Skip to main content
Research

Creative Activity Initiative Award

This award shall be given to recognize faculty members who have initiated promising creative productivity early in their academic careers. Creative contributions shall include, but not be limited to, the following broad categories:

  • 2D Media
  • 3D Media
  • Choreography - Dance, Industrial, Theatre, Virtual Platform, Video Games
  • Film, video, and television, including scripts
  • Composition
  • Creative Technologies
  • Creative Writing, Poetry, Fiction, Creative Non-fiction
  • Designing
  • Digital Media
  • Directing
  • Expanded Media
  • Performance - Art, Dance, Music, Theatre
  • Museum exhibition design

Individuals designated as Creative Activity Initiative Awardees will receive a $500 award.

Announcement of awards: December 2023

View Award Winners

Criteria for Eligibility

  1. Nominees must be Illinois State University tenure-track faculty members who have completed five years or less in a tenure-track position at any institution of higher education. For example, an individual may have completed three years at another institution and be eligible within their first two years at Illinois State University. Individuals with unusual career paths may be considered if they are within their first five years as an Illinois State University faculty member; the College Dean must provide written justification for nominating individuals in this situation.
  2. Nominees must currently be involved in creative expression and must show promise of making a significant contribution to their discipline(s).
  3. Members of the University Research Council are ineligible during their terms of service. Previous recipients of the award are ineligible.
  4. Individuals may not be nominated for both the Creative Activity Initiative Award and the Research Initiative Award simultaneously.
  5. Individuals may not be nominated for the University Outstanding Creative Activity Award and the Creative Activity Initiative Award simultaneously.

Procedures for Submission of Nominations

  1. Eligible faculty members may ask to be considered for nomination by the College Research Committee; they may be nominated by any faculty member or department chair/school director in the College; or they may be nominated by the College Research Committee. Application materials are provided to each College Dean for distribution to applicants in the College. Applications are submitted to the College. Please check with your College for the date these are due.
  2. The Dean of the College, in conjunction with the College Research Committee, may submit to the University Research Council up to five individuals from among the nominees.
  3. The College nominee must seek written endorsement of their applications from their department chairperson or a colleague in the department. The endorsement should address the extent to which the nominee shows promise of making a significant research contribution to their field.
  4. The College Dean shall submit the completed applications to the Associate Vice President for Research. Requirements for a completed application are listed below. The College nominees should be unranked.
  5. The final evaluation of applications will be made by the University Research Council. During deliberation, the Council may request supporting materials from nominees and/or may ask the College Deans for additional information.
  6. The final evaluation of applications will be made by the University Research Council. During deliberation, the Council may request supporting materials from nominees and/or may ask the College Deans for additional information.

The University Research Council will recommend to the Provost up to four recipients from the list of nominees forwarded to the Council by the College Deans.

Portfolio Preparation

  1. Cover sheet form
  2. Endorsement of the application by the nominee’s department chairperson/school director of the faculty member in their department/school. The endorsement should address:
    1. Current involvement in Creative Activity
    2. Promise of making significant contribution to their field of study.
    3. External letters of support are welcomed, but not required.
  3. A Full-Career CV. Creative Activity accomplishments should be categorized and listed, beginning with the most recent, using the Evaluation Guidelines and Criteria of Scholarly and Creative Productivity found in the current Appointment, Salary Promotion and Tenure (ASPT) document.
  4. Statement from Nominee summarizing their creative activities and contributions, goals for current creative endeavors, and the contributions that the nominee’s creative activity objectives will make to their field of study. The statement should be written at a level appropriate for peers outside the discipline. (1 to 1½ pages single-spaced)
  5. Digital access to no more than three representative pieces of work or products of creative expression (e.g. audio/video files, website link to specific representative pieces, PDF portfolio).

Criteria for Evaluation

  1. A nominee's record of creative activity for the first five years following receipt of their terminal degree at any institution of higher education will be reviewed for potential contributions to their profession. Individuals with unusual or unique career paths, whose nomination has been justified by the College Dean, will be evaluated on their work performed in their first five years at Illinois State University.
  2. A nominee's record of research and publication while at Illinois State University will be given the greatest weight in the Council's deliberations, although a full career curriculum vitae for each nominee will be evaluated.
  3. Written endorsements should address nominees:
    1. Current involvement in Creative Activity
    2. Promise of making significant contribution to their field of study
    NOTE: Please be aware that reviewers of the Creative Activity Initiative Award nominees are colleagues with expertise in diverse scholarly fields. It is important to address each nominee's achievements with information clarifying how the work qualifies as outstanding in the particular discipline represented.

Distribution of Award

  1. The award of $500 is to be used for any expenditure allowable within University budgetary guidelines with the exception of faculty salary.
  2. The awards are for the new fiscal year beginning July 1.
  3. The recipient must inform the Provost's office of how the funds are to be encumbered by February 1 of the academic year in which the award was announced or the award will be made from the equipment line.