Financial Awards for Faculty

Marine and Coastal Opportunities, in the Division of Academic Affairs, announces new programs to recognize faculty excellence and advance marine and coastal undergraduate course offerings at the Oregon coast. These new programs are inspired by the growth of academic offerings by OSU Colleges at OSU Hatfield Marine Science Center during the Marine Studies Initiative and calls by OSU’s Prosperity Widely Shared strategic plan to renovate undergraduate programs for 21st century student needs.

With new student and faculty housing options at Hatfield Marine Science Center anticipated to open in late Fall 2025, we are excited to offer these award programs to strategically support experiential courses for undergraduates at the coast and engage increasing numbers of learners from all Colleges and campuses.

Experiential Learning Opportunities reflect the University's commitment to enhance and expand opportunities for undergraduates to engage in experiential learning, as well as its commitment to increase student success. Done well, experiential learning practices boost student retention, engagement, and graduation rates for all students across diverse backgrounds. These approaches cultivate higher-order learning outcomes and transform problem-solving, collaboration, and resourcefulness. We strive to empower faculty to leverage the educational opportunities at the Oregon coast and develop credit-bearing courses to expand student access to these high-impact experiences. This aligns with our guiding Prosperity Widely Shared objectives, by making high-impact experiential learning integral to our efforts to create forward-looking academic opportunities.

This award program addresses the recurring needs of faculty and departments to teach courses at Hatfield Marine Science Center, away from OSU Corvallis and Cascades campuses and typically requiring overnight stays at the coast. Although this award may not cover the full cost of an instructor’s stay while teaching, it is designed to significantly assist in reducing the expenses associated with ‘study away’ experiential learning courses for the academic unit.

Learn about Hatfield Marine Science Center housing, including housing rates and application deadlines: Housing | Hatfield Marine Science Center | Oregon State University

Award amount for AY25-26: Up to $1,000 per OSU faculty teaching a credit-bearing OSU course at Hatfield Marine Science Center. We anticipate supporting at least ten field housing awards in the upcoming year.

Eligible field housing expenses: The only eligible expense is Hatfield Marine Science Center housing for one person (the faculty requesting the award). Given the forecasted Hatfield housing shortages in Summer 2025, this award can be used in summer 2025 toward other necessary field housing as long as the proposed MACO award amount is similar to HMSC housing rates.

Awardee eligibility: Members of OSU Faculty, who are teaching OSU credit-bearing courses at the Hatfield Marine Science Center and have their primary academic appointment away from Hatfield (e.g., OSU-Corvallis).

Other considerations:

• This award program is subject to changes year-to-year depending on total award funds available and anticipated needs. This is a recurring, but limited pool of funds intended to minimize barriers to faculty and departments for teaching credit bearing courses at the coast.
• It will be the faculty awardee and/or department responsibility to coordinate and pay for field housing. MACO Office will coordinate with awardees about appropriate award mechanisms depending on individual situations to ensure the funds are awarded in a timely and administratively efficient manner (e.g., reimbursements, direct billing, budget transfers).
• In requesting funds, please request only what you realistically expect and need for your field housing while teaching. If you plan to use Hatfield for other purposes while teaching, such a library or other research, please include this in your application. We encourage faculty to make full use of facilities and become part of the vibrant Hatfield community.

Deadlines: Application windows twice per year. For AY25-26, application deadlines:

• Summer and Fall Terms: March 10, 2025
• Winter and Spring Terms: October 3, 2025
• Note: In future years, these deadlines may be adjusted based on awardee experience in AY25-26.

Your proposal:

• Application portal: Coastal Field Housing Application
• The form fields are:
• Name and OSU contact information
• Prompt to upload a Word or PDF document, which must include:
  • Your name and OSU contact information
  • Course information:
    • The course you will be teaching
    • Status in the OSU course development and/or scheduling process
    • Target dates for the offering at the coast
  • Amount requested and justification: Include total number of nights, cost per night, and total amount requested.
• Supplemental information for our situational awareness:
  • Have you checked with Hatfield about lodging availability? (Y/N)
  • Do you know if a classroom has been reserved for your course? (Y/N/Don’t know)
  • Is your department head currently aware of your request for field housing assistance to teach at Hatfield? (Y/N)

Our primary aim is to assist academic units in increasing the number of OSU students participating in coastal-located, experiential courses. We welcome course proposals from all OSU Colleges, particularly those strategically designed to meet curricular needs and attract robust student enrollment.

