CATL SoTL and Scholarly Teaching Grants

*Previous known as CATL’s Teaching and Learning Grants and CATL’s Conference Reimbursement Grants for Teaching and Learning*

To holistically support the teacher-scholar-mentor ethos of Elon University, CATL offers three grants that provide funding for professional development, the scholarship of teaching and learning, and dissemination of your teaching practices and/or scholarship. Please see below for more information about each grant opportunity.

SoTL Project Grant (between $1,000 to $5,000)

CATL’s SoTL Project Grants support faculty in their efforts to pilot innovative research-based teaching and learning projects or to conduct teaching and learning-related scholarship. This grant will be of particular interest to those who wish to:

experiment with innovative teaching or learning strategies or assignments
pilot engaged learning strategies in a curriculum with an evidence-based approach
use academic data to understand and improve student engagement, or
evaluate the impact of innovative and/or engaged teaching strategies in a course.

Grants are awarded to support start-up and one-time expenses (materials, stipends, professional development opportunities, and so on), but do not pay for ongoing operational costs or a course reassignment.

Applying for a SoTL Project Grant:

Eligibility: We welcome applications from individuals or teams of full-time, ongoing teaching faculty.

Application: SoTL Project Grants Overview ;  SoTL Project Application Form

Deadlines: Applications for SoTL Project Grants are due:

Fall deadline: October 10, 2025, by 5 pm
Spring deadline: Friday, April 10, 2026, by 5 pm

Requirements: At the end of the academic year, CATL will request a brief report on the grant results. All recipients are expected to coordinate with Jill McSweeney to plan a CATL workshop that focuses on sharing an overview of their project and what they have learned from this work.

Accessing Funding: Once you are awarded a grant, you can request reimbursement by completing the Grant Reimbursement Form.

Scholarly Teaching & SoTL Professional Development (up to $1500)

CATL’s  Scholarly Teaching and SoTL Professional Development Grants support faculty involvement with scholarly teaching and the scholarship of teaching and learning and connect faculty with other colleagues engaging in scholarly teaching and SoTL. These Scholarly Teaching and SoTL Professional Development Grants grants supplement faculty professional development support from other parts of the University, making it possible for more faculty to participate in national and international initiatives and convenings on teaching and learning.
These grants fund travel costs associated with attending conferences or workshops aimed at developing one’s pedagogical skills or capacity to engage in SoTL. They do not fund attendance or presentations of disciplinary research or to present on or learn about materials for course content.

CATL Scholarly Teaching and SoTL Professional Development Grants are awarded in amounts of up to $1500 for in-person conferences and up to $500 for virtual conferences.

Application & Deadlines: These applications will be reviewed three times a year.

Spring call: Passed
Summer call: Travel to conferences prior to September 1st, 2025 are due by June 2nd
Fall call: Travel between September 2 – January 31, 2026 September 2nd, 2025

To apply for a Scholarly Teaching and SoTL Professional Development Grant, please complete the following form.

Eligibility: We welcome applications from individual full-time, ongoing teaching faculty.

Requirements of funding: If you are awarded a grant, the CATL Grant Reimbursement Form must be completed after the conference concludes and by the end of the semester that the conference took place. This form will require you to (1) provide a short overview of the impact of your experience, and (2) copies of all receipts for reimbursement.

SoTL Dissemination Grant (up to $1500)

CATL’s SoTL Dissemination Grants support faculty in sharing their involvement with the scholarship of teaching and learning and their teaching and learning practice beyond Elon University. SoTL Dissemination Grants supplement faculty professional development support from other parts of the University, making it possible for more faculty to make their scholarship on teaching and learning public in national and international spaces. These grants fund travel costs associated with presenting one’s research on the scholarship of teaching and learning. They do not fund presentations of disciplinary research.

CATL’s SoTL Dissemination Grants are awarded in amounts of up to $1500 for in-person conferences and up to $500 for virtual conferences.

Application & Deadlines: These applications will be reviewed three times a year.

Spring call: Passed
Summer call: Travel to conferences prior to September 1st, 2025 are due by June 2nd
Fall call: Travel between September 2 – January 31, 2026 September 2nd, 2025

To apply for a SoTL Dissemination Grant, please complete the following form.

Eligibility: We welcome applications from individual full-time, ongoing teaching faculty.

Requirements of funding: Those accepting SoTL Dissemination Grant funding will be required to complete the CATL Grant Reimbursement Form by the end of the semester that they have attended the conference/event. This form will require you to (1) provide a short overview of the impact of the experience, and (2) copies of all receipts for reimbursement. In addition to the Grant Reimbursement Form, all awardees will be required to share their work with the Elon teaching and learning community in some way, such as a CATL workshop or event, a digital resource, a Today@Elon article, or another format.

Note: Completion of Grant Reimbursement Form is being eligible for or to receive future grants.

More information: Contact Dr. Jill McSweeney.