The College of Education Research Office (COERO) and the Division of Research's Office of Research Development invite applications for GrantReady: A College of Education Faculty Workshop Series for Proposal Success, a 7-part, hands-on sequential workshop series, Fall 2025 through Spring 2026, designed to build grant funding knowledge and skills.
***Applications due September 3! (all info is below - for any questions, please contact Associate Dean Eric Paulson, at eric.paulson@txstate.edu)***
Description: Participants will take part in a series of interactive workshops featuring presentations, writing exercises, and structured homework assignments, all designed to help them develop a complete, ready-to-submit research grant by the end of the program. The sessions will cover key components commonly found in grant applications. As a core resource, we will use The Grant Writing Guide: A Road Map for Scholars by Betty S. Lai. Each participant will receive a hard copy of the book at the first session.
Goals: This iterative series is designed to strengthen the grant-writing knowledge and skills of new tenure-track faculty and/or tenured faculty who are new to grant seeking. As space allows, more experienced faculty interested in sharpening their grant-writing abilities are welcome. Priority will be given to those who are new to the university or have limited experience securing external funding.
Incentive: Faculty who complete the full workshop series, submitting all workshop deliverables, including a final grant proposal to the College of Education and Research Development, will receive a $3,000 incentive. The incentive will be distributed in two installments upon completion of the required deliverables: $1,000 in December and $2,000 in May.
Learning outcomes include:
- Introduction to the grant funding landscape and university resources
- Developing and structuring your research idea
- Writing narratives and supporting documents
- Working with program officers
- Preparing a full proposal package
Workshop Schedule & Format:
We are offering two identical cohorts - Wednesday or Friday - based on which best fits their schedule. Each cohort will meet once a month, following one of the two available schedules:
- Wednesday Cohort: Wednesdays, 10:00 AM–12:00 PM*
- September 24; October 15; November 5; January 28; February 18;
March 11; & April 8
- Friday Cohort: Fridays, 2:00–4:00 PM*
- September 26; October 17; November 7; January 30; February 20;
March 13; & April 10
*The Research Development team will offer dedicated GrantReady office hours during each cohort’s time slot (Wednesdays 10:00 AM–12:00 PM and Fridays 2:00–4:00 PM) two weeks before each workshop. These optional sessions are available for participants to ask questions, seek feedback, or address any concerns.
This initiative is designed to develop and strengthen grant-writing skills through a series of sequential workshops, with each session building on the last. Regular attendance and active participation are expected to ensure participants get the most from the series.
Beyond the monthly two-hour workshop sessions, participants should plan to spend approximately two hours per week on assignments and preparation. These activities are designed to reinforce key concepts and contribute to the development of a full proposal by the end of the program.
Planned Sessions:
- Workshop 1: Welcome to the Wide World of Grants
- Importance of Grants
- Where to find Grants
- Overview of TXST proposal process including Kuali
- Workshop 2: Developing Your Idea
- Developing grant ideas
- Grant writing style
- Importance of a white paper
- How to create a literature review
- Workshop 3: Zeroing in on Your Grant
- Importance of Request for Proposals and Solicitations
- How to align with a funder’s mission
- Program Officers interactions
- How to build partnerships
- Workshop 4: I’ll Write, I’ll Write, I’ll Write
- How to create problem statements
- How to develop research plans for grants
- Importance of Societal Impacts (e.g. Broader Impacts)
- How to write Intellectual Merit sections
- Workshop 5: Details that make a Difference
- Importance of non-narrative and supplemental documents
- Data management plans
- Facilities and Other Resources
- Budget
- Budget Justification
- Mentoring Plans
- Letters
- Workshop 6: The Final Stretch
- Editing and review tactics
- How to incorporate figures
- Importance of CV and other PI documents including ORCiD
- Workshop 7: Commit to Submit
- RED review
- What happens after proposal submission
- Post-award overview
- Resubmission
At the end of the workshop series, participants will have prepared all the critical components needed to submit a grant application to a major funding agency. The following are the workshop deliverables to be submitted to the Research Development team at different stages throughout the workshop series:
- Option 1: Proposal in response to an actual RFP you are targeting
- Option 2: Proposal based on key elements found in many RFPs:
- Proposal Narrative
- Brief abstract
- Research focus
- Rationale for approach or investigation
- Brief literature review
- Proposed approach to conducting research
- Rationale for approach
- Budget Justification
- Mentoring Plan
- Data management plan
- Facilities and Resources
Eligibility Requirements for the GrantReady Workshop Series:
Eligibility for this program is limited to full-time tenured/tenure-track faculty in the College of Education. Priority is given to those who are new to the university or with limited experience with grant funding:
- Early-career or new tenure-track faculty members
- Faculty members with limited grant-writing experience (e.g., have not been involved in grant submissions, or have been on a grant project but not yet as the PI)
- And if space allows - experienced grant faculty interested in further building and honing grant-writing skills
Application and Due Date
Interested faculty should complete the following form and submit it by September 3, 2025. Applicants will be notified of admission decisions by September 12. For any questions, please contact Associate Dean Eric Paulson, at eric.paulson@txstate.edu
