stitzel endowment application

JUDITH GOLD STITZEL ENDOWMENT FOR EXCELLENCE IN WOMEN'S STUDIES TEACHING AND LEARNING

(Note: this page is for informational purposes only at this time--the application deadline for 2006 has already passed.)

The Judith Gold Stitzel Endowment for Excellence in Women's Studies Teaching and Learning supports faculty who integrate women's studies scholarship into the fabric of teaching and learning at West Virginia University.

Background

The endowment was established to ensure a continuing and vital presence for Women's Studies as an academic discipline at WVU. Therefore, the endowment supports Women's Studies teaching and learning which is sensitive to gender and which places women's concerns, ideas, perspectives, and interests as much at the center of the scholarly and teaching enterprise as men's have been.

The intent of the endowment is educative and transformative. The goals are 1) to make permanently available to the University community, and through that community to West Virginia citizens, the new and expanding knowledge which Women's Studies scholarship creates and 2) to institutionalize Women's Studies knowledge into the fabric of teaching at WVU. Therefore, endowment resources will be used to recognize, support, and strengthen faculty members in their work as educators, particularly those on the Morgantown campus of WVU, but also applicants and those invited or recruited to WVU from other institutions. In all cases, teaching and learning activities supported by this endowment must be designed to increase Women's Studies knowledge at WVU.

Eligible Activities

Examples include, but are not limited to, designing new courses and reconceptualizing existing courses and course modules; instruction may be in traditional classroom settings or via electronic media. Project proposals which do not directly affect student learning, e.g., faculty curriculum workshops, are eligible when they support the goals of the endowment. One proposal will be funded for a maximum amount of $4,000.

Prior Projects

Bei Wu , assistant professor in the Department of Community Medicine and Center on Aging, was the 2005 Stitzel Endowment Teacher. She used the Stitzel Endowment funds to develop a new undergraduate/graduate course entitled “Aging, Women, and Multicultural Perspectives,” which replaces two other courses: The Aging Woman and Culture, Diversity and Aging. The new course will incorporate three perspectives—feminist, gerontological, and multicultural—to examine the impact of gender, race/ethnicity, and culture on aging. Particular attention will be directed towards understanding the importance of cultural characteristics, health care issues, historical experience, demographic characteristics, life course perspectives, institutional barriers, and socioeconomic inequality in shaping women’s diverse later life experiences. The class will also discuss policy and practical implications to improve the overall well-being of older women.

Carroll Wetzel Wilkinson, head of Access Services Department, WVU Downtown Campus Library, was the 2003 Stitzel Endowment Teacher. She used her funds for travel and purchase of books to support the development of a new course called "Women's Studies Research in the Information Age." This course was offered for the first time in the summer of 2004. The goal of the course is to introduce students to the global electronic and print information sources now available to support inquires about women; to introduce students to the principles of information literacy articulated and promoted by the Association of College and Research Libraries; to develop student's information literacy skills through a series of structured assignments designed collaboratively by Carroll and selected women's studies faculty members; to strengthen and expand the curriculum of the Center for Women's Studies; and to explore on behalf of WVU Libraries and the WVU Center for Women's Studies whether a distance education course on this topic is feasible for the future at WVU, in addition to the traditional course.

Carroll commented that “Drs. Judith and Robert Stitzel created the Stitzel Endowment for Excellence in Teaching and Research in Women's Studies, and when I was named this year's recipient, it meant that generous funds were available to me to support travel to libraries and purchase of research materials to support my course development project. This immeasurably enriched what I was able to do during my six month leave and I'll be grateful to them for the rest of my life.”

Carol Ann Markstrom of the Davis College of Agriculture, Forestry, Family and Consumer Sciences was the 2002 Stitzel Endowment Teacher. Carol commented that "The Stitzel Endowment is allowing me to engage in important travel this year to attend the Apache puberty ceremony for girls called the Sunrise Dance. Observation of the ceremony and interviews of the initiates has yielded knowledge that is proving to be critical in my research on coming-of-age ceremonies of American Indian girls. I have been able to incorporate the data and slides from the ceremonies in several of my classes in Child Development and Family Studies and in Native American Studies. I am very grateful for the support from the Endowment and the learning opportunity it has provided!"

Ann Oberhauser of the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences' Department of Geology and Geography was the 2001 Stitzel Endowment Teacher and used her funds to develop the service-learning component of her Geography of Gender course. Ann commented that "The Judith Stitzel endowment has given me the incentive to expand the service learning component of my gender class. The students appreciate the opportunity to get out in the community and interact with organizations that are helping people."

