Awards of a full semester course release with up to $12,000 each to support faculty in a focused and meaningful scholarly and significant product upon completion (i.e. external grant application, research protocol, authored book, intellectual property development, etc.). Preference is given to applications that support the mission of UNG as articulated by the mission statement.

As part of the Proposal Narrative, applicants must include a dissemination plan to both internal and external audiences. Funding must culminate in a substantive and significant product and meet the scholarship expectations as described in departmental promotion and tenure guidelines.

Applicants must specify whether they will focus on their efforts during the fall of 2024 or the spring of 2025, and must meet with their department heads and deans to determine the best semester to utilize the award. Faculty selected for this award may not teach any academic courses during the duration of the funded semester. Faculty award recipients must also sign an agreement to indicate their return to UNG for a period of at least one year after the completion of the semester leave. (University System of Georgia - Board of Regents Policy Manual - Education and Professional Leave 8.2.7.4).

Eligibility is limited to tenured or tenure-track UNG faculty who will have been employed at UNG a minimum of two years at the completion of the 2023 - 2024 academic year.

Past Semester Award recipients are not eligible to receive a new Semester Award for three academic years following the academic year the award was received.

While faculty may apply for both the Semester and Summer awards, they are only eligible to be awarded one. If a faculty member elects to apply for a Semester or Summer award and an Innovation award, both projects may be funded provided they are significantly different.

Prior awardees of Presidential Awards must not be delinquent on award requirements, and must have conducted previous awarded projects with fiscal responsibility and research integrity in order to be eligible for a new award.

If an application is to have more than one eligible applicant, one applicant should be designated as the Corresponding Applicant. The Corresponding Applicant must be the individual to complete and submit the online application, and will be the individual who will receive all official communications regarding the application. If an application is submitted by only one applicant, that individual will automatically be designated as the Corresponding Applicant.

Presidential Summer Award
Application deadline: Thursday January 25, 2024 at 5:00 p.m.

Apply Now for the Presidential Summer Award

Awards of up to $10,000 each to support faculty in focused and meaningful research and scholarly and creative activities. Preference will be given to applications that support the mission of UNG as articulated by the mission statement. The project period for Summer awards will be from July 1, 2024 – June 30, 2025.

As part of the Proposal Narrative, applicants must include a dissemination plan to both internal and external audiences. Funding must culminate in an activity during which the faculty member will share the results of her or his work, and meet the scholarship expectations as described in departmental promotion and tenure guidelines.

Faculty selected for this award may engage in teaching and service during the summer sessions with prior approval of their dean, as long as the faculty member's total compensation for the summer, including teaching classes and any other external funding (e.g. grant funding), does not exceed 31% of the faculty member's contracted salary.

Eligibility is limited to tenured or tenure-track UNG faculty.

Summer Award recipients who have been funded for two years in a row are not eligible to receive a Summer Award for one year.

While faculty may apply for both the Semester and Summer awards, they are only eligible to be awarded one. If a faculty member elects to apply for a Semester or Summer award and an Innovation award, both projects may be funded provided they are significantly different.

Prior awardees of Presidential Awards must not be delinquent on award requirements, and must have conducted previous awarded projects with fiscal responsibility and research integrity in order to be eligible for a new award.

If an application is to have more than one eligible applicant, one applicant should be designated as the Corresponding Applicant. The Corresponding Applicant must be the individual to complete and submit the online application, and will be the individual who will receive all official communications regarding the application. If an application is submitted by only one applicant, that individual will automatically be designated as the Corresponding Applicant.

Presidential Innovation Award
Application deadline: Thursday January 25, 2024 at 5:00 p.m.

Apply Now for the Presidential Award for Innovation

Awards of up to $5,000 each to support faculty and staff development, and provide opportunities for interdisciplinary and/or cross-functional collaborations among colleagues or individual pursuits focused on innovations and partnerships that promote implementation of best practice models. The project period for Innovation Awards will be from July 1, 2024 – June 30, 2025.

Any topic, as long as it is related to developing and promoting best practices, will be considered for funding. The important focus is that projects promote innovative institutional practices that support the UNG mission. General submission areas include, but are not limited to, operational efficiency, improved unit performance, enhanced unit analysis, first-year student programming, learning communities, service learning, student research, global engagement, capstone project development, civic engagement, leadership development, economic development, and other community partnerships.

Funding must culminate in a product or activity for implementation that can be shared through a campus event. Broader dissemination is encouraged. For faculty receiving an Innovation award, dissemination activities should meet scholarship expectations as described in department promotion and tenure guidelines.

If a faculty member elects to apply for a Semester or Summer award and an Innovation award, both projects may be funded provided they are significantly different.

Prior awardees of Presidential Awards must not be delinquent on award requirements, and must have conducted previous awarded projects with fiscal responsibility and research integrity in order to be eligible for a new award.

If an application is to have more than one eligible applicant, one applicant should be designated as the Corresponding Applicant. The Corresponding Applicant must be the individual to complete and submit the online application, and will be the individual who will receive all official communications regarding the application. If an application is submitted by only one applicant, that individual will automatically be designated as the Corresponding Applicant.

Selection Process for All Presidential Awards

As part of the application, applicants are required to upload a letter signed by the applicant(s), each applicant’s department head, and each applicant’s dean/division head that acknowledges that each person signing understands the requirements related to a potential award, including allowable expenditures and other responsibilities associated with utilizing an award. Applicants are required to use the letter template provided on the online application webpage. Signature by each applicant’s department head and dean/division head serves as an approval of the submission of the proposed project and budget, and certification that the applicant is eligible to receive the award.

The Office of Institutional Effectiveness and Research Administration (IERA) will oversee the application and review process. IERA will conduct an initial review of applications to check for applicant eligibility, adherence to application instructions, allowability of budget items, and applicants’ management of prior Presidential Awards. Prior awardees must not be delinquent on award requirements, and must have conducted previous awarded projects with fiscal responsibility and research integrity in order to be eligible for a new award.

All accepted applications are reviewed by committees consisting of members of UNG faculty, staff, and administration. Applications are scored using rubrics provided to the committees. Scoring rubrics are available to applicants on each award’s application webpage, so that applicants may ensure that their applications are addressing all aspects of the rubric.

Please refer to the Presidential Award applications and award management guidelines (PDF)