Ball State University's Aspire Internal Grant Program provides funding to faculty, professional staff, and students to support projects in the areas of research, scholarly studies, and creative endeavors.

Many Aspire awards are designed to help secure sponsorship from external funding agencies. Each Aspire award aims to support faculty scholarship and creative endeavors while promoting professional development through the grant proposal process. Eligibility criteria for Aspire programs can be found in the individual program guidelines and are subject to compliance with Sponsored Project Administration policies.

All applications should be submitted via the InfoReady portal and opportunities open one month prior to due date.

Learn more by reviewing the guidelines for each of the Aspire opportunities, check out the FAQs, or you can contact Aspire staff directly.

Contact Us  Aspire FAQs

Available Grants

Faculty

The aim of this program is to help new faculty members purchase supplies, research-related items, and travel to conferences or workshops with a one-time, $5,000 supplies, expenses, equipment, and travel (SEET) grant.

Tenure-track faculty in their first year of employment with Ball State University who have not received significant research-related or creative endeavor start-up funds from their department or college are eligible for Alpha Support. Faculty members receiving start-up funds greater than $5,000 and/or dedicated summer stipend from the department for research or creative endeavors are not eligible for this program.

To apply for this grant, faculty members (tenure-track only) in their first year must apply through our online portal. Recipients must also provide a final report.

The deadline for this program is September 20.

Read the Guidelines

2025-2026 Awardees

Congratulations to the following recipients of this grant for the 2025-2026 Academic Year:

  • Se Won Kim (CAP) 
  • Anne Beck (CFA) 
  • Jongwook Kim (MATH) 
  • Juan Zhang (MCOB) 
  • Samuel Luis Massaro (CFA) 

This program is designed to support the professional advancement of faculty engaged in scholarly and creative pursuits that use humanistic or any creative discipline. Awardees will be selected based on peer review of the quality of the proposed project, the degree to which the project will lead to the applicant’s professional advancement, and the potential academic or discipline impact. Projects must result in the presentation of a public forum (gallery exhibition, screenings, performances, etc.) or publicly available printed material (monograph, edited collection, journal article) Maximum request: $12,500

Faculty members must be in a tenure-line appointment. An individual may be awarded once every four (4) years.

Early Career (Years 1-7 pre-tenure): This award will be granted only once during the Early Career stage (previously referred to as Junior Faculty).

Tenured: This award may be granted multiple times over the course of employment as long as all prior award’s reporting and external submission commitment has been met.

To apply for this grant, faculty members must apply through our online portal. Recipients will be required to provide a final report through the same portal.

Deadlines of this program

Early Career - November 1
Tenured - February 1

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2024-2025 Awardees

Congratulations to the following recipients of this grant for the 2024-2025 Academic Year:

  • Wendy Soltz (CSH) 
  • Platt Heather (CFA)

The Office of the Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs has provided for a second year of funds to award tenure-line faculty members funds to present their research and scholarship at professional regional or national meetings or to perform or exhibit creative works. This funding is designed to supplement travel funds provided by the faculty member's college and department and cannot be used as research funds. A maximum award of $500 is available per faculty member. Deadline: 15th of each month.

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Sponsored by the Office of the Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs, these funds provide NTL faculty funding to support activities undertaken to advance their development as scholars, including, but not limited to, workshops or conference travel for excellence in teaching, scholarly presentations/performances, and/or for professional development. Deadline: 15th of each month.

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For tenured and tenure-track faculty members looking to travel abroad for academic or creative activity Aspire offers the International Travel Program. Deadlines: February 1st, April 1st, June 1st, August 1st, October 1st, December 1st.

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The Joseph and Marcella Hollis Award is for faculty and students who wish to conduct psychology-based research projects. This competition is open for Graduate Students and Faculty Members only.

The maximum amount for this award is $700 for graduate students and $2,500 for faculty members. This award can be used for travel, supplies, payments to subjects, and presentations of work at professional meeting. Students are also expected to complete a final report form upon the completion of the project.

Apply for this grant through our online portal. Recipients must also provide a final report.

Annual Deadlines: October 1, April 1

Read Guidelines

2025-2026 Awardees

Congratulations to the following recipients of this grant for the 2025-2026 Academic Year:

Students

  • Carlie Merriweather (PSY) 
  • Alicia Van Duyn (PSY) 
  • David Akolgo (TC)

Faculty

  • Hesham Allam (CICS)
  • Faisal Kalota (CICS)
  • Grace (EunHae) Park (SJSC, TC)

 

The purpose of this opportunity is to support preliminary research or scholarly projects to enhance the expertise needed to be successful in seeking funding from an external agency. The expected outcome is the submission OR resubmission of a competitive grant proposal to an external funding agency within 12 months of the project's completion. Maximum request: $12,500

Faculty members must be in a tenure-line appointment. An individual may be awarded once every four (4) years.

Early Career (Years 1-7 pre-tenure): This award will be granted only once during the Early Career stage (previously referred to as Junior Faculty).

Tenured: This award may be granted multiple times over the course of employment as long as all prior award’s reporting and external submission commitment has been met.

To apply for this grant, faculty members must apply through our online portal. Recipients will be required to provide a final report through the same portal. 

