Course Setup, Funding, and Management

VIP faculty who are ready to list courses for their teams should use the X92 university-wide house numbers for directed research. For the course prefix, the instructor’s home department should be used (for example, GEOG for the School of Geography, Development & Environment), and courses should be cross-listed as needed to reflect the home departments of any other involved faculty.

While the directed research numbers usually work well, if your department or school prefers another option (like Independent Study), VIP team leads are able to use other options. Consistently using the same course numbers/section number(s) for your VIP enables the VIP program to tag that course with the "VIP" course attribute in the UA Catalog. 

For more detail on enrollment, including options for enrolling students for regular or honors credit, please see the VIP Enrollment Guide 2024. 

Additional Considerations for Course Setup

  • To enable course evaluations for X92 courses that enroll more than five students, please contact the University Center for Assessment, Teaching & Technology to request an override of the “no course evaluations” setting.
  • VIP faculty who wish to enroll first-year students should confirm with their curriculum coordinator or academic affairs departments that there are no eligibility barriers.
  • Laboratory-based VIPs may need to define their courses as workshops, since laboratory courses often require more contact hours than VIP teams typically require.
  • If you have questions about hiring undergraduate or graduate students who want to be part of your VIP team, see the VIP Hiring Guide 2024 for details on these processes. 
     

Funding Opportunities

Upcoming Funding Deadlines

[Arizona-Wide] Western Alliance to Expand Student Opportunities (WAESO): faculty can apply for funding to support a one-semester $1000 stipend for 3-4 students associated with your project who are underrepresented students majoring in a STEM field. Further details in this Box folder, Funding Oct 28 2024 Deadline WAESO, available to VIP Team Leaders.

  • Deadline for proposal submissions: Monday October 28, 2024
  • Deadline for proposal reviews: Monday November 25, 2024
  • Estimated Date for Award Notifications: Monday December 9, 2024
  • Deadline to add students to project and have them submit their bios: Monday January 13, 2025
  • Deadline for final reports and other student requirements: Wednesday May 14, 2025

[UA Internal] Provost's Investment Fund (PIF) : faculty can apply for funding ($25,000 - $100,000 annually) to support a new or continuing VIP team. The priorities Enhancing student sense of belonging and improving success, graduation, and retention, with emphasis on underrepresented groups and Expanding student experiential learning, including undergraduate research opportunities may be especially aligned with VIP. 

Due Wednesday, October 30th at noon through Arizona Cultivate. Get more information and apply here. 

Continuing Funding Opportunities

[National] The Council on Undergraduate Research (CUR) offers periodic funding for student conference travel (to any relevant conference), and the possibility of small faculty grants as well (depending upon your area of study).

U of A is an institutional member of CUR and because of that, it is easy and free to become an individual member. CUR has 11 discipline-specific divisions, some of which offer small grants in Fall and/or Spring. Join by following the link above to activate another source of support for you and your VIP students! 

[UA Internal] Competitive funding is available through Research, Innovation & Impact (RII) that is often helpful for creating new VIP sections or expanding the number of students an existing VIP can accommodate. Expansion funds are meant to compensate faculty time for preparing additional research experiences. Funds are also available to support paid student research employees. 

Please visit RII's Internal Funding web page for more information. Several of these Internal Funding mechanisms specifically mention interest in undergraduate participation in research.

The Undergraduate Research & Inquiry Collaborative (part of the UA Undergraduate Research Alliance) tracks Faculty Funding Opportunities related to undergraduate research on their website. 

They also track Funding Opportunites for Student Researchers. 

Becoming a VIP Team Lead will ensure you are added to the VIP Team Lead listserv, where current funding opportunities will be shared by the VIP Program Coordinator. 

Undergraduate Research Listings

Established VIP teams can be included in the undergraduate research database maintained by RII. Please visit the Faculty Section of the Undergraduate Research website for information on how to use the UAVitae system to list your VIP team. Updating this information in UAVitae allows students to find your team by searching a list available to them on the Undergraduate Research website.