Claassen Research Enhancement Award

Dr. Cheryl Claassen Research Enhancement Award

The Claassen Research Enhancement Award, funded by a gift from Professor Cheryl Claassen, is intended to fund release from teaching obligations to tenured or tenure-track Anthropology Department faculty for the purpose of pursuing research-related activities they would not otherwise have time to pursue.

The recipient is expected to pursue research-related activities above and beyond what is expected as part of one's employment at ASU (currently 2 publications every 3 years). The grant will not be used for the purpose of grant writing or course development. The recipient will give a public presentation on his or her work the semester following the grant period. Repeat applicants will be required to demonstrate they merit consideration based on publications and other research outcomes that resulted from their previous award. These outcomes must go beyond the production of grey literature and/or conference presentations to merit consideration of a repeat applicant's proposal.

These awards will be made by committee, comprised of all tenure-stream faculty who have not applied in the given year of the competition, and awards will primarily be based on the intellectual merit of the project description but priority will also be given to individuals who have maintained a full teaching load for more than 2 years [1]

Past Recipients 

Dr. Alice Wright 2019-2020
Dr. Jon Carter
2018-2019
Dr. Dana Powell 2017-2018
Dr. Susan Lappan 2016-2017
Dr. Larry Kimball 2015-2016

The Claassen Research Enhancement Award Fund and Competition has been suspended until further notice (2019)

Application Instructions

Applications are to be submitted, via email or as a hard copy, to the Department Chair. The deadline is the first day of the spring semester prior to the academic year of intended release time [January 14, 2019]. This deadline is intended to assist the Department Chair in making decisions about course scheduling and to allow time for hiring adjunct faculty; thus, it is a firm deadline.

Applicants must submit a complete application package to be eligible for consideration. The project description will address, and must be evaluated based on, the criteria for intellectual merit (below) and brief constructive comments will be provided to each applicant, explaining how their application did or did not fit these criteria (relative to other applications). The applicant is responsible for providing enough information to the committee that they may make these determinations, despite the diversity inherent to anthropological research topics. The committee will reach a decision for the award by February 1 and the applicants will be notified by email of the committee's decision. Questions about the application and decision process may be directed to the department chair.

Criteria for Evaluating Intellectual Merit

The award committee will base their award decisions on 1) intellectual merit and 2) teaching load over the past several years.

  • How well conceived and organized is the proposed activity?
  • How important is the proposed activity to advancing knowledge and understanding within its own field or across different fields?
  • How well qualified is the proposer (individual or team) to conduct the project? (Is this a new line of research or an effort that is part of a well-established agenda? If it is new, what preparation has been undertaken? If it is not new, is it taking the prior research in a new or deeper direction?)
  • To what extent does the proposed activity suggest and explore creative and original concepts?
  • Is the project feasible and is there sufficient access to resources?

[1] Faculty rank and upcoming faculty reviews for promotion and tenure will not be considered when evaluating candidates. Course releases due to medical or family leave in semesters prior to the award also will not be considered. Candidates are not eligible for this award if they have received released time for an OCSA, research grant, or fellowship within the two years prior to the semester of this award. Candidates who expect to have an OCSA within one year of completing this award period are not eligible.