Dean's Discretionary Fund

Dean's Discretionary Fund is a grant from the UCLA College Division of Humanities that funds research projects and academic conferences or seminars for faculty within the Humanities Division who do not already have a general-purpose research fund available to them. Priority is given to faculty without existing research funds and to conference or seminar organizers whose events will benefit multiple Humanities faculty and students.

Awards are typically in the range of $500 to $1,500, though larger awards may be made in exceptional cases where multiple faculty members will benefit. Each applicant may receive funding for at most one proposal per academic year. Approval for the Dean's Discretionary Fund precludes consideration for the Small Grants Program and Professional Development Fund within the same academic year.

Application deadlines for the 2025-26 academic year are September 15, 2025 (Fall), January 26, 2026 (Winter), and April 13, 2026 (Spring).

For Faculty - UCLA Humanities Humanities Division and UCLA sources Dean’s Discretionary Fund (Rolling application deadlines) Alexandra Minna Stern, dean of the UCLA College Division of Humanities, welcomes proposals for support from the Dean’s Discretionary Fund for the 2025-26 academic year. Please note that applications may be submitted during the fall, winter and spring quarters.

Priority is given to proposals that contain one or both of the following criteria: Research funding requests from faculty members who do not already have a general-purpose research fund available to them. Funding requests for conferences or seminars to be held at UCLA, which will benefit many Humanities faculty members and students. Approvals will be limited to support at most one proposal per individual applicant per academic year.

In addition, the intention of this limited funding is to support as many individuals within the Division as possible, so applicants should not expect to be approved for funding on a recurring annual basis.

Please also note that approved applications for Dean’s Discretionary Funding will preclude consideration for the Small Grants Program and Professional Development Fund within the same academic year , so applicants should weigh the various programs and select the one that best applies to their project.

Given that the available funds are limited, the majority of awards are given out in the range of $500 to $1,500, although in exceptional cases larger awards will be made if it is established that several faculty members will benefit. In the case of conference support, the proposal needs to demonstrate that the conference organizers will seek funding from other sources in addition to the Humanities Division.

To request support, please note the application deadlines below. Submissions must include: A description of the project for which you are requesting support (conference, seminar, etc.), including a brief statement making a case for the intellectual merits of the project.

An itemization of the budget that also details funding requests to all other sources, including the Academic Senate, with information on whether funding has been received. In the case of a workshop or conference, an estimate of the likely number of attendees, and/or a statement of how the event will benefit other faculty members and students at UCLA (with particular reference to Humanities scholars).

Applicants should submit funding requests for their project long enough in advance to allow for ample time for a funding decision prior to the project’s own deadline.

Application deadlines for 2025-26 Quarter Request due Funding decision Fall 2025 September 15, 2025 October 6, 2025 Winter 2026 January 26, 2026 February 9, 2026 Spring 2026 April 13, 2026 May 4, 2026 Dean’s Discretionary Fund Application " * " indicates required fields This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Description of Project (1000 Characters Max) * Budget Plan (list other funding you have sought or secured for this project and amounts) * Quarter * Fall 2025 Winter 2026 Spring 2026 Gold Shield Faculty Prize (Deadline: Feb.

23) $30,000 unrestricted award for academic excellence Gold Shield Alumnae of UCLA established the Faculty Prize in 1986 to honor outstanding teaching with recognition and a meaningful monetary award—one that could make a real difference in the lives of outstanding faculty in the middle of their academic careers.

Awarded annually, the Gold Shield Faculty Prize recognizes a UCLA faculty member who has demonstrated exceptional achievement in undergraduate teaching, research or creative work, and service to the university. Since its inception, 29 remarkable faculty members have received this honor.

In 2026, the Gold Shield Faculty Prize will recognize a faculty member representing a discipline from a school or department of the north campus of UCLA, including: College of Letters & Sciences—Humanities Division College of Letters & Sciences—Social Sciences Division School of the Arts & Architecture Herb Alpert School of Music Luskin School of Public Affairs School of Theater, Film & Television February 23, 2026, at 5 p. m.

Nomination criteria and application instructions Visit the program website for complete information. Guidelines for the allocation of fellowship supplements The Division of Humanities recognizes the critical importance of prestigious fellowship awards to UCLA’s research mission and is pleased to supplement fellowships received by ladder faculty members as follows: 1.

Supplementation is provided for fellowships that are applied for and awarded on a competitive basis. Supplementation is not provided for leaves of absence from UCLA to accept visiting appointments at other institutions. Therefore, awards that include teaching assignments at non-UCLA institutions will not be subsidized.

2. Supplementation is provided for fellowship awards that have national standing and stem from distinguished fellowship programs or institutions. Common examples are awards from the American Council of Learned Societies, the Guggenheim Foundation, the Andrew W.

Mellon Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Humanities, as well as various residential fellowships to access archival materials and/or take part in scholarly exchanges within an institute. 3. For awards that meet the requirements of both 1.

and 2. above, the Division will supplement the faculty member’s fellowship, if needed, in the following way: The Division will cover the difference between (a) the faculty’s annual nine-month base salary and (b) the combined salary effect of the fellowship award and applied sabbatical leave credit, provided that the resulting difference does not exceed 33% of the annual nine-month salary.

To be eligible for supplementation, the faculty member must first contribute all accumulated sabbatical credits up to 9 credits for Assistant Professors, up to 12 credits for Associate Professors and up to 18 credits for Full Professors. These are the annualized figures that would be pro-rated for fellowship leaves of less than one year. 4.

If the institution funding the fellowship will only provide the funds to the faculty member directly rather than administering the funds through UCLA, the Division will need to reduce the faculty member’s UCLA pay accordingly. This reduction in payroll will impact the service credit calculation for the time period in question. No divisional funds can be contributed toward any buyback of service credit.

For reference, the Guggenheim Foundation is one institution that only pays the faculty member directly. Following are two examples of how supplementation would be calculated. Example A: An Assistant Professor with a salary of $110,000 receives a $45,000 fellowship from the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS).

He has 8 sabbatical credits accumulated and contributes all 8 to the fellowship year. This meets the requirement that he contribute all accumulated credits up to 9 (for Assistant Professors). The 8 sabbatical credits are equivalent to 30% of his pay (27 credits equals 100% pay, and 8 ÷ 27 is 30%).

The ACLS fellowship covers an additional 41% of his pay, for a combined total of 71%. This meets the requirement that at least 67% of pay be covered by the combination of the sabbatical credits and the fellowship award. The resulting fellowship supplement from the dean would be 29% of the professor’s pay.

Example B: A Full Professor with a salary of $180,000 receives a $35,000 Guggenheim fellowship. She has 25 sabbatical credits accumulated and contributes 18 credits to the fellowship year. This meets the requirement that she first contribute all accumulated credits up to 18 (for Full Professors).

The 18 sabbatical credits are equivalent to 67% of her pay (27 credits equals 100% pay, and 18 ÷ 27 equals 67%). The Guggenheim fellowship covers an additional 19% of her pay, for a combined total of 86%. This meets the requirement that at least 67% of pay be covered by the combination of the sabbatical credits and the fellowship award.

The resulting fellowship supplement from the dean would be 14% of pay. Since the Guggenheim Foundation will only send fellowships directly to the faculty member, the professor’s UCLA pay will be reduced by 19% for the fellowship period. For all questions relating to the Fellowship Supplementation Policy, please contact Senior Associate Dean Reem Hanna-Harwell at reemh@college.

ucla. edu .