Fill and Sign the Negotiated Sale of Redevelopment Project Area Bb City of Chicago Cityofchicago Form

Higher Education Challenge (HEC) Grants Program FY 2011 Request for Applications Application Deadline: February 4, 2011 HEC Program: Telephone: 202-720-1973 Email: HEC@nifa.usda.gov Internet: www.nifa.usda.gov/fo/educationchallengehigheredhep.html Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Number (CFDA) 10.217 Higher Education Challenge Grants NIFA Funding Opportunity Number USDA-NIFA-CGP-003378 NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF FOOD AND AGRICULTURE; U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE HIGHER EDUCATION CHALLENGE GRANTS PROGRAM (HEC) INITIAL ANNOUNCEMENT CATALOG OF FEDERAL DOMESTIC ASSISTANCE: This program is listed in the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance under 10.217, Higher Education Challenge Grants. DATES: Applications must be received by close of business (COB) on February 4, 2011 (5:00 p.m. Eastern Time). Applications received after this deadline will normally not be considered for funding. Comments regarding this request for applications (RFA) are requested within six months from the issuance of this notice. Comments received after that date will be considered to the extent practicable. STAKEHOLDER INPUT: The National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) is requesting comments regarding this RFA from any interested party. These comments will be considered in the development of the next RFA for the program, if applicable, and will be used to meet the requirements of section 103(c)(2) of the Agricultural Research, Extension, and Education Reform Act of 1998 (7 U.S.C. 7613(c)(2)). This section requires the Secretary to solicit and consider input on a current RFA from persons who conduct or use agricultural research, education and extension for use in formulating future RFAs for competitive programs. Written stakeholder comments on this RFA should be submitted in accordance with the deadline set forth in the DATES portion of this Notice. Written stakeholder comments should be submitted by mail to: Policy and Oversight Division; Office of Grants and Financial Management; National Institute of Food and Agriculture; USDA; STOP 2299; 1400 Independence Avenue, SW; Washington, DC 20250-2299; or via e-mail to: RFP-OEP@nifa.usda.gov. (This e-mail address is intended only for receiving comments regarding this RFA and not requesting information or forms.) In your comments, please state that you are responding to the Higher Education Challenge Grants Program RFA. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: NIFA requests applications for the Higher Education Challenge Grants Program (HEC) for fiscal year (FY) 2011 to stimulate and enable colleges and universities to provide the quality of education necessary to produce baccalaureate or higher degree level graduates capable of strengthening the Nation’s food and agricultural scientific and professional workforce. NIFA anticipates that the amount available for support of this program in FY 2011 will be approximately $5.2 million. This notice identifies the objectives for HEC projects, the eligibility criteria for projects and applicants, and the application forms and associated instructions needed to apply for a HEC grant. NIFA additionally requests stakeholder input from any interested party for use in the development of the next RFA for this program. 2 Table of Contents PART I—FUNDING OPPORTUNITY DESCRIPTION .............................................................. 4 A. Legislative Authority and Background ................................................................................... 4 B. Purpose and Priorities ............................................................................................................. 5 C. Program Area Description ..................................................................................................... 8 PART II—AWARD INFORMATION......................................................................................... 16 A. Available Funding ................................................................................................................ 16 B. Types of Applications ........................................................................................................... 16 C. Project Types ........................................................................................................................ 16 PART III—ELIGIBILITY INFORMATION ............................................................................... 19 A. Eligible Applicants ............................................................................................................... 19 B. Cost Sharing or Matching ..................................................................................................... 19 PART IV—APPLICATION AND SUBMISSION INFORMATION ......................................... 20 A. Electronic Application Package ............................................................................................ 20 B. Content and Form of Application Submission...................................................................... 21 C. Submission Dates and Times ................................................................................................ 31 D. Funding Restrictions ............................................................................................................. 32 E. Other Submission Requirements ........................................................................................... 32 PART V—APPLICATION REVIEW REQUIREMENTS .......................................................... 34 A. General .................................................................................................................................. 34 B. Evaluation Criteria ................................................................................................................ 34 C. Conflicts of Interest and Confidentiality............................................................................... 35 D. Organizational Management Information............................................................................. 36 PART VI—AWARD ADMINISTRATION ................................................................................ 37 A. General .................................................................................................................................. 37 B. Award Notice ........................................................................................................................ 37 C. Administrative and National Policy Requirements............................................................... 38 D. Expected Program Outputs and Reporting Requirements .................................................... 39 PART VII—AGENCY CONTACT ............................................................................................. 40 PART VIII—OTHER INFORMATION ...................................................................................... 41 A. Access To Review Information ............................................................................................ 41 B. Use of Funds; Changes ......................................................................................................... 41 C. Confidential Aspects of Applications and Awards ............................................................... 42 D. Regulatory Information ........................................................................................................ 42 E. Definitions ............................................................................................................................. 