GSAS Seed Grants for Planned Improvements in Graduate Education are meant to help PhD programs devise and launch improvements that will significantly enhance the graduate training of their students.  Awards will be made competitively to PhD departments planning and launching pedagogical changes or program enhancements that promise to enrich graduate study or support the development of PhD scholars. 

Eligibility

Any of the 52 PhD programs of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences are eligible – including PhD programs in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and PhD programs run jointly by faculty spanning two or more Schools at Harvard.  Partnerships of two or more PhD programs may also apply.  During each annual cycle, three or more Seed Grants of $15,000 to $25,000 apiece will be awarded.

Application and Selection Process

An application on behalf of a PhD program must be made by at least two faculty members teaching in that program; an application from two or more programs must be co-authored by at least one faculty member from each participating program.

The application should take the form of a letter no more than three pages in length that explains the planned innovation and its anticipated impact; a one-page budget should be appended.  Explanations of proposed innovations should specify the ways in which seed funding would help launch improvements in the PhD program as a whole, to the benefit of all or many of its graduate students.  The explanation should also address how the innovation might be institutionalized over the long run, especially if continuing resources beyond the seed funding are necessary.  A subcommittee of the Graduate Policy Committee will select awardees in consultation with the Dean of the Graduate School.

Applications should be submitted to the GSAS Dean's Office, University Hall, 3rd Floor North, no later than Friday, December 7, 2007. Questions and requests for more information may be addressed to GSAS Administrative Dean Margot Gill or Rosemary Schulze at (617) 495-1814 or by email ( This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ).  Announcements of grants will be made around March 1, 2008.