Teaching Transformation & Innovation (TTI) Grants

The TTI grant program is intended to provide Penn State instructors the opportunity to experiment, test, or implement a teaching innovation that addresses an important instructional concern.

All funded projects must meet the above requirement. Those that also address inequities or advance inclusion in teaching and learning will receive priority.

Support for TTI projects includes consultations with Institute faculty as well as funding.

To help us support as many instructors as possible, please request only what you need. Proposal budgets should include specific amounts, not general estimates. Requests above $6000 are rare; larger grants should involve multiple faculty and courses.

Timeline and Submission Process

If any of the dates below fall on a weekend, the deadline shifts to the next workday.

Step 1: Before April 1

Please meet with a Schreyer Institute consultant to discuss your initial ideas in a pre-proposal consultation. Before your consultation, please review what we cannot fund on our main SITE Grants page.

Your pre-proposal consultation may be face-to-face, via Zoom, or by phone.

Step 2: Before April 15

After your consultation, please send your Schreyer consultant a brief (<300 word) paragraph (not a proposal!) describing the project as you currently envision it. The paragraph should state why the project is important, how it is innovative or transformative, and its potential to improve Penn State teaching or student learning.

Step 3: By May 15

You will hear by May 15 whether your project has been selected for development into a full proposal. If a unit, college or campus submits multiple proposals, SITE may contact administrators to rank proposals.

Step 4: By June 30

If you receive an invitation to submit a proposal you will have six weeks to submit your proposal by are the end of June.

Final Decisions

On or before July 30 funding decisions will be sent to submitters.

Grant Expenses

Requested funds must be directly related to and support the proposed project. Please review the main Schreyer Institute Grants page for what we cannot fund. If the list of examples does not include your planned spending, please ask a SITE faculty consultant if we can fund it. Generic items or estimates such as "$1000 project equipment" should not be submitted.

• Experimental or unusual instructional equipment or technology (your unit will own it)
• Innovative instructional methods and procedures
• Atypical or newly available course materials
• Software (submit a Software Request Form, unless it has already been approved as Courseware).
• Guest speaker for a course or group of faculty ((all travel costs should be included in the honorarium)
• Visits to field sites, industrial facilities, or cultural centers that advance teaching and learning
• Student wages, if the work advances teaching or improves students' learning

Proposal Review Criteria

This is a competitive process and decisions are based on the following factors:

• Alignment with the Schreyer Institute for Teaching Excellence Mission
• Impact on equity and inclusion in teaching and learning
• Involvement of multiple courses or instructors
• Specific and necessary budget items (only request what you need; $6000+ grants are rare)
• Proposal clarity and quality, especially the quality of learning objectives (see Writing Objectives)
• Likelihood of the project continuing without additional funding
• Total number of proposals and amount requested
• Available funds