Applications for 2023-2024 will be accepted beginning August 23, 2023.
Awards will be made on a rolling basis and will be offered while funding is available.
This fund is intended to provide research-related support to lecturers and adjunct faculty pursuing humanities-based research in the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences, whether employed full- or part-time. Adjunct faculty must be teaching at UMBC at the time of application with the expectation that they will also teach at UMBC sometime in the following academic semester or year following funding.
The maximum award to an individual is $4,000 (there is no minimum) and all funding requests will be reviewed by the Dresher Center Advisory Board. Dresher Center Research Support for Lecturers and Adjunct Faculty is intended only for scholars who have already exhausted other UMBC funding.
The following list offers examples of potentially fundable expenses. All expenditures must be connected to humanities-related activities:
- Course release (lecturer) or funds equivalent to a course stipend (adjunct faculty);
- Research travel to archives or to speak at symposia or conferences (where not funded through other sources); registration or membership fees related to such symposia or conferences;
- Services of a research or editorial assistant;
- Transcription or other technical assistance;
- Purchase of research-related materials (books, documents, copies, images, maps, etc.);
- Research travel necessary to complete a manuscript or other major research project or to revise in response to comments from peer-reviewers;
- A subsidy to purchase the right to publish text, photographs, or other images;
- A subvention in aid of publication required by the press;
- Technical assistance necessary to produce a web resource or other digital project;
- Indexing or other editorial assistance necessary to bring a publication to completion.
A complete application will include:
A letter of need explaining the purpose for the funds, the precise amount of the request, and why this support would make a difference in the scholarly or teaching goals of the applicant. The letter should make clear why this is a humanities-related project. Reference should also be made to why no other DRIF, departmental, or CAHSS support is available or sufficient to this need.
A brief memo (1-2 paragraphs) of support from a Chair noting that all available departmental and CAHSS funds have been tapped first. In the case of part-time faculty, the chair should indicate the likelihood of that faculty member teaching for the department sometime during the academic semester or year following funding.
If you are interested in applying for research funds for lecturers and adjuncts, submit an email to dreshercenter@umbc.edu. Include the subject line, “Lecturer/Adjunct Fund.”