CA/ITF Grant Guidelines

The Computer Access Fee allocation approved by the Academic Program Council sets up a pool of funds for competitive proposals from the colleges. This pool of funds is to be available each year.

The guidelines for proposals and their evaluation are:

1. The total pool of funds available for FY2010 is $200,000.
2. Proposals may be submitted for any amount up to $50,000.
3. The colleges and the Health Science Center may submit a maximum of three (3) proposals each.
4. Each college and the Health Science Center may participate in one multi-college proposal in addition to the three (3) college proposals described above.
5. The number and size of the awards will be based on the quality of proposals received. The evaluation committee may choose to partially fund proposals.
6. These are one-time funds and should not be written into college budgets.
7. Proposals primarily for classroom instructional technology should consider submitting to the Classroom Instructional Technology Matching Grant program.

Proposal Content

1. These funds can only be used to provide access to instructional computing and networking resources by students. As such, proposals cannot include resources for faculty or staff use. Shared resources for students, faculty, and staff must include matching funds to pay for the estimated percentage use of faculty and staff.
2. Proposals should be no more than three pages in length, and should address the following points:
   1. What student access issues does this proposal address?
   2. Specific details on how the proposal will improve student access to computing resources.
   3. The number of students affected; the courses affected.
   4. How costs will be handled beyond the current year. For example, maintenance, support personnel.
   5. Any matching or other supporting commitments on the part of the college or department.
   6. Proposed hardware and software configurations. State the minimum requirements for this proposal to be a viable solution.

Time Frame

1. Proposals are due by Friday, October 30, 2009. Early submissions are encouraged.
2. Notification of the awards is expected by December 1, 2009 with funding being immediately available.

Evaluation Criteria

1. Impact of student access to computing and networking resources
   1. Number of students impacted
   2. Number of courses impacted
   3. Increased amount of access
2. Improved quality of access by students
   1. Improved computerization of curriculum
   2. Improved student access
   3. Innovative new use to technology in student use of resources
3. Relationship to existing computing and networking resources.
4. Feasibility of proposed project
   1. Support
   2. Maintenance
5. Matching - state any department or college commitment for matching funds.

Evaluation Team

A panel made up of college personnel and students will be selected by the Provost to evaluate proposals.

Proposed Submission

Please send one copy of your proposals through the appropriate dean’s office to:

Dr. Pierce E. Cantrell
Vice President & Associate Provost for Information Technology
Texas A&M University
1365 TAMU