Programs of Excellence Selection Process

Annually, faculty are invited to submit short proposals that meet specific criteria. Also, specific invitations for proposals that build on the existing POE priorities are made to departments and other units; these invitations support priorities that are identified by the Chancellor, Vice Chancellors and Deans.

Short proposals are reviewed first by the Deans of their respective colleges; where proposals are multidisciplinary efforts, this review is coordinated by the respective deans. Once complete, these pre-proposals are forwarded to the Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs. The Senior Vice Chancellor and a review team including the Vice Chancellor of IANR, Vice Chancellor of Research, and the Associate Vice Chancellor for Agricultural Research evaluate and rank the short proposals. Ranking criteria include:

• Fit of request to College and University strategic plans and priorities;
• Investment from supporting collegesldepartments;
• Potential for external support;
• Progress achieved with past funding;
• Included measurable goals and outcomes of proposal; and
• Evidence that proposed outcomes will build permanent capacity to achieve excellence.

After each proposal has been ranked against these criteria, the overall scores are tabulated and the review team ranks the proposals as a group. Recommendations may be to request a full proposal, not recommend funding, or suggest proposal redevelopment. When no funding is recommended, consideration is given as to whether alternative funding sources might be appropriate. When a proposal needs re-development, planning grants may be recommended in order to support some initial efforts andlor direction will be given to assist revision.

Full proposals are requested for those pre-proposals receiving initial approval or where seed grants have been recommended. These full proposals may be required to address specific questions or feedback collected during the review process. These final proposals are returned to the review committee, where they are once again reviewed and ranked to validate which of these proposals will move onto final consideration. Total available funding is compared to funding required for these projects.

Items moving forward for final consideration are presented to the Academic Planning Cominittee for review and reviewed by the Chancellor and his senior management team.

In any given year, funds that are not expended by the designated program because of timing or other issues are re-allocated on a one-time basis for projects that directly support our existing priorities. In most instances, funding is re-directed to our Enhancing Undergraduate Education priority to make classroom and technology improvements in support of learner-centered undergraduate education. These projects are identified by deans and vice chancellors, upon review of strategic plans, and are ranked by the Academic Planning Committee before funding is recommended.

All steps of our Programs of Excellence selection procedure at UNL are designed to allow for maximum opportunity to build high quality programs, focus resources on strategic priorities, and maximize effective funding distribution and leverage to attract external support.