Innovations in Graduate Education

In recent years, professional organizations, grant-giving agencies and foundations, and graduate schools across the country have recognized the pressing need to change and improve graduate education to meet the needs of students and better contribute to society in the twenty-first century.  The need for change is perhaps most urgent in the humanities, but the advent of new technologies and the growing importance of interdisciplinary collaboration have made innovation important across fields and schools.

The Provost’s Office and the Institute for the Liberal Arts are offering multiple grants of up to $10K per year for up to three years to pilot new programs that will improve graduate education at Boston College.  Programs that can be demonstrated to be successful will be considered for longer term funding at the end of a pilot period.

Proposals will be due on April 12, 2024 and decisions will be announced by the end of the semester.

We are especially interested in proposals that will:

• help graduate students learn about, explore, and prepare for alternatives to academic careers
• help better prepare them for academic careers across a range of institutions and help develop innovative pedagogies
• use technology to improve graduate education
• contribute to students’ personal and professional formation, including programming that addresses professional ethics, work-life balance, and reflection on ways to achieve a meaningful career
• help graduate programs reflect the diversity of our contemporary world and foster an inclusive university
• help encourage interdisciplinary collaboration across departments, programs, and schools
• help support research and teaching that will contribute to the common good

Any graduate faculty members (or faculty in collaboration with graduate students) may submit proposals, but proposals must have approval from the graduate program director and department chair of participating departments.

Programs can be confined to a single department but preference will be given to proposals that either include more than one department or that would have the potential to expand beyond a single department.

If you have questions, contact Mary Crane, mary.crane.1@tamilfolksongs.com