Course Development Grants

ABCS Course Development Grants

Due: April 12

The Barbara and Edward Netter Center for Community Partnerships announces course development grants for Fall 2018 and Spring 2019 to promote Academically Based Community Service (ABCS) courses that integrate research, teaching, learning and service. Over 150 courses from a wide range of disciplines and Penn schools have linked Penn undergraduate and graduate students to work in the community. The grants support University faculty to develop new courses or adapt existing courses that combine research with school and community projects.

Click here to see a list of the current ABCS courses.

Grants will be for no more than $5,000 per project. These funds can be used to provide graduate and undergraduate support, course support and/or summer salary ($5,000 is inclusive of employee benefits if taken as salary).

Funded by the Netter Center, course development grants facilitate faculty in developing new and substantially restructured undergraduate and graduate level courses that engage students in real-world problem-solving projects in conjunction with schools and community organizations located in West Philadelphia.

The following criteria will be used to evaluate proposals:

  1. Academic excellence
  2. Integration of research, teaching and service
  3. Partnership with schools, community groups, service agencies, etc.
  4. Focus on Philadelphia, especially West Philadelphia
  5. Evidence as to how the course activity will involve participation or interaction with the community as well as contribute to improving the community
  6. Evidence as to how the course activity will engage undergraduate and/or graduate students in real-world problem-solving research opportunities
  7. Potential for sustainability

Please format proposals as follows:

  1. Cover page
    • 1.1 Name, title, department, school, mailing addres
    • 1.2 Title of the proposal
    • 1.3 Total amount of funding you would like
    • 1.4 100-word abstract of the proposal (include a description of how the course will involve interaction with the community and benefit the community)
  2. A one-page biographical sketch of applicant
  3. A two-to-four-page mini-proposal
  4. Budget detailing how you intend to use the requested funding

Proposals for Fall 2019 and Spring 2020 courses should be submitted to the Netter Center for Community Partnerships by April 12, 2019.

Please contact Faustine Sun, ABCS Coordinator, at abcscoordinator@sas.upenn.edu for more information or to submit proposals.

—Dennis DeTurck, Robert A. Fox Leadership Professor;
Professor of Mathematics, SAS;
Faculty Fellow of Riepe College House;
Netter Center Faculty Advisory Board Co-Chair

—John Gearhart, James W. Effron University Professor and
Emeritus Director, Institute for Regenerative Medicine;
Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology and Animal Biology, PSOM and School of Veterinary Medicine;
Netter Center Faculty Advisory Board Co-Chair

—John Jackson Jr., Dean of the School of Social Policy and Practice; Richard Perry University Professor of Communication,
Africana Studies, and Anthropology;
Netter Center Faculty Advisory Board Co-Chair

—Terri H. Lipman, Assistant Dean for Community Engagement;
Miriam Stirl Endowed Term Professor of Nutrition;
Professor of Nursing of Children, SON;
Netter Center Faculty Advisory Board Co-Chair

—Loretta Flanagan-Cato, Associate Professor of Psychology, SAS;
Co-director, Biological Basis of Behavior Program;
Netter Center Faculty Fellow

—Ira Harkavy, Associate Vice President;
Founding Director, Barbara and Edward Netter Center for Community Partnerships