As part of the effort to enhance faculty development and grant writing capabilities, the Office of Research hosted Chapman’s inaugural Grant Writers’ Bootcamp on August 15 and 16. Participants were required to submit a proposal for seed funding and were selected based on their proposal potential.  The inaugural class was composed of a diverse group of 28 faculty from a variety of disciplines across campus. Their efforts were supported by seven faculty mentors with past and present experience with funded research awards, as well as guest speakers from both academia and the private sector with deep knowledge of proposal development. Participants attended workshops, were placed in working groups, and then guided through a simulation process, from proposal development to award covering all phases of the grant life cycle. Post workshop, participants will revise their original proposal and upon successful submission will receive a seed grant of $5,000 from the Office of Research.

Bootcamp participant feedback was overwhelming positive, with the majority reporting that the bootcamp increased their knowledge of the diverse funding opportunities available to them, increased their awareness of the key elements of a successful proposal, as well as the tools and resources available to them at Chapman University. In the words of the participants,

  • “The guest speakers and workshops were the most helpful. I appreciated the time to connect with my colleagues and collaborate on this work. It is also a really great incentive to get the $5K for involvement; I’m definitely motivated to seek out other opportunities!”
  • “Having a mentor assigned to each group who had reviewed our proposals in detail and had specific feedback ready, was absolutely the best part of this boot camp.”

On behalf of the Office of Research, we would like to thank all the participants including the faculty, guest speakers, and mentors who attended and supported the Chapman Grant Writers’ Bootcamp. This will likely be offered again next year with an announcement coming out in early 2020.