APPLICATION GUIDELINES

THE PLANK CENTER GRANTS IN LEADERSHIP STUDIES

The Plank Center Grants in Leadership Studies are competitive. The Center’s Board of Advisors will select grant recipients based on project review and recommendations by a panel of academic and professional experts. The panel will use a blind review process.

Selection criteria include: 1) potential of the proposed study or project to advance our knowledge of leadership values and skills, or strengthen our ability to help develop excellence in public relations leadership in the classroom and profession; 2) the overall significance, design quality, and feasibility of the proposed study; and 3) the potential for widespread distribution of the project’s findings and their practical application.

Application Requirements
Applicants for Plank Center grants should submit two copies of the following materials:

• A Cover Sheet that includes:--Title of the proposed study.

    --Name of the applicant(s) and relevant job title, position, and name of organization.

       Note: Name of the applicant(s) should be included only on this cover sheet.

    --Contact information (mailing address, E-mail address, phone, fax).

    --Contact information for the Office of Sponsored Research at your institution, if applicable.

    --Amount of the funding request.

• A Project Abstract that describes the proposal in 250 words or less and includes the title of the proposal and the amount requested.

• A Project Proposal of no more than five pages in length (typed, double-spaced) that clearly and concisely describes the proposed project, how it corresponds to relevant themes in the research call, the method(s) that will be used, and a timetable for completion. Applicants may wish to situate the proposed study within its intellectual framework and identify relevant literature.

• A Budget Outline that includes the grant amount being requested and a brief line-item description of how it will be expended. Applicants should propose budgets that are commensurate with the described study. Grants are intended to support scholarly research activities such as release time and research assistants, field research, purchase of relevant research materials, travel in support of research, and so forth. Grants are not intended to fund conference expenses, fringe benefits, overhead costs, equipment purchases, and the like. The Plank Center may decide to fund the project at a different level than requested.
  

• A Curriculum Vitae or professional resume for each applicant (only one copy required).

Applications should be sent to Dr. Karla Gower, Director of The Plank Center, Box 870172, College of Communication & Information Sciences, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487-0172. All application materials must be received by May 30, 2008. Applicants will be notified of the Center’s funding decisions no later than August 31, 2008.

Grant Disbursements and Dissemination of Findings
Plank Center grants are distributed to selected recipients in two or more installments, depending on the amount of the grant. The first payment, typically about 50% of the grant, is provided after the contract is signed, and the last payment(s) is distributed following receipt and approval of the final report. Projects must be completed within one year, at which time the grant expires.

Grant recipients must provide the Director of the Plank Center with a copy of the completed research or project paper and a brief but informative report within 30 days of completion of the project. The report should describe the results of the work, any related work still in progress, and how the project furthered our understanding of leadership in public relations, or our ability to help develop leaders in the classroom and profession.

The Plank Center expects and encourages all grant recipients to disseminate and share their findings and results with scholarly, academic, professional, and general audiences through published scholarly and professional articles in journals and books; presentations at conferences, seminars, symposia, or other academic or public forums; teaching curricula for university programs or professional workshops; and other channels and outlets.

Any publication or other dissemination of the funded work carried out by grant recipients should clearly acknowledge the support of The Plank Center for Leadership in Public Relations at the University of Alabama. Copies of such publications or other materials should be forwarded to the Center. The Plank Center retains the rights to publicly announce the grant recipients and to post brief summaries/abstracts of the projects and their findings on its Web site. Researchers will be able to review these summaries to ensure that they do not present problems in terms of scholarly or professional publications initiatives. Once the projects are presented in public forums or published, the Center will include appropriate links or references to the projects on its Web site.

For more information about the leadership grants or The Plank Center, visit the Web site (www.plankcenter.ua.edu); or contact Dr. Karla Gower, Director of The Plank Center, Box 870172, College of Communication & Information Sciences, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487-0172, (205) 348-0132, or email to gower@apr.ua.edu