WAC Funding Opportunities
Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC), in collaboration with the Stearns Center for Teaching and Learning, sponsors Curriculum and Teaching Leadership (CTL) Funds: Extended Projects to faculty involved in a high-impact teaching and learning project. We solicit proposals from all departments, programs, colleges, and schools at George Mason University, including full-time and/or part-time faculty. Faculty may not apply for multiple funding opportunities in the same academic term.
These funds will take the form of stipends to faculty who design, develop, and lead a project that seeks to enhance the intentional and sustainable integration of writing and critical thinking across the curriculum. For this reason, successful grant proposals must demonstrate the sustainability and/or broad impact of the proposed project in relation to WAC’s mission of designing, teaching, or assessing meaningful writing-learning experiences across all disciplines.
Available Funding
Awards up to $4,000 per semester to unit teams ($1,000 stipend per person) are available to enhance the intentional and sustainable integration of writing and critical thinking across the curriculum. WAC particularly encourages academic units to propose innovative projects that sustain or enhance the integrity of critical thinking and learning to write in an environment of generative AI ubiquity; this includes projects that seek to integrate or minimize generative AI use. WAC also welcomes projects that seek to facilitate faculty learning and problem-solving; course-development or curriculum-planning; and/or the systematic inquiry, research, or assessment of student learning.
Projects can focus on writing-intensive courses or other courses that assign writing but wish to more effectively integrate assignments, instruction, and/or assessment of writing and critical thinking. This funding is not intended to support the development of a WI course application; funding will not be given for an individual faculty member’s effort to learn about WAC pedagogy or for bringing in external consultants or speakers.
Eligibility
- Open to faculty from all departments, programs, colleges, and schools at George Mason University; teams should include at least three members
- Team members should be from the same academic unit; exceptions will be considered for interdisciplinary programs
- Team members are eligible for only one Stearns Center sponsored funding opportunity per cycle
Timeline
- Proposal Submission Deadline: April 19, 2026
- Award Decisions Announced: April 24, 2026
- Project Implementation Periods: Summer 2026: May 25 – Aug 9
- Final Project Report: due two-weeks after the cycle concludes
- Budget Reporting
- Initial Budget Check-in: May 25 – 29
- Final Budget Check-in: July 13 – 17
- Final Budget Requests Due: July 24
- Stipends will be distributed in equal payments throughout the funding cycle
Project Requirements & Deliverables
All funded projects must submit:
- A final report assessing project outcomes and identifying any upcoming implementation steps
- Supporting artifacts demonstrating project completion
- Recommendations for adapting the project across different disciplinary contexts
Reports should clearly contextualize the project within the unit’s broader curriculum and provide detailed guidance for potential adaptation by other units or programs.
Awardee Support: Grant recipients should plan to attend four meetings during the funding cycle; sessions will focus on writing instruction and curriculum design practices and provide time for teams to exchange ideas and receive feedback from attendees.
Dissemination: Teams should anticipate presenting (as a Teaching Talk) at the next Innovations in Teaching and Learning Conference.
Submission
Please assemble all parts of the proposal as outlined by the submission guidelines into a single PDF, and submit it to WAC by 11:59 pm on or before the application deadline through our online form.
Please email WAC staff ([email protected]) with any questions.