Grants and Governmental Relations

The Illinois College Office of Grants and Governmental Relations assists faculty and staff members in researching and securing grant funding, managing and stewarding sponsored projects and other grant received.

Recent grants include:

U.S. Department of Education - $1,100,000 TRIO (Student Support Services)

This program helps first-generation college students, students with disabilities and students from low-income families to succeed in college and earn their baccalaureate degrees.

The Henry Luce Foundation - $400,000 Asian Studies and the Environment

The LIASE (Luce Initiative on Asian Studies and the Environment) Implementation grant has helped Illinois College to expand its partnership with Ritsumeikan University in Japan. Through the grant, our students have opportunities to travel to Japan to conduct fully-funded 10-week, independent Research Abroad internships, four-week language-intensive internships, and three-week group study research trips.

NCAA Strategic Alliance Matching Grant - $112,566.72 for a Director of Athletic Facilities & Compliance Position

This five-year grant has made it possible to establish a new, senior-level athletics administrative position in the Office of Intercollegiate Athletics who supports the College's work to increase the academic quality, size, ethnic diversity, and geographic diversity of the Illinois College student body.

U.S. Department of Education - $2,127,069 Title III Strengthening Institutions

This five-year SURGE Initiative (Success, Retention, Graduation) will: (1) Unify student support services in a centralized location on campus, featuring state-of-the-art pedagogical technology and study spaces to attract and encourage students to build help-seeking behaviors. (2) Hire five staff (including three new academic coaches) who will implement new programming specifically to increase student persistence and graduation rates. (3) Implement customized data systems and coordinate with existing systems to improve the College’s ability to identify at-risk students, monitor academic progress, and proactively intervene to help them succeed. (4) Provide professional development training for faculty and staff in instructing and responding to students from diverse backgrounds, and training in using new instructional equipment and retention software. (5) Increase endowed scholarship funding for at-risk students.

National Science Foundation - $646,028  NSF Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (S-STEM)

This five-year grant will establish the “AERO-STEM (Access to Early Research Opportunities in STEM)” program, which will recruit 16 low-income, academically talented students with interest in studying biology, biochemistry, chemistry and physics by providing them with scholarship funds, specialized training, focused mentorship and early research opportunities. Each of the 16 AERO-STEM Scholars will receive financial scholarships for four years. The program includes the following activities:  expanded marketing and outreach activities to recruit eligible students; scholarship support to eliminate or minimize unmet need; a two-week summer program, “AERO-STEM Launch” to assist students with the transition from high school to college; a supplemental one-credit course titled “Research Ethics and Professionalism in STEM” for Scholars in their first year, to prepare them to conduct research in STEM fields; enhanced faculty mentoring throughout each student’s four years; an optional summer research opportunity, “AERO-STEM Research,” following the first year, including a stipend as well as housing on campus during their research; assistance in finding and applying for outside research opportunities or internships; tours of local businesses to broaden their view of potential career avenues in STEM; and tours of nearby universities to explore graduate opportunities. 

National Science Foundation - $298,548  NSF Improving Undergraduate STEM Education (I-USE)

This three-year initiative is entitled “STEM2: Students Teaching with Enhanced Mindsets in STEM.” The grant will help students learn to overcome challenges, persist, and achieve academic success in STEM coursework, particularly students who enter with a STEM major as their goal. The STEM2 initiative will target gateway courses that too often impede the progress of first-year students and academically challenging courses that too often serve as “off-ramps” out of STEM majors for second- and third-year students. STEM2 will provide targeted academic support through Supplemental Instruction (SI) and enhanced mindset training that will enable students to develop and transfer necessary learning skills from early learning engagement to advanced learning engagement, thereby facilitating independent academic success. Through mindset training and independent achievement, students will develop the ability to see themselves as contributing members of the profession.

Current Procurement Opportunities Related to Federal Grants (Click to download)