42 3 PART I—FUNDING OPPORTUNITY DESCRIPTION A. Legislative Authority and Background Section 1405 of the National Agricultural Research, Extension, and Teaching Policy Act of 1977 (NARETPA), as amended, (7 U.S.C. 3121) designates the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) as the lead Federal agency for agriculture research, extension and teaching in the food and agricultural sciences. Authority for this program is contained in section 1417(b)(1) of NARETPA (7 U.S.C. 3152(b)(1)). Section 1417 of NARETPA authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture, who has delegated the authority to the Director of NIFA, to make competitive grants to strengthen institutional capacities to respond to identified State, regional, national or international educational needs to formulate and administer programs to enhance college and university teaching in agriculture, natural resources, forestry, veterinary medicine, human and family and consumer sciences, disciplines closely allied to the food and agricultural system, and rural economic, community and business development. Background In July 2008, the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, and Department of Energy asked the National Research Council’s Board on Life Sciences to convene a committee to”… examine the current state of biological research in the United States and recommend how best to capitalize on recent technological and scientific advances that have allowed biologists to integrate biological research findings, collect and interpret vastly increased amounts of data, and predict the behavior of complex biological systems.” The committee produced a report entitled “New Biology for the 21st Century: Ensuring the United States Leads the Coming Revolution,” and a set of recommendations that recognize the most effective leveraging of investments would come from a coordinated, interagency effort to encourage the emergence of a New Biology to address broad and challenging societal problems. That committee outlined four broad societal challenges in food, environment, energy, and health that could be addressed by the New Biology. The four challenges are: (1) Generate food plants to adapt and grow sustainably in changing environments; (2) Understand and sustain ecosystem function and biodiversity in the face of rapid change; (3) Expand sustainable alternatives to fossil fuels; and (4)Understand individual health. USDA – NIFA Response: Building upon the four “New Biology for the 21st Century” challenges, above, the USDA-NIFA institute has refocused its mission to direct agricultural sciences research, education, and extension programs on addressing the following five Priority Areas: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Global Food Security and Hunger Climate Change Sustainable Energy Childhood Obesity Food Safety 4 The Higher Education Challenge (HEC) Grants Program is a NIFA-administered competitive grants program focused on improving formal, postsecondary-level agricultural sciences education. Guided by critical societal issues laid out in the “New Biology for the 21st Century” report, as well as the five, compelling NIFA Priority Areas, HEC-funded projects provide funding to eligible applicants to help ensure a competent, qualified and diverse workforce to serve the food and agricultural sciences system. At the same time, HEC-funded projects improve the economic health and viability of rural communities through the development of degree programs emphasizing new and emerging employment opportunities. Finally, HEC projects focus on the national challenge to increase the number and diversity (i.e., having an agricultural sciences workforce representative of the Nation’s population) of students entering other food and agriculture-related science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. Therefore, applications submitted to this grants program must state how the funded project will address the two HECA Grant Program Goals: 1. To increase the number and diversity of students who will pursue and complete a postsecondary degree in the food and agricultural sciences, and for FY 2011, encourage study in areas that contribute to any of the five NIFA Priority Areas listed directly above in Part I, A; and 2. To enhance the quality of secondary and postsecondary instruction in order to help meet current and future national food and agricultural sciences workplace needs. B. Purpose and Priorities Changes to the FY 2011 RFA: 1. Focus on the five, NIFA Priority Areas listed above in Part I. A. 2. The Matching Funds requirement for this grants program (previously 100%; see Part III.B.) has been reduced to 25% to encourage larger, comprehensive projects, and to increase the diversity of institution types able to contribute to solving educational challenges identified in this RFA. 3. Added a new Project Type: Conference/Planning Proposal (Part II. C.1.), to fund strategic planning for Large-scale (state or region) comprehensive initiatives (LCI), see item #4, below. 4. Added a new Project Type: Large-scale (state or region) Comprehensive Initiatives (Part II. C.4.) to encourage multi-partner collaborations between the grant recipient and other postsecondary institutions, secondary schools, or 2-year postsecondary (associate degree) institutions, private industry, businesses, or nonprofit organizations to address: (a) a significant food and agriculture sciences STEM-education recruitment/retention challenge within the state or region, (b) with a focus on one of the five NIFA Priority Areas above, and that (c) addresses the two HEC Program Goals, above. 5. Focus: All HEC-funded projects should focus on improving the quality of academic instruction within the postsecondary system in order to recruit and retain a greater number of qualified and diverse graduates who are: (a) capable of entering the agricultural sciences workforce with occupational competencies expected by employers, and (b) encouraged to pursue a baccalaureate or advanced degree in disciplines 5 supporting the five NIFA Priority Areas. ‘Academic instruction’, as used in the previous sentence, includes improving curricula, faculty competencies, and interactions with other academic institutions or employers to increase student recruitment and retention levels in order to meet the demands of a changing U.S. agricultural sciences workforce. Educational Need Areas explained in Part I. C.2., provide further, specific project focus. 6. Scale: All HEC-funded projects should seek to address a greater number of prospective students or qualified faculty, and demonstrate the potential for adoption by other academic institutions to address similar challenges. Projects should also maximize available educational resources, encourage partnerships, and reduce duplication of efforts among participating academic institutions, especially in areas of faculty expertise, course offerings, and transfer or articulation agreements between institutions, all to enhance students’ interests and abilities to pursue advanced degrees. Project Types explained in Part II. C., provide further, specific encouragement to scale up a funded project to create greater impact. 7. Impact: All HEC-funded projects should seek to create measurable impacts or outcomes. Impacts are defined as anticipated benefits to the target project audience. Impacts should be measurable. Measuring impacts begins with a comprehensive Project Evaluation Plan that includes developing assessment instruments. The Project Evaluation Plan explained in Part I.C.3., provides further, specific guidance on the importance of developing a compelling impact. HEC-funded projects encourage academic institutions, organizations, and employers representing postsecondary education programs to collectively identify and address a state or regional opportunity with the potential to address any of the five NIFA Priority Areas. An application submitted to the HEC grants program should propose comprehensive and coordinated activities to address that challenge or opportunity. HEC-funded project activities should demonstrate a state or regional impact on increasing the number, quality, and diversity of postsecondary students, and should improve student learning and retention. Accordingly, projects are encouraged that are submitted by (or are in partnership with) eligible, minorityserving institutions (like the 1890 and 1994 land-grant institutions, as well as Hispanic-Serving Agricultural Colleges and Universities, as examples), that increase the diversity of graduates entering the workforce. HEC-funded activities could include, but are not limited to, developing, evaluating, and disseminating: • • • Educational materials for any postsecondary-level course, laboratory, or related curricula that encourage study in areas that contribute to any of the five NIFA Priority Areas; Instructional delivery methods to improve student retention of academic content, and/or Professional development approaches to improve the capacity of faculty and teaching assistants to provide effective and updated instruction. HEC-funded project activities should support the creation and adaptation of learning materials and teaching strategies to operationalize what we know about how students learn. Many of these concepts are identified in the National Research Council’s publication: How People Learn, available at: http://books.