Julie Hicks Patrick of the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences' Department of Psychology was the 2000 Stitzel Endowment Teacher and used her funding to conduct "a meta-analysis of gender differences in cognitive performance, as indicated by neuropsychological tests (i.e., MRIs)." According to Julie, "Receiving the Stitzel Endowment funds provided me with an opportunity to critically evaluate what I do as an instructor, as well as to critically evaluate what I don't do. For many of the students in my courses, their experiences here at WVU may be the first, or last, opportunity to really think about how untested beliefs and stereotypes influence their own behaviors. As instructors, we have ethical obligations to prepare a scientifically literate populate. Receiving the Stitzel Endowment funds allowed me to really think about, and repackage, the kind of critical thinking skills that I want my students to master."

Christine Martin and Maryanne Reed of the Perley Isaac Reed School of Journalism were the 1999 (first) Stitzel Endowment Teachers. They used their funds to help support a panel of women journalists who covered the Vietnam war and changed journalism history. According to Chris, "The Stitzel grant gave Maryanne and me the opportunity to share a unique and extraordinary piece of women's history with the university, the region, and the nation. But it did more than that. It gave seven extraordinary women a voice, a forum, and a time in history." As a result of that panel, the journalists published their experiences in War Torn: Stories of War from the Women Reporters Who Covered Vietnam (2002).

Selection Criteria

Any faculty member at WVU, regardless of rank, status, or gender, may submit a proposal. Proposals from teams are eligible. When the faculty committee judges proposals to be equally strong, preference will be given to a faculty member in the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences in which the Center for Women's Studies resides. The successful applicant shall be designated as a Stitzel Endowment Teacher and shall be expected to make a public presentation about the work funded by the endowment. The successful applicant shall also be required to submit a final report on the use of endowment funds to the Center for Women's Studies by June 30, 2007.

Eligible Expenses

Resources may be used to increase Women's Studies teaching and learning by, for example, providing salary supplements, overload payments, summer salaries, reassignment expenses, and/or course development expenses, such as travel and supplies. Recipients must follow WVU Foundation fiscal policies.

Application Procedure

Interested individuals must complete the application form provided. A committee of Women's Studies Faculty Associates will determine the proposal to be funded. Decisions will be announced to the applicants by April 7, 2006. The successful applicant will be recognized at the Center for Women's Studies Honors Weekend ceremony on April 22, 2006.

For Further Information

If you have questions about eligibility or need assistance with application procedures, please contact Barb Howe, Director, Center for Women's Studies, PO Box 6450, phone 293-2339 extension 1155, e-mail: barbara.howe@mail.wvu.edu.

JUDITH GOLD STITZEL ENDOWMENT FOR EXCELLENCE IN WOMEN'S STUDIES TEACHING AND LEARNING

APPLICATION FORM

Name: _______________________ Department/Unit: ______________________

Title: ____________________________________________________________________

Campus PO Box: ___________ Campus Phone: ___________________________

Home Address: ____________________________________________________________

Home Phone: ____________ E-mail: ________________ Fax: ______________________

Signature _____________________________________ Date _________________

Please provide the following attachments. All attachments must be typed; provide page numbers.

Description (1-3 pages) of the work to be done with endowment funds, including significance of activity for enhancing teaching and learning about Women's Studies at WVU and plans for assessing outcomes, i.e., WVU Student Evaluations of Instruction for a course.

Time line (1 page) for work to be done, beginning no earlier than May 16, 2006 and ending no later than June 30, 2007, when final report of use of endowment funds will be due to the Center for Women's Studies.

Budget (1 page) including, as appropriate, salary (at no more than WVU salary rate for 2005 - 2006 academic year), photocopying, supplies, travel. Thoroughly explain and justify all budget items requests, as no budget items are self-explanatory. A suggested budget model is attached as part of this application. The budget should detail any other funds that might be available from May 16, 2006 to June 30, 2007 to support this work and indicate other funding sources to which you have applied or plan to apply in support of this work. This is for informational purposes only. Additional support is NOT a requirement.

C.V. (1-2 pages), giving your qualifications for this project.

Statement (1 page), indicating how this work will further your personal development as a teacher of Women's Studies.

2 Letters of Support, submitted directly to the Director, Center for Women's Studies, PO Box 6450, no later than 12:00 p.m., March 13, 2006. If funding is to be used to develop a new course or to request released time, an additional brief letter from the faculty member's department chair must be included in support of the request to teach a new course or to have released time.

Suggested Budget

Item	Endowment Request	Other Potential Funds
Salary (WVU rate for ____ weeks)
Photocopying (# of pages @____/page)
Supplies (i.e., computer disks)
Travel (mileage @ 40.5 cents/mile); meals at WVU rates; lodging)
Other (please specify)
Total

If you are including funds for salary, please budget 27 percent of the salary figure for WVU's required fringe benefits for part-time faculty. Thus, if you wish to spend all the money for salary, the maximum salary you may earn will be $3150, with the remaining $850 needed for fringe benefits.