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Washington State University
Washington State University Office of the Provost

RFP processes producing promising projects

Potentially transformational new projects funded under the Strategic Reallocation proposals for both student success and research are a step closer to getting started.

The 17 multi-college proposals submitted in response to the RFP are now undergoing peer review. Proposals were first reviewed last month by a Senior Technical Review Panel consisting largely of distinguished researchers and research leaders external to WSU, supported by separate individual subject matter expert input. The Senior Review Panel reviewed the proposals using the criteria stated in the solicitation. The panel members were impressed with the depth and breadth of the proposals.

For the next phase of the review, the Executive Committee members will meet next week to provide their additional perspectives and recommendations to WSU’s Senior Leadership team, consisting of President-elect Kirk H. Schulz, Interim President Dan Bernardo, Interim Co-Provosts Erica Austin and Ron Mittelhammer, and Vice President for Research Chris Keane.  Final award decisions will be announced in June.

The RFPs were issued to the degree-granting College Deans earlier this year, as well as to the Office of Undergraduate Education and Division of Student Affairs. The Research, Scholarship, and Creativity RFP called for innovative, focused, multidisciplinary research ideas in support of the WSU Grand Challenges. The Student Success RFP called for strategies to increase student retention and progress toward graduation.

The Office of the Provost and the Office of Research concurrently also issued RFPs for Faculty Seed Grants related to student success and the Grand Challenges research themes.

On May 15, the funding of Student Success and Grand Challenges Seed Grants will be announced. The Office of the Provost received 33 letters of intent, and invited 12 full proposals for Student Success projects. The Office of Research received 117 letters of intent for Research projects, of which 33 were invited to submit full proposals and 29 proposals were received.

Both RFP processes elicited promising proposals and initiated fruitful conversations across colleges. Because not all proposals can be funded through this process, the Office of Research and the Provost’s office will work with the respective principal investigators to identify alternate funding sources for proposals that are not funded internally. We believe the multidisciplinary nature of these projects will support their competitiveness for other funding opportunities.

Thank you to everyone who has played a role in this important step for WSU.

Please visit the RFP website for the full timeline and more information.

If you have questions, comments, or feedback on this post, or other matters concerning the Office of the Provost, please email them to provost.social@wsu.edu.