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=9853. Projects should also promote 6 faculty expertise and encourage widespread implementation of educational innovation. This solicitation especially encourages projects with the potential to transform classroom practices at the institutional level, to address current understanding of how students learn most effectively, and in response, how faculty adopt instructional approaches. The intent of a HEC-funded project is to make a significant impact on the challenge or opportunity being addressed, with the expectation that major portions of the impact will be sustained after NIFA funding ends. Project design should reflect an awareness of the diversity of the secondary and 2-year postsecondary food and agriculture sciences STEM education community, and a HEC project should include mechanisms for encouraging this community to pursue advanced agricultural sciences degrees. Projects are expected to encourage broad participation of students traditionally underrepresented in the agricultural sciences disciplines. All projects should be grounded by concepts documented in relevant background literature promoting innovations in education and student learning, and show an awareness of relevant prior experience and personnel adequacy in those areas. Educational instrumentation and equipment requests are appropriate expenses in HEC-funded projects. However, such purchases must directly support the specific student learning outcome proposed by this grant application. Convincing documentation and justification for such expenses are required in the grant application. By authorizing and funding this program, Congress expects HEC projects to: (a) produce measurable impacts aligned with HEC program goals and encourage study in areas that contribute to any of the NIFA Priority Areas, (b) promote innovative, educational practices within the food and agricultural sciences that improve how students learn, and (c) include a rigorous evaluation component to assess when project outcomes are met. Essentially, your application must convince a peer panel of a compelling educational challenge; clearly indicate how your methodology is both unique and with merit; offer significant promise of adoption by others; and the expectation that impacts will continue once grant funds end. Applications must address the following items within specified sections of the ‘R&R Other Project Information’ Form (Part IV, B.3.): 1. Focus upon one of the five NIFA Priority Areas (Part I, A.); and 2. Address one of the three Program Categories (Part I, C.1.); and 3. Identify and describe at least one of the three Educational Need Areas (Part I, C.2.); and 4. Within the project’s Evaluation Plan (Part I, C.3.), discuss how project activities will advance the two Program Goals (above); and 5. Document how project accomplishments (products, results and impacts, etc.) will be published or otherwise disseminated to the broadest extent throughout the academic community (Part I, C.4., Dissemination & Continuation Plans). Note: Your project’s NIFA Priority Area, Program Category, Educational Need Area and primary academic Discipline focus must appear on the required Project Summary/Abstract. The applicant must follow the format suggested in Part IV, B.3. Field 7, for this Project Summary/Abstract. 7 C. Program Area Description 1. Program Categories Your project must support for-credit, academic instruction with a primary focus in one of the following Program Categories: (a) (b) (c) Baccalaureate degree-level projects in the food and agricultural sciences; Masters degree-level projects in the food and agricultural sciences; or First professional degree-level projects in veterinary medicine (DVM). Remember, a HEC-funded project must primarily focus on baccalaureate or higher level education. [Note: A funded HEC project may also, purposefully, include an ancillary, target impact on either secondary, or two-year postsecondary, students. However, the primary project focus must clearly impact postsecondary students and instruction.] Projects with a primary target audience of K-14 students or teachers should, instead, be referred to the Secondary Education, Two-Year Postsecondary Education and Ag in the K-12 Classroom (SPECA) Grants Program offered through NIFA at: http://www.nifa.usda.gov/fo/educationchallengesecondaryhep.cfm. Applicants are strongly encouraged to refer to the recommendations for change from the National Academy of Science 2009 report entitled, Transforming Agricultural Education for a Changing World, for supporting your application and improving your project. This report recommends that academic institutions with undergraduate programs in the food and agricultural sciences implement the following nine steps to better meet the needs of students, employers, and the broader society. These recommendations are: • • • • • • • • • Implement Strategic Planning Broaden Treatment of Agriculture in the Overall Curriculum Broaden the Student Experience Prepare Faculty to Teach Effectively Reward Exemplary Teaching Build Stronger Connections among Institutions Start Early—K-12 Outreach Build Strategic Partnerships Focus Reviews of Undergraduate Programs in Agriculture For information on the full report, please refer to http://dels.nas.edu/ag_education/report.shtml and click on recommendations. You are also encouraged to refer to a 2009 whitepaper on Human Capacity Development prepared by the Academic Programs Section of the Association of Public and Land Grant Universities. Copies of the whitepaper entitled “Human Capacity Development: The Road to Global Competitiveness and Leadership in Food, Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Related Sciences (FANRRS),” can be found at: http://www.aplu.org/NetCommunity/Document.Doc?id=1639. 8 2. Educational Need Areas When preparing a HEC-funded project, focus should be on activities contributing to a continuous pipeline of food and agriculture sciences STEM students educated for the agricultural sciences workforce. The rationale for choosing a particular Educational Need Area below must be explained in the context of how the project can contribute to the development of a cadre of students who will either pursue higher degrees or be prepared to enter the agricultural sciences workforce. Project activities must be planned with the students as the main beneficiaries, whether through developing or updating a new curriculum or course, establishing new instructional deliveries, pedagogical approaches, opportunities for experiential learning, faculty development, or partnerships with institutions or organizations. Thus, there is an expectation that one of the measurable outcomes of a proposed project is an increase in the number and diversity of students entering the food and agriculture academic pipeline or the workforce. (a) HEC-funded projects must focus on one of the three Educational Need Areas listed below, and applications must demonstrate how this chosen Need Area will help achieve both HEC Program Goals from Part I. A. Note: Your application must include an Evaluation Plan (Part I. C. 3.) for each Educational Need Area you select. This Plan indicates how you will measure success in completing your objectives within your chosen Need Area. Therefore, choose