What are the resources provided to the team by the ISS?
The team as a whole can apply for a budget of up to $300,000 over a three-year period. The final budget will be determined by the ISS Director in consultation with the Vice Provost for the Social Sciences. More details regarding the budget are available in the “Guidelines for the Final Theme Project Proposal” document.
Each team member will be provided with an ISS office and computer. The team will have access to large and small ISS conference rooms. Administrative support is provided to the team as a whole for ISS-related needs only (for example, to support conferences or seminars) but is not provided for individual or non-ISS needs.
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What is the course and administrative release policy?
Team members: As per our agreement with the Deans of all Cornell colleges, team members will teach no more than 2 courses in the 2nd (in residence) year of the theme project. In addition, all team members will receive full release from “heavy” administrative duties during the 2nd year of the theme project (see team member expectations section below).
Team leaders: As per our agreement with the Deans of all Cornell colleges, the team leader will receive one full year of course release. It is our expectation that this release will be concentrated in the 2nd (in residence) year of the project (e.g., 25% in year 1, 50% in year 2, 25% in year 3). If a project has co-leaders, it will be their responsibility to decide how to divide this fixed resource. Team leaders will also receive full release from “heavy” administrative duties during all three years of the theme project (see team leader expectations section below).
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What are the expectations for team leaders in each year ?
It is expected that team leaders be physically present on campus (that is, not absent on leave) during the entire three-year period of the theme project. Given the responsibilities involved, team leaders may not take on any major administrative duties during the three years (e.g., department chairmanships, directorships, DGS, etc.). In year 1, team leaders are responsible for organizing and running team meetings to plan the schedule of activities for the residence year. As such, the team leader should have excellent organizational skills, work well with others, and be a strong group facilitator.
During year 1, the team must meet at least once every other week to plan upcoming events including: workshops, seminar series, conferences, post-doc recruiting, visitors, and courses. At the end of year 1, the team leader also gives a major public lecture that makes the case for the theme project and its activities.
During year 2, the in-residence year, the team leader is expected to spend 50% or more time each week in his/her office at the ISS. The team leader is responsible for continuing to direct the theme project’s activities, and for moving the team toward its collaborative scholarly contribution. This contribution may be a book, a series of journal articles, an edited volume, or a major research grant. Finally, during year 3, the team leader will continue to work with the team to bring the scholarly work to its conclusion. While year three is the final year, we clearly hope that the work begun during the theme project interactions will continue at Cornell through other means, such as ongoing seminars, courses, or major grants.
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What are the expectations for team members in each year?
Team members are expected to be physically present (that is, not on leave or sabbatical) during the entire three year period of the theme project. In year 1, the team spends time planning all its major activities for the in-residence year. As such, in year 1 team members must be able to attend team meetings, and devote time to activities such as planning courses, recruiting visitors and post-docs, organizing seminar speakers and conferences, etc.
In year 2, the in-residence year, it is expected that team members will spend 50% or more of each week in their ISS office. During this year team members will teach joint courses, attend theme project seminars and workshops, work with post-docs and graduate students, and build collaborations with each other and visitors around the theme project. Time at the ISS is expected to help move project members toward their goal of a substantial scholarly contribution – which may be defined as a book, a series of journal articles, an edited volume, or a major research grant. During year 3, team members will continue to work together to bring this work to a conclusion. While year three is the final year, we clearly hope that the work begun during the theme project interactions will continue at Cornell through other means, such as ongoing seminars, courses, or major grants.
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Are junior faculty eligible to submit proposals for three-year theme projects?
Although junior faculty are encouraged to participate as team members, junior faculty will not be well
served in the role of team leader. The team leader is responsible for organizing all project activities. These activities are extremely important, but they are also very time consuming, and are not the kind of activities that are generally rewarded in tenure evaluations. As such, if you have an idea for a theme project, we suggest you work to get a senior colleague to propose the idea and take on the added responsibilities.
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What are you looking for in a three-page preproposal?
First, and foremost, we want to be convinced that the preproposal contains a scientifically interesting idea, and that Cornell has the expertise to make significant progress on this idea. This requires identifying a compelling theme, a list of potential participants from Cornell (~12 people) and other institutions (~5 people), a way of advancing knowledge about this theme, and a final product (e.g., grant proposal, major conference, book, special edition of a journal).
Second, we want to be convinced that the theme will be of interest to members of the Cornell community--faculty, students, and staff. The preproposal should briefly discuss a range of activities that will engage the community.
Third, we want to be convinced that the preproposal writer will be an appropriate leader. This requires that the individual have the intellectual, interpersonal, and organizational skills required to lead scholars from disparate backgrounds in a collaborative research project.
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Who will review the proposals?
Preproposals will be reviewed by the ISS Director, VP for the Social Sciences, and scholars from the Cornell community. Final proposals will be peer reviewed by an ad-hoc committee of scholars from the Cornell community.
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How many finalists will be selected?
It depends on the number of pre-proposals submitted, and on the quality of those proposals. In the past we have selected no more than four finalists.
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Will the project leader select all team members?
No. The project leader will select no more than four (other than him/herself) of the Cornell team members. The remaining three to five Cornell team members will be selected through an open competition. Proposals received during the open competition will be evaluated by an ad-hoc committee, with input from the team leader.
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Can a project have more than one leader? If so, how would the full year of course release be allocated?
Faculty can share the project leader role, but they will also have to share the one year of course release. We will leave it to the project leaders to determine an equitable spilt of this resource.
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