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UWRF Grants Top $2.5 Million

By Kendra Knutson
FEB. 5, 2007--Faculty, staff and programs at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls received $2.6 million in grants for the 2005-06 school year, just $200,000 short of the previous year.

A total of $2,606,811.62 for 48 grants was awarded to faculty for projects including conferences, forums, research and scholars programs. A total of 77 proposals were submitted, meeting the exact target goal the grants office set, according to William Campbell, director of grants and research at UW-RF.

While many grants went to new proposals, a large portion of the money went to the Title III grant as well as continuing programs such as UW-RF Upward Bound program, the McNair Scholars Program and the UW-RF Student Support Services program.  

The goal this year, as in years past, was to have at least a 50 percent success rate in grants funded. That goal was reached with a more than 62 percent success rate, said Campbell.

The College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences submitted 23 proposals resulting in 14 grants, which totaled $182,119. Brenda Boetel of CAFES received a $40,598 grant from the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection for a project comparing grazing vs. confinement for beef cattle.   Also, Stan Schraufnagel of CAFES received $11,215 from the USDA for an agricultural. entrepreneurship education program. Steve Kelm, along with Larry Baumann, Paul Kivlin, and Bill Connelly received a $24,980 grant for ,"A comparison of tillage methods used within composting bedded pack barn systems for dairy cattle."

The College of Arts and Sciences submitted 20 proposals, and 10 were granted totaling $306,288; almost double the amount from the past year. College of Arts and Sciences Physics Professor Jim Madsen's ongoing research and participation in the IceCube project in Antarctica was funded via $232,701 from the National Science Foundation. Eileen Korenic received $57,505 from ESEA for her continuing program to educate and certify secondary physics teachers.  

The College of Business and Economics submitted six proposals with five granted totaling $41,596. Grants were received to assist the Small Business Development Center in programs as well as to fund the Xcel Energy Entrepreneur's Conference.

The College of Education and Professional Studies submitted 11, with 10 granted for a total of $1,015,180; this constituted almost 39 percent of total UW-RF grants received during 2005-06, said Campbell. Jennifer Borup won grants totaling $543,842 from federal, state, and county governments in support of the Western Wisconsin partnership, which trains social workers in this part of the state. The department also received a continuing grant of $334,624 for the campus Upward Bound program, a federally funded program that prepares participants in the skills needed for postsecondary education. Jill Moe, director of Upward Bound, submitted the grant.

Other University departments that submitted proposals included the student affairs staff and the grants office.

Student affairs entered eight proposals and six were granted totaling $548,963. Student Affairs was awarded a continuing grant of $278,292 for UWRF Student Support Services. SSS is designed to support first-generation or low-income students along with students of disability. The grant was funded by the U.S. Department of Education and was submitted by Director of McNair Scholars Program and Academic Success Center Phil George.

The grants office wrote or co-wrote 12 proposals, resulting in four grants and $1,331,508 in awards including the Title III grant, that was a sequel to a previous five-year grant, which ended in the fall of 2004. For that grant, UWRF partnered with Chippewa Valley Technical College (CVTC) as   "Stronger Together: An Educational Partnership for the Changing Economy." Campbell, Katrina Larsen, UWRF director of outreach, and Jane Tafel, CVTC grants director, collaborated in writing the successful proposal.

For more information on faculty grants, please visit www.uwrf.edu/grants/ and click on "annual report."

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