MA3 Challenge: Modernizing Academic Appointment and Advancement

Award:  $250,000/2 years for Tier 1 (institutional level) | $50,000/2 years for Tier 2 (department, center/institute level)

Deadline: 1-8-26 with all information to the Office of Sponsored Programs by 12-29-25

Interested? Please complete the Office of Sponsored Programs Research Request Form ASAP to be assigned a research administrator.

Full RFP

Overview

Seeking proposals to modernize academic hiring, review, promotion, and tenure (RPT) systems, touching on all four of these goals:

  • Modernize Academic Reward Systems: Transform hiring, review, promotion, and tenure (RPT) structures to recognize diverse scholarly contributions beyond traditional metrics.
  • Advance Open and Civic Science: Embed values like openness, public engagement, and societal impact into academic evaluation frameworks.
  • Enable Team and Interdisciplinary Science: Create mechanisms that reward collaborative, cross-disciplinary research and teaching efforts.
  • Promote Equity and Transparency: Ensure accessibility, fairness, and clarity in academic policies while supporting inclusive participation in scholarly work.

This effort aims to create lasting changes in how our university evaluates academic work—shifting hiring and tenure policies to recognize openness, collaboration, and contributions that benefit society, ensuring your scholarship is valued for its broader impact, not just traditional metrics.

Important Information

Proposals should advance beyond discussion into implementation, with no more than 50% of activities devoted to planning and demonstrate capacity-building for institutional change while addressing questions of accessibility, transparency, rigor, and collaboration in academic work.

Tier 1 PIs must be executive-level leaders, and the work is institution wide or in multiple units.  Tier 2 PIs can be department chairs or institute/center directors.

Process

This is a single step application process.
•          Interested parties should immediately complete the Office of Sponsored Programs Research Request Form to be assigned a research administrator.
•          It will be managed by the Office of Sponsored Programs, and you will work with your assigned research administrator
•          All required information, in final form, needs to be submitted to OSP no later than five business days before submission deadline.