The U.S. Department of Education announced May 15 the new Title V grant awards competition for FY 2009 for the “Developing Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) Undergraduate Program,” CFDA# 84.031S.
 
The HSI Program provides grants to assist HSIs to expand educational opportunities for, and improve the academic attainment of, Hispanic students.  The HSI Program grants also enable HSIs to expand and enhance their academic offerings, program quality, and institutional stability.

Applications Available: May 15, 2009.  
Deadline for Transmittal of Applications: June 15, 2009.
Estimated Available Funds: $16,914,300.
Estimated Range of Awards: $462,000-$700,000.
Estimate Average Size of Awards: Individual Development Grants: $462,000. 
Cooperative Arrangement Development Grants: $625,000.
Estimated Number of Awards: Individual Development Grants: 20.
Cooperative Arrangement Development Grants: 9.

Note that your institution must have already been certified as an HSI by the Department of Education.

For application packages, go to: http://www.ed.gov/legislation/FedRegister/announcements/2009-2/051509d.html.  If you have any questions, you can contact Carnisia Proctor at the Department of Education at Carnisia.proctor@ed.gov or 202-502-7606.

Minority-Serving Institutions–Models of Success Grant

Lumina Foundation for Education issued a Request for Proposals to launch its Minority-Serving Institutions--Models of Success program. Seeking to dramatically increase college completion, especially among first-generation students, low-income students and students of color, the MSI--Models of Success program aims to promote partnernerships among MSIs and other organizations to improve and document increased postsecondary attainment. Institutions and organizations that embrace a collective MSI success agenda are encouraged to apply.

Lumina Foundation especially invites proposals involving two or more MSI institutions and/or organizations with MSI expertise. Please use the forms on the Lumina website to complete your application for the Minority-Serving Institutions--Models of Success program. Deadline for submission of proposals and all supporting documents (either in writing or via e-mail) is June 8, 2009. Incomplete applications will not be accepted. More>>

One-time-only stimulus funded opportunities from NSF

 The National Science Foundation (NSF) has announced two one-time opportunities for funding projects through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act). The funding is for projects to assist America’s colleges and universities to enhance STEM capacity under: the “Academic Research Infrastructure Program: Recovery and Reinvestment (ARI-R²)” and the “Major Research Instrumentation Program (MRI-R²).”  Both programs are funded at $200 million. 

•  The ARI-R² program will make about 100 awards of $250,000 to $2 million per award and about 9 to 15 awards for $2-10 million each. The ARI-R² program is for “improvement(s) of research facilities, i.e. repair or renovation or, in exceptional cases, replacement of shared scientific and engineering research and research training space, and its underlying infrastructure,” which may include “network connectivity among research facilities.”   One of the goals of the program is the “… addition or augmentation of cyberinfrastructure, other than general-purpose computing systems or data storage system, to create environments that enhance research and integrate research with education.”  Both graduate and undergraduate institutions are eligible, including community colleges.  Deadline for Letters of Intent: July 1, 2009! Deadline for full proposal submissions: August 24, 2009.  More>> 
   
• The MRI-R² program will make about 400 awards with budgets ranging up to $6 million for non-Ph.D.-granting institutions and ranging from $100,000 up to $6 million for Ph.D. granting institutions.   The MRI-R² program “serves to increase access to shared scientific and engineering instruments for research and research training….” MRI-R² is a separate request for proposals (RFP) from the MRI program competition held every year. Be sure to check the reasons for “Return without Review” noted on p. 2 (see under “Revision Notes”) and the differences between MRI and MRI-R² noted throughout the RFP. Deadline for MRI-R² submissions: August 10, 2009. More>>
  
  Please continue to monitor the announcement Web sites (click on “More” above) for video webcasts for both competitions planned for later in May. These are outstanding opportunities for HSIs and other HACU U.S. members to submit individual or collaborative grants proposals to NSF.