This is a single-year award for course offerings at the Oregon coast in AY25-26. Up to $5,000 for modifying existing courses to adjust to new training needs. While the primary location is Hatfield Marine Science Center, other destinations on the Oregon coast may be eligible. Single-day field trips from Corvallis to the coast are not eligible. Examples of projects include, but not limited to:

• Adaptations of existing Ecampus, Corvallis and/or Cascades courses for instruction in AY25-26 at Hatfield
• One-time investments in major supplies and/or equipment specific for Hatfield-based coastal offerings, e.g., sensors, updating protective gear, lab and field equipment.
• Piloting new field excursions or other experiences before integrating them formally into future course fees.
• Piloting credit-bearing, cohort research experiences using OSU Hatfield Marine Science Center.

Questions? Contact MACO's Director (Kristen Milligan) prior to submitting your proposal.

Proposals due by March 10, 2025. Award decisions anticipated late-March to early-April with funds available in April 2025.

Proposal Contents

• Cover Sheet: Title, project leader and key personnel, institutional affiliations, contact information, requested amount, project start date, and duration.

• Proposal Narrative (3 pages, max) must describe:
  • The course, its status in the OSU catalog and/or course proposal process, and its role in curricula within your home unit/College and other Colleges
  • Timeline
  • Student audience(s)
  • Impact of this investment on students
  • Anticipated enrollment
  • Conditions that need to be met for the course to be well-enrolled and successful.
  • If a course adaptation is proposed for a new offering at Hatfield: Faculty should indicate if their academic home unit leadership has been notified of this proposal and the department’s willingness to offer the course in AY25-26.
  • If major supplies or equipment are proposed: the faculty should indicate (a) the  likelihood of this purchase being valuable to other instructors; (b) the willingness for these purchases to remain at OSU Hatfield Marine Science Center as part of the facility’s equipment lending library; and (c) any long-term maintenance considerations. Hatfield staff will review major supplies and equipment proposals to ensure proposed new inventory can be adequately managed. Please note: A successful proposal does not commit to replacements, if equipment fails, becomes obsolete, or otherwise unusable. 

• Proposal Budget (3 pages, max): Include personnel, supplies, services, travel, and other allowable costs with justifications. Use budget template; minor adjustments to the template are allowable, and we invite you to contact us if you have questions.
  • Tuition not eligible.
  • Personnel- Note: If funded, the faculty’s home unit is responsible for any payroll documentation (e.g., labor distributions, summer appointments, hourly wage appointments).
    • Faculty salary or wages and benefits. Salary or wages and benefits are eligible during course development. This cost category is strongly discouraged during the actual teaching of the course. If requested for the course offering, justify the need in relation to other departmental support.
    • Student wages and benefits. Hourly wage only. This is an allowable cost.
  • Transportation: If using OSU Motor pool, please use currently published rates in your estimates.
  • Supplies, Equipment: Itemize your request, being as specific as possible about the supplies/equipment you are proposing. In your justification, include considerations of long-term maintenance implications (e.g. if a sensor, what are calibration and other maintenance needs and typical costs?).
  • Note: We reserve the right to contact the lead faculty, as needed for clarifications to facilitate our review process.
• Application portal: MACO Advancement Awards 2025 Application
• The form fields are:
  • Name and OSU contact information
  • Prompt to upload a Word or PDF document, which must include:
    • The above listed contents of the narrative and budget as a single document
  • Supplemental information for our situational awareness:
    • Do you know if a classroom has been reserved for your course? (Y/N/Not applicable)
    • If a Summer or Fall 2025 course: Is the process for scheduling your course underway through your department? (Y/N/Not applicable)
    • If a Fall, Winter, or Spring course: Have you consulted with HMSC housing about space and estimated costs to inform your timeline and budget? (Y/N)
    • If a supplies/equipment request: Do you have other ideas about inventory that would best serve and support courses at the coast? If yes, please comment here. We appreciate your feedback. (text box, optional question)

These are opportunities to advance bold new ideas and approaches for coastal-based courses. We invite faculty to develop and deliver new courses with experiential components, using the Oregon coast with a preference for Hatfield Marine Science Center as the learning site. Examples of courses given preference include:

• Courses with strategic roles in curricular renovations
• Those with extended presence at Hatfield, such as 1-5 weeks or full-term courses
• Service courses expected to engage students from various Colleges
• Orientation experiential courses, e.g., for new students, including transfers

A brief Letter of Support is needed from the faculty’s home academic unit head, indicating general support for the proposed course and noting how it contributes to curricular developments.