only those Educational Need Areas for which you can commit to develop a rigorous Evaluation Plan. Educational Need Areas for the HEC program are: (1) Curriculum Development, Instructional Delivery Systems and Expanding Student Career Opportunities: This Need Area promotes postsecondary-focused activities that improve the quality of academic instruction within the postsecondary system in order to recruit and retain a greater number of qualified and diverse graduates who are: (a) capable of entering the agricultural sciences workforce with occupational competencies expected by employers, and (b) encouraged to pursue a baccalaureate or advanced degree in disciplines supporting the five NIFA Priority Areas. The purpose of this Need Area is to promote new and improved curricula, instructional materials, and other learning resources within postsecondary institutions to increase the quality of, and continuously renew, curricula in order to attract, recruit, and retain students in the food and agricultural sciences fields. The overall objective is to stimulate the development and use of exemplary education models and materials incorporating the most recent advances in subject matter, research on teaching and learning theory. Projects may emphasize, but are not limited to: the development of courses of study, degree programs, and instructional materials; incorporating alternative instructional methodologies that respond to differences in student learning styles; inter-institutional collaborations that deliver instruction in ways that maximize program quality and reduce unnecessary duplication; the use of new approaches to the study of traditional subjects; the introduction of new subjects, 9 or new applications of knowledge pertaining to agriscience and agribusiness content supporting the five NIFA Priority Areas. Examples of eligible projects in this Need Area may include, but are not limited to, the following strategies: • • • • • • • • Designing course content around overarching and unifying concepts, skills and competencies -including innovative ways to integrate scientific research experiences- within the postsecondary curricula; Creating model curricula, laboratory, or student research experiences, especially activities that expand students’ career interests in the food and agricultural sciences through mentoring or professional shadowing activities, internships or practicums including international learning experiences, visiting lecturers, or other similar experiential learning activities such as hands-on, remote, and virtual laboratories; Fostering student experiential learning opportunities where students are placed in team-oriented, problem-solving, decision-making situations in the context of realworld situations. Experiential learning in laboratory research or field-based internships is encouraged, but any activity should expose students to experiences directly supporting topics within the five NIFA Priority Areas. Such experiences must: (1) demonstrate how the experience will help meet students’ career goals or produce ‘society-ready’ graduates, and (2) contain an evaluation process— involving the faculty and/or employer or mentor—to assure that students meet project objectives. Forming partnerships involving a broad range of diverse institutions to better understand how students learn, how to sustain their interests, and how to acquire those skills and occupational competencies expected by employers; Establishing and promoting instructional methodologies to improve students’ retention of subject content, develop students’ analytical, interpersonal, leadership, communications, problem-solving, computational, and decisionmaking skills and abilities. These may take the form of undergraduate research opportunities, service learning, case studies, or other experiential learning activities; Creating career placement or higher education academic counseling activities, with the expected outcome of encouraging postsecondary graduates to pursue higher degrees, especially those that support the five NIFA Priority Areas; Developing Internet-based approaches and systems for multi-institutional delivery and sharing of curriculum content; or Other approaches to achieve HEC program goals. (2) Increasing Faculty Teaching Competencies. This Need Area promotes postsecondary-focused activities that improve faculty members’ teaching competency and subject matter expertise in order to address emerging student demographic composition and learning styles. Developmental activities may include both formal training and informal continuing education. 10 The purpose of this Need Area is to advance faculty development in the areas of teaching competency and leadership, subject matter expertise, or student recruitment and advising skills, in order to better advise and provide students the experience or knowledge that will encourage them to pursue advanced postsecondary degrees in the food and agricultural sciences, or prepare them for the food and agricultural sciences workforce. Training of targeted faculty recipients should be intentional and relevant to the identified educational needs of the students, who will be the beneficiaries of such faculty development. Proposals may emphasize, but are not limited to: obtaining experience with recent developments and new applications in a discipline supporting the five NIFA Priority Areas, expanding competence using innovative technologies and new methods of instructional delivery, or in improving student advising skills. Each faculty recipient of support for developmental activities must be an "eligible participant" as defined in the definitions section of this RFA. Examples of eligible projects in this Need Area may include, but are not limited to, the following strategies: • • • • • • • • Developing a self-sustaining model for faculty professional development that better prepares new faculty for teaching careers, or provides retraining for experienced faculty; Promoting teaching and advising strategies to increase faculty understanding of how to recruit and retain populations and cultures traditionally underrepresented in the food and agricultural sciences workforce; Increasing the number, quality and diversity of postsecondary-level students enrolled in agricultural education degree programs, and engaging these students (and/or existing faculty in agricultural education) to more effectively interact with K-14 programs, especially to increase food and agriculture sciences STEM education and career awareness among K-14 students and teachers; Creating assessments that document student learning outcomes or that identify conceptual areas or skills particularly challenging to students, followed by appropriate changes in instructional approaches to effectively address these issues; Establishing systems that improve student learning across a curriculum, and identifying ways to redesign curricula to meet goals for achieving improved student learning and competencies; Integrating current science and pedagogy into the teacher preparation curriculum or professional development program (this may involve actual hands-on research experiences for teachers and as applicable may be gained from partner institutions with strong research infrastructure and carried out as a summer sabbatical); Exploring Internet-based approaches for faculty professional development; or Other approaches to achieve HEC program goals. (3) Facilitating Interaction with Other Academic Institutions. This Need Area promotes postsecondary-focused activities that promote linkages between secondary, 2-year postsecondary, and/or baccalaureate degree-granting institutions to maximize the development and use of resources supporting instruction within any of the five 11 NIFA Priority Areas. Although this Need Area emphasizes partnerships with secondary or 2-year postsecondary academic institutions, any planned activities must primarily support postsecondary instruction (i.e., providing coursework targeted at undergraduate students, but that may also be available for advanced placement credit for secondary students; for transfer credit from associate-degree programs