The Faculty Fellows in Community Engagement Program supports, strengthens, and formalizes collaborations between faculty and community partners. Fellows can receive up to $10,000 to support projects that integrate community-engaged activities with teaching and research.  Projects should address a community-identified need and actively involve community partners in the co-learning and co-creating solutions for the public good.  

Meet the Fellows: 
►  2025 Cohort
►  Past Cohorts

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Program Goals

Our program is designed to: 

  • Expand partnerships and build collaborative communities of faculty, staff, student, and community members working on shared interests.
  • Explore and develop the theories and practices of community-engaged scholarship.
  • Strengthen understanding of ethics of engagement including co-creating public knowledge and disseminating the findings.
  • Experiment with collaborations with other higher education institutions.
  • Grow the network of community-engaged scholars at UW Tacoma


Who Can Apply

The program is open to UW Tacoma faculty who:

  • Have an interest in current and future community engagement activities - at any level of prior experience.
  • Are willing to organize and manage the activities related to the project.
  • Hold a full-time faculty position at UW Tacoma (including Teaching Faculty titles, effective Autumn 2021).
  • Include at least one UW Tacoma faculty lead and one additional faculty or staff collaborator (UW or non-UW).
  • Demonstrate a commitment to the ethics of engagement.

            >> UW community engagement resource HUB

Funding & Time Commitment

  • Funding amount:  Each proposal is eligible for up to $10,000.  
  • Budget Requirements:
    • Itemized budget
    • Salaries (if applicable) must include the benefit load rate and cannot exceed 25% of the total budget.
    • Awards cannot be used for salary or excess compensation if the awardee is on a paid professional leave (e.g. sabbatical, leave of absence). Some exceptions apply. Refer to the UW Tacoma Academic Human Resources website.
    • Awards cannot be used for course releases.
    • Funding compliance:  funding comes from the State and must follow all UW spending policies and procedures.
  • Project Tracking:
    • Projects are to be added into Collaboratory (UW Tacoma's community engagement database) before the project activities start. OCP staff can offer assistance with submitting the project into Collaboratory.  
    • Summer 2026: a 1-2 page mid-year status report outlining the activities, accomplishments, and challenges project is required.
    • January 2027:  a 2-4 page final project report is required outlining a summary of the project and completed work/results.  The report can also include:
      • Feedback from community partner/s, participants, and student/s (if applicable) on the benefits of the project
      • Assessment outcomes and impact of the project activities/objectives
      • Summary of project highlights and challenges.
      • Outline of future plans for continuing your partnership work beyond this year (if applicable)
      • Compendium of any materials produced by the project.
  • Timeline:
    • Projects run for one calendar year, January 1-December 31.
    • In the following Winter quarter, awardee and their community partners will present their project outcomes at a public event coordinated by OCP.  

Application Guide

Key dates: 

  • September 16, 2025: call for applications opens
  • October 27, 2025: Suggested date to send your budget with application to your unit head and budget coordinator for review
  • November 3, 2025: application deadline
  • November-December 2025: Applications reviewed by selection committee

Complete Application Includes:

Apply
  • Application Form
  • Community Partner Letter of Support
    • Upload the letter in the online application
  • Budget
    • Create your project budget using this spreadsheet.  Save your spreadsheet to your computer and upload it into the application.
    • Your budget must be reviewed and approved by the Dean or Chair, if applicable, and budget coordinator. Allow them at least 5 business days to review you budget. 

Questions:

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Q:  How many collaborators are required to be involved? And, can my project/activity have two faculty co-leaders who share the lead role?

A:   Yes. The criteria stipulates one faculty lead for each project and at least one faculty or staff collaborator (from UW or non-UW) and at least one community partner.  However, there can be two faculty co-leads if the project is structured in that way. Remember, faculty collaborator groups need to identify the name(s) of at least 1 community partner, the name of at least 1 faculty lead, and the name of at least one faculty or staff collaborators. Faculty and staff collaborators can be from UW or another college or university.

Example 1:  1 faculty lead, 1 faculty collaborator, 1 community partner
Example 2:  2 faculty co-leads, 1 community partner
Example 3:  1 faculty lead, 1 staff collaborator, 1 community partner

Q:  Can the award funds be used to pay faculty?

A:  Yes.  The maximum total amount allowed for faculty pay is $2,500 (25%) of the budget.  The remainder of the budget, $7,500 (75%) is for all other project activities.  

Q:  Do I have to have experience with community engagement and partnership development in order to apply?

A: No.  We encourage applications for projects from faculty collaborator groups to are interested in developing their projects/activities with community partners. The intent of the program is to foster and support new or continuing community engaged projects.

Q:  Who should I contact if I have questions?

A:  If you need help filling out your application or budget, or have questions, please email ocp@uw.edu or call 253-692-4527.  

Q:  How will the award decisions be made?

A:  OCP will have a selection committee consisting of 3-4 members (plus OCP staff) who will review each complete application in full and meet to discuss each application. Selection committee members will base its decisions on the stated award criteria and qualifications.

Q:  Can faculty from other UW campuses or other colleges/universities be a part of the faculty collaborator groups?

A:  Yes, but the lead faculty member must be from UW Tacoma.