Deadlines for this program

Early Career - November 1

Tenured - February 1

Read Guidelines

2025-2026 Awardees

Congratulations to the following recipients of this grant for the 2025-2026 Academic Year:

  • Tengfei Ma (NUTR)
  • Brittany Acquaviva(CJC) 
  • Somanita Kheang(TC) 

Provides support to aid in expenses associated with publication, reprints, article processing or open access charges, page charges, and subventions. Work must be accepted for publication or published in a refereed or other scholarly journal. Support can be used for open access, peer-reviewed publications listed in the Directory of Open Access Journals or for publication in subscription journals that allow some articles to become available openly based on a published fee schedule (sometimes known as hybrid open access). Deadline: 15th of each month.

Read Guidelines

The Joseph and Marcella Hollis Award is for faculty and students who wish to conduct psychology-based research projects. This competition is open for Graduate Students and Faculty Members only.

The maximum amount for this award is $700 for graduate students and $2,500 for faculty members. This award can be used for travel, supplies, payments to subjects, and presentations of work at professional meeting. Students are also expected to complete a final report form upon the completion of the project.

Apply for this grant through our online portal. Recipients must also provide a final report.

Annual Deadlines: October 1, April 1

Read Guidelines

2025-2026 Awardees

Congratulations to the following recipients of this grant for the 2025-2026 Academic Year:

Students

  • Carlie Merriweather (PSY) 
  • Alicia Van Duyn (PSY) 
  • David Akolgo (TC)

Faculty

  • Hesham Allam (CICS)
  • Faisal Kalota (CICS)
  • Grace (EunHae) Park (SJSC, TC)

Funding is generously provided by the BSU Graduate School

The Aspire Creative Arts Program wishes to support students in their creation or presentation of creative works. Eligible projects are usually found in the categories of music, theater, dance visual arts, and creative writing. Please see our guidelines for a more detailed list of examples.

For this competition the maximum amount of money awarded is $700 for graduate students, $300 for all others, which can be used to cover supplies, expenses, equipment, and travel (SEET) costs. We ask students to have a faculty mentor and to work closely with them while preparing for this competition.

Please review the competition guide for more information. Apply for this grant through our online portal. Recipients must also provide a final report.

Fall Deadline for Graduate, October 20

Fall Deadline for Undergraduate, November 10

Spring Deadline for Graduate, January 20

Spring Deadline for Undergraduate, February 10 

Read Guidelines

2024-2025 Awardees

Congratulations to the following recipients of this grant for the 2024-2025 Academic Year: 

  • Celia Cook (CSH)
  • Anna Grabowski (CFA)
  • Michelle Pokorny (CFA)
  • Isabella Stratton (CFA)
  • Morris Gibbons (CFA)
  • Indy Potter (CFA)

Funding is generously provided by the BSU Graduate School

The Aspire Student Research Program hopes to support students in the process of study or discovery that will produce new insights, theories, or will apply such knowledge to problem solving within the discipline or in society.

For this competition the maximum amount of money awarded is $700 for graduate students, $300 for all others, which can be used to cover supplies, expenses, equipment, and travel (SEET) costs. We ask students to have a faculty mentor and to work closely with them while preparing for this competition.

Please review the competition guide for more information. Apply for this grant through our online portal. Recipients must also provide a final report.

Fall Deadline for Graduate, October 20

Fall Deadline for Undergraduate, November 10

Spring Deadline for Graduate, January 20

Spring Deadline for Undergraduate, February 10


Read Guidelines

2024-2025 Awardees

Congratulations to the following recipients of this grant for the 2024-2025 Academic Year:

  • Bryce Harman (CSH) 
  • Zahra Dehghanghasemkheili (CSH) 
  • Samson Miller (CSH) 
  • Hannah Bradshaw (CoH)
  • Malorie McLain (CoH) 
  • Cole Geschwender (CoH)
  • Laughlin Aschenbrenner (CSH)
  • Tammy Todd (TC)
  • Keith Jackson (CSH)
  • Catherine Davis (CSH)
  • Katrina Procuniar (CSH)
  • Aaron Brown-O'Dell (CSH)
  • Rebekah Fortman (CAP)
  • Jenna Kelly (CSH)
  • Holley Hannegan (CSH)
  • Syndal Hittson (CSH)
  • Bryn Edwards (CSH)
  • Avaala James (CSH)
  • Mensah Emmanuel Albert (CSH)
  • Brown Kimberly (TC)
  • Gidisu Dorothy (CSH)
  • Nguyen Hanna (CSH)
     

 

 

Funding is generously provided by the BSU Graduate School

The Student Travel Program is available for currently enrolled students at either Ball State, Burris Laboratory School or Indiana Academy to present works at a professional meeting, or perform or exhibit creative works. The maximum award is $700 for graduate students and $300 for undergraduate/high school students. This competition is limited to invited presentations of papers, posters, creative works, or performances. Graduate students are eligible to use these funds for publishing costs. However, students cannot have both Travel and Publication funding in the same fiscal year. The deadline is the 15th of every month.

Read Guidelines

Acknowledging Aspire-Supported Activities

Your notice of award outlines requirements for acknowledging Aspire funding in your work, including:

  • Publications
  • Press releases and other public statements
  • Presentations at conferences, symposia, or other forums
  • Other publications or documents about research/creative activity that is funded by Aspire
  • Other documents describing projects or programs funded in whole or in part with Aspire support
  • Grant applications for external funding

How to Write Acknowledgments:

Research reported in this [publication/presentation type] was supported by Aspire [name of grant/program] through Ball State University, Muncie Indiana. 

[publication/presentation type] has been jointly sponsored by Ball State University’s Aspire program and [name of other funding program/dept].