into baccalaureate-level programs; or for postsecondary faculty development that includes research sabbaticals). The intent of these activities is to encourage and facilitate matriculation into postsecondary programs within disciplines supporting any of the five NIFA Priority Areas. Emphasis between secondary and higher education institutions may focus on, but is not limited to, the development and use of articulation agreements, 2+2 or 2+2+2 arrangements, advanced placement credit transfer, or the sharing of faculty and facilities. Partnerships, collaborative arrangements and shared resources between institutions (including course credit sharing arrangements) are encouraged. Projects should contribute to the academic community’s understanding about how new strategies are transferred to diverse settings and about how they impact student learning. Evaluation plans should explore opportunities for adapting new strategies in diverse educational settings. Projects that specifically address challenges to achieving widespread adoption of proven practice are especially encouraged. Examples of eligible projects in this Need Area may include, but are not limited to, the following strategies: • • • • • • • A project that focuses on developing and implementing comprehensive, multiinstitutional practices proven to recruit and retain K-14 level graduates, with a focus on cultivating those students to pursue a postsecondary degree (Note: HEC grant funding may not be used to provide student scholarships or other tuitionremission activity); A collaborative project between faculty from K-12, two-year postsecondary, and baccalaureate-level schools that develops a functional plan facilitating seamless transfer of course credit between institutions; An activity promoting faculty exchanges to help update course content or to encourage increased, hands-on student research experiences; A pilot project that explores the practical aspects of using remote laboratories or instruction among several institutions; A program to reduce duplication of similar educational resources across institutions and to increase instructional efficiencies. Examples may include multi-institutional or interstate approaches to curriculum development, faculty sharing, cross enrollments, joint degrees, regionalization of academic programs, regional and national workshops and symposia, and similar methodologies; A project that will result in establishing and implementing programs or procedures (faculty sharing, articulation agreements, electronic exchange of coursework, … etc.) to disseminate curricula, instructional methods, or training practices to faculty across the state or region; or Other approaches to achieve HEC program goals. 12 (b) Unallowable Costs: NIFA has determined that grant funds awarded under this authority to address any Need Area may not be used for student tuition remission, room and board, academic fees or other financial assistance (no scholarships or fellowships). Also, funds may not be used for the renovation or refurbishment of research, education, or extension space; the purchase or installation of fixed equipment in such space; or the planning, repair, rehabilitation, acquisition, or construction of buildings or facilities (i.e., no greenhouses, laboratories, barns, or other structures). Promotional items (e.g., T-shirts and other give-a-ways) and food functions (e.g., cookouts or other social meal gatherings) are considered ‘entertainment’ expenses, and are also not allowed under this grants program. Note: Under Federal cost principles, restricted items (like those mentioned directly above) are not permitted for use as an applicant’s contribution to meeting the matching funds requirement for this grants program. (c) HEC- funded projects should engage more than a single course or an individual instructor. Projects must promote and strengthen academic instruction that leads to completion of a student’s formal degree (non-credit or after-school instruction not contributing toward a student’s degree program is not supported by this grants program). (d) Stipends to support students’ experiential, academic learning activities outside of the traditional classroom are permitted (as long as such activities are clearly related to a student’s degree program and are not extracurricular). Stipends may be requested for materials or supplies to facilitate a student’s broad exposure to research/field techniques and methodologies, as well as for reasonable travel expenses and per diem related to student educational experiences (e.g., field trips, data collection, and scientific meetings) directly supporting this funded project. In order for the students to be provided a stipend, they must be currently matriculating in the institution(s) where the projects are being implemented. Stipends may not be used for tuition or scholarships. (e) Note: A teacher or student recipient (eligible participant) receiving Federal funds via any Need Area above must be a citizen or national of the United States, as defined in this RFA. Where eligibility is claimed under 8 U.S.C. 1101(a) (22), documentary evidence from the Immigration and Naturalization Service as to such eligibility must be made available to NIFA upon request. (f) Project design should reflect an awareness of the diversity of the food and agriculture sciences STEM education community in the United States, and the project should include mechanisms for impacting or including a significant proportion of this community. Projects are expected to encourage broad participation of students in food and agriculture sciences STEM disciplines. (g) Funded project outcomes are expected to continue after NIFA funding ends (See Dissemination and Continuation Plans section #4, below). 13 3. Evaluation Plan All projects, regardless of the scope or program component they address, must have an evaluation plan that includes both a strategy for monitoring the project as it evolves (to provide feedback to guide these efforts), as well as a strategy for evaluating the effectiveness of the project in achieving its goals and for identifying positive and negative findings when the project is completed. The complexity of the evaluation will depend on the scope of the project. Grantees are encouraged to obtain an independent evaluation to secure appropriate documentation of the project’s outcomes and impacts. Such efforts should be led by knowledgeable and experienced individuals. As a guide, up to 10 percent of grant funds may be used to support this purpose. In addition to measuring progress toward achieving specific project outcomes, the Evaluation Plan (see Part IV, B.3. Field 8.2.d.) must also include a strategy for assessing how the project advances the two HEC Program Goals (Part I, A.). It should state the overall goal of the project, identify the measurable objectives, and indicate the outcome measures that will determine the success of the project and the relevance of these to the HEC Program goals. At a minimum, as one assessment measure, your project assessment should indicate a projected number of students or faculty impacted by your project and should be based on baseline data. The following, suggested evaluation examples are derived from the Department of Education’s Report of the Academic Competitiveness Council, May 2007, Federal STEM Goals and Metrics, Education Undergraduate National Goals and Metrics. To demonstrate progress toward increasing the number of graduates, the following metric is suggested: first provide baseline data for the year preceding the grant award showing the number and/or percentage of students who declare and/or complete a major program of study within the food and agricultural sciences within your unit; and second, provide similar data for the final year of the grant and include an assessment of the impact of your project on changes from the baseline data. List the expected number of students benefiting from this project and their level of education; a table is recommended. To demonstrate progress toward increasing the quality of instruction, the following metric is suggested: first provide baseline data for