Questions? Contact MACO’s Director (Kristen Milligan) prior to submitting your proposal.

Awardees will be invited to join MACO and HMSC for a course development launch event, where ideas can be exchanged and information provided about logistics support for academic offerings at the coast. Beyond this funding assistance, we aim to help awardees with their questions, liaising with coastal resources, and raising visibility of the newly developed opportunities.

Proposals due by March 10, 2025. Award decisions anticipated late-March to early-April with funds available in April 2025. 

Two categories of proposals

• One-time, new courses: Up to $5,000 for development and $5,000 for the course offering ($10,000 maximum). These courses typically fulfill students’ electives and leverage episodic opportunities for learning such as visiting faculty, special topics, emerging research, and other special situations for teaching and student training.

---OR---

• Recurring course offerings for core education and major requirements: Up to $10,000 in the first development year, followed by a commitment by MACO to financially assist in the first three annual offerings of the course at Hatfield to build enrollment and integration into curricula. 
  • This is a multi-year commitment for faculty and their departments to develop new undergraduate course(s) to become features of the OSU undergraduate experience.
  • Coordinated proposals are encouraged to result in full-time study opportunities at Hatfield Marine Science Center (e.g., 9, 12, or 15 credits total).

Proposal Contents

• Cover Sheet: Title, faculty leader(s), home academic unit(s), contact information, requested amount, project start date, and proposal category (one-time offering or recurring course offerings).

• Proposal Narrative (3 pages, max) must describe:
  • The proposed new course, status in the OSU catalog and/or course proposal process, role in curricula,
  • Proposed timeline for development and first offering. Be specific about the proposed academic session for the first offering.
  • Student audience(s)
  • Impact of this investment on student success
  • Anticipated enrollment
  • Conditions that need to be met for the course to be well-enrolled and successful.
  • If the proposal is for a one-time offering: Please share some context about the motivation for this opportunity.
  • If the proposal is for recurring course offerings of core education or major requirements: Please share some situational context about: (1) mechanisms you and/or your department are considering to develop and maintain this course as a recurring offering; (2) whether you or your proposal team have received other development awards for the same course or series of courses and how this particular award will make a meaningful impact to your curricular development work.

• Letter of Support: a brief statement from the faculty’s home academic unit head, indicating general support for the proposed course and noting how it contributes to the department’s curricular developments. We reserve the right to contact home academic units as needed to facilitate the review process.

• Proposal Budget (3 pages, max): Include personnel, supplies, services, travel, and other allowable costs with justifications. Use the budget template; minor adjustments to the template are allowable and we invite you to contact us if you have questions.
  • Tuition not eligible.
  • Personnel- Note: If funded, the home unit for the project leader is responsible for any payroll documentation (e.g., labor distributions).
    • Faculty salary or wages and benefits. Salary or wages and benefits are eligible during course development. This cost category is strongly discouraged during the actual teaching of the course. If requested for the course offering, justify the need in relation to other departmental support.
    • Student wages and benefits. This is an allowable cost.
  • Field housing: Please note that there is a separate faculty field housing award, to which faculty can apply for course offerings. If faculty need to use Hatfield housing during course development, please include that development cost in this Advancement Award proposal.
  • Transportation: If using OSU Motor Pool, please use currently published rates in your estimates.
  • If the proposal is for a one-time offering: Include a proposed budget for development and the course offering.
  • If the proposal is for recurring course offerings of core education or major requirements: Include the proposed budget for the development component (up to $10,000), followed by a narrative summary (in your budget justification) of types of costs you anticipate for your first three offerings.

Note: We reserve the right to contact the lead faculty, as needed for clarifications, to facilitate our review process.

• Application portal: MACO Advancement Awards 2025 Application
• The form fields are:
  • Name and OSU contact information
  • Prompt to upload a Word or PDF document, which must include:
    • The above listed contents of the narrative and budget as a single document
  • Supplemental information for our situational awareness:
    • Have you consulted with HMSC housing about space and estimated costs to inform your timeline and budget? (Y/N)

If supplies/equipment are part of your request: Do you have other ideas about other inventory that would best serve and support courses at the coast? If yes, please comment here. We appreciate your feedback. (text box, optional question)