Once again, the Division of Information Technology (DoIT), in partnership with the Office of the Provost, invites UMBC faculty and staff to submit analytics proposals for the 2026-27 academic year. Also, this year, a new focus will include proposals that aim to improve administrative efficiency and effectiveness. Regardless, the goal is the same – to use current or past data to inform future interventions or “actionable intelligence” that can solve a current problem or create a new opportunity to achieve a desired outcome.
Grant Overview
Award: $2,000 professional development award, renewable annually, transferred to your department’s PeopleSoft chart string.
Focus Areas
- Student Success and Retention: Projects exploring relationships between activities or learning in one course and outcomes in other courses, particularly critical progression points, low-success courses, or foundational skills.
- Faculty Development and Support: Proposals that leverage institutional data (via REX and Tableau) to inform instructional practices, contributing insights to the LA Community of Practice.
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Administrative Efficiency and Effectiveness: Projects focused on improving administrative efficiency & effectiveness, especially return on investment (ROI) to do so.
Eligibility
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All UMBC faculty (including adjunct faculty, lecturers, and tenure-track faculty) and staff members.
Expectations for Grant Recipients
- Engage actively with the UMBC Analytics Community of Practice (CoP).
- Produce and present a final report or scholarly product (conference presentation, external grant proposal, or publication).
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Consider leveraging results to apply for a Hrabowski Innovation Fund award.
Application Components:
Proposals must include:
- Brief Abstract: Suitable for publication on UMBC’s website (maximum 200 words).
- Project Proposal: Clearly outlining objectives, methodology, expected outcomes, and relevance (maximum 3 pages).
- FERPA training completion certificate (more info)
- Signed acknowledgement of support: Department Chair or Leader (through DocuSign)
Timeline
- Proposal Deadline: Friday, June 5, 2026
- Notification of Awards: Early July 2026
- Grant Period: July 2026 – June 2027
Support and Resources
- REX Data Warehouse (available to all faculty & staff who’ve completed FERPA training)
- Tableau training and support provided by DoIT
- Access to online, self-paced “Analytics @ UMBC” Blackboard training site.
- Access to prior workshops and resources to inform proposal development.
Please submit proposals here. For proposal guidance, questions, or further information, please contact:
Robert Carpenter
Associate Provost for Analytics & Deputy CIO
bobc@umbc.edu
John Fritz
Associate Vice President, Instructional Technology
fritz@umbc.edu
Tom Penniston
Coordinator of Learning Analytics
penniston@umbc.edu