the year preceding the grant award showing the current number and/or percentage of graduates who either graduate and pursue a vocation in the food and agricultural sciences, or who pursue advanced degrees within the food and agricultural sciences; and second, provide similar data for the final year of the grant and include an assessment of the impact of your project on changes from the baseline data. Suggested resources to obtain quantitative, baseline, student enrollment, degrees granted and employment data for comparison purposes; postsecondary institutions may find appropriate information in the Food and Agricultural Education Information System (FAEIS) at: http://faeis.ahnrit.vt.edu/ , and from the publication: Employment Opportunities for College 14 Graduates in Food, Renewable Energy, and the Environment United States, 2010-2015 at: http://www.ag.purdue.edu/usda/employment/pages/default.aspx. Other, similar source(s) may also be consulted. Applications should include elements of a logic model detailing the activities, outputs, and outcomes of the proposed project. This information may be provided as a narrative or formatted into a logic model chart. The logic model planning process is a tool that should be used to develop your project before writing your proposal. Two additional pages are allowed for this information. See Part IV.B.3 (Field 12) for details on where to attach this information to your application. More information and resources related to the logic model planning process are provided at http://www.nifa.usda.gov/about/strat_plan_logic_models.html. Additional Resources for Project Evaluation: • • • NSF 02-057: The 2002 User-Friendly Handbook for Project Evaluation, a basic guide to quantitative and qualitative evaluation methods for educational projects http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2002/nsf02057/start.htm Field-Tested Learning Assessment Guide (FLAG): This website is designed for Science, Math, Engineering, and Technology Instructors who are interested in new approaches to evaluating student learning, attitudes, and performance. It has a primer on assessment and evaluation, classroom assessment techniques, discipline-specific tools, and resources - all in a searchable, downloadable data base, http://www.flaguide.org/ American Evaluation Association. Online Resources (http://www.eval.org/resources.asp) 4. Dissemination & Continuation Plans Include in the project’s Dissemination Plan (see Part IV, B.3. Field 8.2.e.), a description of how the applicant plans to communicate project accomplishments (products, results and impacts, etc.) to the broadest extent throughout the academic community. This may include educational journals or other professional discipline publications, and presentations at regional or national conferences and workshops, including the HEC Project Directors Conference (see Part VI, D.1.). Continuation Plan: Applicants are also expected to include a statement describing how project outcomes are expected to continue after NIFA funding ends. This Plan should include expected outputs and how these will become institutionalized. Also, describe any strategies for adapting or expanding these outputs for a larger audience. Provide details of these changes, what are the expected outcomes, and the targeted audience who benefits from this project. 15 PART II—AWARD INFORMATION A. Available Funding NIFA anticipates approximately $5.2 million will be available to fund applications in FY 2011, and has no commitment to fund any particular application or to make a specific number of awards. B. Types of Applications For this grant program, applications may only be submitted as one of the following types of requests: (1) New application. This is a project application that has not been previously submitted to the HEC Program. All new applications will be reviewed competitively using the selection process and evaluation criteria described in Part V—Application Review Requirements. (2) Resubmitted application. This is a project application that had previously been submitted to the HEC Program but not funded. Applicants must respond to the previous review panel summary (use R&R Other Project Information, (Field 12- Other Attachments) on the Form). Resubmitted applications must be received by the relevant due dates, will be evaluated in competition with other pending applications in appropriate area to which they are assigned, and will be reviewed according to the same evaluation criteria as new applications. C. Project Types Applicants may submit one of the following four types of projects: 1. Conference/Planning Proposal Applicants in this Project Type may request up to $30,000 (total conference, not per year) to facilitate strategic planning session(s) required of faculty, industry, professional association, community leaders, or other necessary participants for the specific purpose of developing a formal plan leading to a subsequent submission of a Large-scale (state or region) comprehensive initiatives (LCI), as described directly below in C.4. A Conference/Planning grant application may not be submitted in the same year for which a LCI application for the same project is also submitted. 2. Regular Project Proposal (Single Institution/Organization) Applicants may request up to $150,000 (total, not per year) for a Regular Project Proposal. In a Regular Project Proposal, the applicant executes the project without the requirement of sharing grant funds with other project partners. 3. Joint Project Proposal (Applicant + One or more Partners) Applicants may request up to $300,000 (total, not per year) for a Joint Project Proposal. In a Joint Project Proposal, the applicant executes the project with assistance from at least one additional partner. The partner(s) must share grant funds (see explanation of required funds 16 distribution percentage among partners in the definition of a Joint Project Proposal in Part VIII, E.). [Note: This ‘Joint Project Proposal’ Project Type may be dropped entirely in future HEC grant competitions and replaced by the new Large-scale (state or region) comprehensive initiatives (LCI) described directly below in item C.4.] Note: Joint Projects must include both the R&R Fed and Non-Fed Budget and the R&R Fed and Non-Fed Subaward Budget Attachment Forms. The forms should clearly identify the total grant funding anticipated for the applicant and each partner to demonstrate the required sharing percentage. All expenditures for the applicant and all partners should be further itemized in the Budget Justification. Funds do not have to be divided equally among project years. 4. Large-scale (state or region) comprehensive initiatives (LCI) (Applicant + Two or more Partners) Applicants may request up to $750,000 (total, not per year) for a large-scale (state or region) comprehensive initiatives (LCI) Project Proposal. In a LCI Project Proposal, the applicant executes the project with assistance from at least two additional partners. The additional partners must share grant funds (see explanation of required funds distribution percentage among partners in the definition of a LCI Project Proposal in Part VIII, E.). An LCI project differs from a Joint Project Proposal in project scope and impact. LCI Project Proposals must support a multi-partner approach to solving a major state or regional challenge in agricultural sciences education at the postsecondary level. LCI Project Proposals are characterized by multiple partners (each providing a specific expertise) organized and led by a strong applicant with documented project management ability to organize and carry out the initiative. To be funded, in addition to meeting this grant program’s Evaluation Criteria, a LCI project application must specifically encourage study in areas that contribute to any of the five NIFA Priority Areas listed above in Part I, A. Note: LCI Projects must include both the R&R Fed and Non-Fed Budget and the R&R Fed and Non-Fed Subaward Budget Attachment Forms. The forms should clearly identify the total grant funding anticipated for the applicant and each partner to demonstrate the required sharing