The University of Texas at Arlington Libraries invites applications for the Faculty Teaching in the Archives Grant Program for the 2023-2024 academic year. The grant program is aimed at faculty who would like to design or invigorate an undergraduate or graduate course with unique content from UTA Libraries Special Collections. Preference will be given to faculty proposals that utilize African-American primary source materials, or other primary sources that highlight the diversity found within Special Collections' materials, to generate innovative primary source assignments and projects for students. The course must be taught in Fall 2023, Spring 2024, or Summer 2024.
Martin Waldseemüller, Tabula Moderna Prime Partis Aphricae woodcut (Strasbourg, 1513). Gift of Dr. Jack Franke.
The Faculty Teaching in the Archives Grant Program (FTIA), sponsored by UTA Libraries, was established in 2019 to support teaching and learning in UTA Libraries Special Collections.
FTIA offers teaching faculty an opportunity to implement innovative archives-centered pedagogical approaches in their courses in order to introduce students to a variety of primary sources, engage students in-depth archival research, build students’ critical thinking skills, and stress participation in collaborative projects and presentations. FTIA will generate opportunities for building partnerships and collaborations with Special Collections librarians and archivists and foster interdisciplinary teaching.
Our primary sources date from 1493 forward to current day and span the breadth of our collections in Texas history, history of cartography, Texas labor and political history, Texas disability history, history of Mexico and the Greater Southwest, UTA history, personal and family papers, books, graphics, sheet music, ephemera, photographs, and more.
Grant funding is available up to $5,000. All awards are competitive and may not be fully funded.
The deadline for application is Friday, June 2, 2023 at 11:59 PM. Application emails must include all required materials at the time of submission. To apply or ask questions, email evan.spencer@uta.edu
The Faculty Teaching in the Archives grant allowed me to support assistantships for two students to collaborate with me on the development of three classroom activities that directly incorporated SPCO materials (relevant to Sub-Saharan Africa), focused on hands-on observation and analytical skills. For these two assistants, the opportunity was highly impactful, as it offered a paid position and skill building directly related to their career interests in museums, collections, and academia. For the students who visited SPCO and experienced the activities we built, they expressed in the course evaluations that the SPCO activities were their favorite part of the course and opened their eyes to the potential that derives from viewing and analyzing original works in-person alongside experts like Ben Huseman and other SPCO staff. Pedagogically, the experience cemented my interest in getting my students out of the classroom and engaged in real-world settings with real-world objects. As an art historian, there is no greater teaching method. There is so much potential for building student engagement, and investment in their studies, by partnering with SPCO. Since my experience with FTiA, I have partnered with SPCO in multiple classes every semester and plan to continue. I have also found the SPCO and Library staff consistently wiling to offer opportunities to my students to build other real-world skills, such as public blog publication through the Compass Rose series on the UTA Libraries Blog.
Who may apply?
FTIA is open to UTA tenured, tenure-track faculty, non-tenure track faculty, and instructors of record who are teaching undergraduate and graduate courses at any level. Interdisciplinary approaches are strongly encouraged.
How to apply:
FTIA applications should be submitted via email to Evan Spencer, evan.spencer@uta.edu by 11:59 PM on Friday, June 2, 2023.
What information should I include in the narrative?
The narrative should include the following components:
How can the funding be used?
Grants may fund faculty or graduate student research to then be incorporated into a course. Monies may be used to pay student assistants, salaries, and other expenses related to the project, including the purchase of supplies and/or equipment. Travel is not supported. All expenses should be justified in the application narrative.
Salary Guidelines:
Salary supplements are allowable; the awardee’s department is required to process salary supplements via UTFlow Form ‘Additional Pay’ protocols. Faculty can budget summer salary representing the amount of time needed to complete the specific aims of the grant. The amount of time an individual will spend on the grant is expressed as a percentage of their monthly salary or calendar months of effort. Funding requests must cover both salary and fringe benefits for all grant members.
How is funding distributed?
Half of the total awarded amount will be paid via Interdepartmental Transfer following the initial meeting with special collections collaborator. Grant recipients are responsible for working with their departments to provide a local cost center to transfer these funds. The cost center must begin with the number 3 (such as 310661). Cost centers that begin with a 5 are usually endowed or special interest cost centers, and UTA Libraries cannot transfer funds to those cost centers. The remaining half of the funding will be transferred, also via Interdepartmental Transfer, at the time when planning is complete and the course design is finalized.
What additional expectations exist?
How are award decisions made?
Preference will be given to course design that:
Deadline:
Proposal Deadline: 11:59 pm, June 2, 2023
Awards Announcement: by June 9, 2023
FTIA grant funding is available up to $5,000 to support teaching in UTA Libraries Special Collections.
Preference will be given to course design that:
Application Checklist
A complete application for the FTIA Grant includes the following:
Please note that proposals should not exceed six pages.
Explore Special Collections African-American primary sources
[Slave Ship] from E.A.W. Zimmermann, Taschenbuch der Reisen...[Pocket Book of Travels...], 1802.
Manifest of Slaves, New Orleans, 1850. GA28. Gift of Jenkins Garrett.
S.R. Tankersley and Elmer Joe Martin, International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, strikers at Elite Theatre, Dallas, June 1954. Dallas Moving Picture Machine Operators Union Local 249-A, Dallas, Texas Records, AR65-1-1.
Emerson Emory, circa 1942-1944, Emerson Emory Papers, AR466-1-21
African-American students who plan to enroll at Mansfield High School, 8/31/1956. Fort Worth Star-Telegram Collection.