Africana Research Center

Research Grants

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Research Grants

Africana Research Center Grant Program Overview

The Africana Research Center (ARC) at Penn State is pleased to offer research grants to support innovative scholarship that advances knowledge in Africana studies. These grants are designed to foster academic growth and research excellence among Penn State’s teaching faculty, early-career tenure-track faculty, and students who demonstrate strong academic performance and a commitment to impactful research.

Eligible applicants include:

  • Teaching faculty
  • Tenure-track faculty in their first three years at Penn State
  • Graduate and undergraduate students enrolled in a Penn State program with a minimum GPA of 3.0

Student applicants must secure formal project approval from a tenure-line faculty advisor or the head of their major or minor department, who can verify both the academic merit of the research and the student’s GPA eligibility.

Grant Amounts:

Grant awards of up to $1,000 are available to support qualifying research projects.

Application Deadline

The Fall 2025 deadline is October 15, 2025. Proposals may be submitted at any time before the deadline but will not be reviewed until after the deadline. Incomplete applications will not be considered.

Proposals will be reviewed by the ARC Advisory Board, with award notifications sent by November 3, 2025

How to Apply:

Applications may be submitted online using the Microsoft Form below or via email:

Research Grant Submission Form

Applicants must submit the following materials:

  1. C.V. (up to 5 pages)
  2. Title Page with:
    • Research title
    • Lead investigator’s name, title, department/unit
    • Collaborators and their affiliations
    • Campus and contact information
  3. Proposal (3 pages, single-spaced, 12-point font, no charts/graphics), including:
    • 100-word abstract
    • Statement of purpose (max 100 words)
    • Background (max 300 words)
    • Description of activities and timeline (300–500 words)
    • Explanation of how the project supports ARC’s mission
  4. References or bibliography
  5. Budget – with requested amount, breakdown of expenses, and any matching funds
  6. Letter of support from a faculty advisor or department head (required for students only; teaching faculty exempt)

Review Process:

The ARC Advisory Board will review complete applications.

Please Note:

  • Incomplete applications will not be reviewed.
  • Proposals may be submitted early but will be reviewed after the deadline.
  • Funds cannot be used for conference travel, tuition, salaries, equipment, books, or hiring research assistants.

Funding Exceptions

Research funds may NOT be used for conference travel, tuition, faculty/staff salaries, equipment, books, or solely to cover the cost of hiring a research assistant.

IRB Certification/Human Subject Participants

Awardees doing human subject research will have sixty days to submit an IRB certification or exemption letter and to sign the grant award acceptance agreement, which spells out the terms for using award funds.  Subject testing may not begin before the agreement is signed, nor may expenses be accrued prior to this time.  For more information on the IRB process, visit Institutional Review Board on the Research website or contact the Office of Research Protections at 814-865-1775.

Funding Allocation

Applications will be reviewed by the ARC Advisory Board. Grant awards will be decided in May and must be accepted within sixty days of notification. Awardees will have eighteen months from the date of signing the grant award agreement to use their research funding for awarded projects. Funds not used by the award contract deadline will be released back to the ARC. Extensions will only be granted under exceptional circumstances.