percentage. All expenditures for the applicant and all partners should be further itemized in the Budget Justification. Funds do not have to be divided equally among project years. Impacts for all LCI Projects: In addition to addressing the Evaluation Plan section of this program (Part I. C.3.) expected impacts from a LCI Project must include, but are not limited to: • An assessment of significant progress toward addressing the national challenge of increasing the number and diversity of food and agriculture sciences STEM graduates, while addressing the specific state or regional opportunity defined in the grant application; • Documented expansion of the number of students who enroll in postsecondary courses in the food or agricultural sciences disciplines; • Documented enhanced retention rates of students exposed to LCI Project activities; 17 • A comprehensive project evaluation, using the indicators and methods defined in this grants program, that informs the undergraduate food and agriculture sciences STEM community and others about the effectiveness of this LCI Project; • A description of completed or ongoing activities supported by this LCI Project, and a description of those same activities that will be sustained once grant funds end; and • A description of any related activities expected to occur as an outgrowth of this funded project. In any of the four Project Types described above, a grant recipient must match 25% of the Federal funds awarded from non-Federal sources. See Part IV, B.6. R&R Fed and Non-Fed Budget, and Field K-Budget Justification, for details. D. Project Duration Project periods may range from twenty-four (24) to thirty-six (36) months. Projects should conclude no sooner than twenty-four (24) months after the award start date to allow the applicant sufficient time to evaluate the results and report the impacts. The project period should not exceed five (5) years. For project budget and timeline purposes, the project start date should not occur prior to August 2011. E. Number and Size of Grant Awards The total number of grants awarded by this grant program will depend on the number and type of meritorious applications submitted in response to this notice. There is no predetermined number of Conference/Planning, Regular, Joint, or LCI Project Proposals that may be awarded in any competition. Based on the project scope and budget of all applications selected for awards, the actual, individual grant amounts awarded by NIFA under this grants program may differ from the funds requested by the applicant. In such cases, revised budgets and revised plans of work may be required by NIFA before an award is made. F. Application Submission & Award Limitations There is no limit on the number of applications that may be submitted by an Eligible Applicant. However, a successful applicant institution/organization will only be awarded a maximum of two (2) grants per year under this program. A successful LCI grant applicant institution/organization will only be awarded a maximum of one (1) LCI grant in any one, annual HEC grants program competition, and generally, an individual academic (or other) unit (a college, school of agriculture, etc.) within the institution/organization may only have one (1) active, LCI grant in effect at any time. G. Funding Limitations per Institution There are no limits on the total grant program funds that may be awarded to any one institution/organization in successive years of this competition. Successful award recipients may apply for additional awards in subsequent years either as a lead applicant or as a joint or LCI partner on a project (note LCI project focus restriction in item F, directly above). 18 PART III—ELIGIBILITY INFORMATION A. Eligible Applicants Applications may be submitted by: (a) U.S. public or private nonprofit colleges and universities offering a baccalaureate or first professional degree in at least one discipline or area of the food and agricultural sciences; (b) land-grant colleges and universities, (including land grant institutions in the Insular Areas); (c) colleges and universities having significant minority enrollments and a demonstrable capacity to carry out the teaching of food and agricultural sciences; and (d) other colleges and universities having a demonstrable capacity to carry out the teaching of food and agricultural sciences. An eligible applicant must meet the definition of an Eligible Institution as stated in this RFA (see Part VIII, Definitions). Award recipients may subcontract to organizations not eligible to apply, provided such organizations are necessary for the conduct of the project. For the purposes of this program, the individual branches of a State university or other system of higher education that are separately accredited as degree-granting institutions are treated as separate institutions, and are therefore eligible for HEC Grants Program awards. Separate branches or campuses of a college or university that are not individually accredited as degreegranting institutions are not treated as separate institutions. An institution eligible to receive an award under this program includes a research foundation maintained by an eligible college or university. Accreditation must be by an agency or association recognized by the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Education. Eligible institutions must demonstrate capacity for, and a significant ongoing commitment to, the teaching of food and agricultural sciences generally, and to the specific need and/or discipline(s) for which a grant is requested. A teacher or student recipient (eligible participant) receiving Federal funds above must be a citizen or national of the United States, as defined in this RFA. (See Part VIII, Definitions.) Where eligibility is claimed under 8 U.S.C. 1101(a) (22), documentary evidence from the Immigration and Naturalization Service as to such eligibility must be made available to NIFA upon request. B. Cost Sharing or Matching A grant recipient is required to match 25% of the USDA funds awarded. Matching funds must come from non-Federal sources, and are not required to come in any particular amount from any one source. However, all matching funds pledged in this application must be accompanied by documentation. Grant awards cannot be issued until ALL required matching has been documented and verified. See Part IV, B.6. R&R Fed and Non-Fed Budget and Field K-Budget Justification, for additional details. 19 PART IV—APPLICATION AND SUBMISSION INFORMATION A. Electronic Application Package Only electronic applications may be submitted via Grants.gov to NIFA in response to this RFA. Applicants are advised to submit early to the Grants.gov system. New Users of Grants.gov Prior to preparing an application, it is suggested that the PD/PI first contact an Authorized Representative (AR)(also referred to as Authorized Organizational Representative or AOR) to determine if the organization is prepared to submit electronic applications through Grant.gov. If the organization is not prepared (e.g., the institution/organization is new to the electronic grant application process through Grants.gov), then the one-time registration process must be completed PRIOR to submitting an application. It can take as much as two weeks to complete the registration process so it is critical to begin as soon as possible. In such situations the AR should go to “Get Registered” on the Grants.gov left navigation bar (or go to http://www.grants.gov/applicants/get_registered.jsp) for information on registering the institution/organization with Grants.gov. A quick reference guide listing the steps is available as a 4-page PDF document at the following website: http://www.grants.gov/section910/Grants.govRegistrationBrochure.pdf. Steps to Obtain Application Package Materials 1. In order to access, complete and submit applications, applicants must download and install a version of Adobe Reader compatible with Grants.gov. This software is essential to apply for NIFA Federal assistance awards. For basic system requirements and download instructions, please see http://www.grants.gov/help/download_software.jsp. To verify that you have a compatible version of Adobe Reader, Grants.gov established a test package that will assist you in making that determination. Grants.gov Adobe Versioning Test Package: http://www.grants.gov/applicants/AdobeVersioningTestOnly.jsp. 2. The application package must be obtained via Grants.gov, go to http://www.grants.gov, click on “Apply for Grants” in the left-hand column, click on “Step 1: Download a Grant Application Package and Instructions,” enter the funding opportunity number, USDA-NIFA-CGP-003378, in the appropriate box and click “Download Package.” From the search results, click “Download” to access the application package. Contained within the application package is the “NIFA Grants.gov Application Guide: A Guide for Preparation and Submission of NIFA Applications via Grants.gov.” This Guide contains an introduction and general Grants.gov instructions, information about how to use a Grant Application Package in Grants.gov, and instructions on how to complete the application forms. 20 If assistance is needed to access the application package (e.g., downloading or navigating Adobe forms), refer to resources available on the Grants.gov Web site first (http://grants.gov/). Grants.gov assistance is also available as follows: Grants.gov customer support Toll Free: 1-800-518-4726 Business Hours: 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Closed on Federal Holidays. Email: support@grants.gov See http://www.nifa.usda.gov/funding/electronic.html for additional resources for applying electronically. B. Content and Form of Application Submission Electronic applications should be prepared following Parts V and VI of the document entitled “A Guide for Preparation and Submission of NIFA Applications via Grants.gov.” This guide is part of the corresponding application package (see Section A. of this Part). The following is additional information needed in order to prepare an application in response to this RFA. If there is discrepancy between the two documents, the information contained in this RFA is overriding. Note the attachment requirements (e.g., portable document format) in Part III section 3. of the Guide. ANY PROPOSALS CONTAINING NON-PDF DOCUMENTS WILL BE AT RISK OF BEING EXCLUDED FROM NIFA REVIEW. Partial applications will be excluded from NIFA review. With documented prior approval, resubmitted applications will be accepted until close of business on the closing date in the RFA. If you do not own PDF-generating software, Grants.gov provides online tools to assist applicants. Users will find a link to “Convert Documents to PDF” on http://grants.gov/assets/PDFConversion.pdf. For any questions related to the preparation of an application please review the NIFA Grants.gov Application Guide and the applicable request for applications. If assistance is still needed for preparing application forms content, contact: • • • Email: electronic@nifa.usda.gov Phone: 202-401-5048 Business hours: Monday through Friday, 7:00 am – 5:00 pm Eastern Time, excluding Federal holidays. Note: Some forms will contain a field with instructions to attach additional information in a separate file. All such attachments must be in PDF file format. Consult the NIFA Grants.gov Application Guide (Part III. 3.1) for how to attach files using the proper format. 21 1. SF-424 (R&R) Cover Sheet Information related to the questions on this form is dealt with in detail in Part V, 2. of the NIFA Grants.gov Application Guide. Complete all applicable fields. The following, additional information may be helpful: Field 2. Date Submitted and Applicant Identifier – This field is provided for the Applicant’s use if they have an internal tracking system they would like to use in tracking applications they have submitted. This field is not required. Field 3. Date received by State and State Application Identifier – This is not applicable for HEC applications; these fields do not need to be completed. Field 5. Applicant Information – This must be the legal name of the eligible college or university (See Part III. A, Eligible Applicant). Official correspondence will be directed to either the Project Director (Field 14) or the Authorized Representative (Field 19). Field 8. Type of Application – Only ‘New’ or ‘Resubmitted’ applications are permitted. Field 12. Proposed Project Start Date and End Date – A project’s duration should normally be at least 24 months (to allow time for assessment and evaluation) and no more than 36 months. Project Start Date should not occur before August 2011. Field 15. Estimated Project Funding – a. Total Estimated Project Funding = Amount of Federal funds requested (See Part II. C. for maximum award amounts permitted) c. Total Federal & Non-Federal Funds = Federal funds + Matching Funds (Note: The Matching Requirement for this program is 25% (see Part III. B.)) Field 20. Pre-application – Not applicable to the HEC program. No attachments needed. 2. R&R Project/Performance Site Location(s) Information related to the questions on this form is dealt with in detail in Part V, 3. of the NIFA Grants.gov Application Guide. 3. R&R Other Project Information Information related to the questions on this form is dealt with in detail in Part V, 4. of the NIFA Grants.gov Application Guide. Complete all applicable fields. Note: If a ‘Yes’ response is provided for Fields 1, 2, or 4.a, the applicant must provide the necessary assurances prior to an award being made. Field 7. Project Summary/Abstract – (Required Attachment – Must be PDF format) Include the following underlined text along with your responses:  List the Project Title;  List the Project Director (and any) Co-Project Director(s) (include institutional affiliation for each); 22     List your project’s Program Category: (see Part I, C.1.); List your project’s primary NIFA Priority Area: (see Part I, A.; list only one Area); List your project’s Educational Need Area: (Part I, C.2.); List your project’s primary Discipline Code/Academic Discipline: (Select one from the list below); Discipline Codes & Academic Discipline G - General Food and Agricultural Sciences L - Environmental Sciences/Management (includes multidisciplinary projects) F - Food Science/Technology and Manufacturing M - Agribusiness (includes Management, Marketing, and Agricultural Economics) N - Human Nutrition H - Human Sciences/Family and Consumer E - Agriscience (includes Agricultural/Biological Engineering) Sciences (excludes Human Nutrition) I - International Education/Research S - Agricultural Social Sciences (includes Agricultural Education, Agricultural (enhancement of U.S. programs) P - Plant Sciences and Horticulture Communications, and Rural Sociology) B - Related Biological Sciences (includes A - Animal Sciences Q - Aquaculture General/Basic Biotechnology, Biochemistry, and Microbiology) C - Conservation and Renewable Natural D - Soil Sciences Resources (includes Forestry) V - Veterinary Medicine/Science J - Entomology – Animal W - Water Science T - Entomology – Plant O - Other (Describe only if not listed above)  Joint or LCI Project Proposal: Yes or No? (If ‘Yes’, specify if ‘Joint’ or ‘LCI’ Project Application. See ‘Definitions’, Part VIII. E.);  Partners: If Joint or LCI Project Proposal, list all partner institutions/organizations that will share grant funding (Note: Each Partner so identified needs to have their budget information submitted on a separate subaward budget attachment);  Total Funds Requested: (List total Federal funds requested for this application. If this project is a Joint or LCI Project Proposal, also list each partner’s total funds requested next to the institution/organization’s name); and  Summary Text - Provide a very concise (approx. 250 word) summary of your project to include: o Purpose: What is the major problem your project will address? o Audience: Who are the intended beneficiaries? Who will be impacted? o Products: What will be produced? o Outcome/Impact: What is the intended result (consequence) of your project? Describe as the primary benefits to your audience. Note: outcomes/impacts should be measurable, and should be included in your project’s assessment/ev