• Faculty Application deadline: December 16, 2024
• Chair Endorsement deadline:  January 10, 2025
• Awards announced by January 31, 2025
• Awards use period: July 1, 2025 through June 30, 2026
• Funds spent or returned by June 30, 2026
• Report for funds due August 1, 2026

All Assistant Professors with Academic Senate membership in one of the named series below for at least one year by the application deadline. The recipient must be at the rank of Assistant Professor when using the award.

• Ladder-Rank
• In Residence
• LPSOE
• Clinical X series employed

Follow the link above to complete and submit the FCDP Application.  You will need to be prepared to provide the following:

• An overview of your project proposal
• A brief description of how the FCDP award would benefit your research program or creative activities and enhance your chances for advancement to the tenured or tenure equivalent level
• A brief description of your efforts to diversity the UC San Diego Campus
• Project Itemized Budget
• Description of any current or pending funding you have and why it is not suitable for use as a course buyout (if applicable)
• Information on any past FCDP awards you may have received
• Information on whether you will need a leave of absence to complete your project.
• Your latest UC Diego Academic Biography and Bibliography (BioBib).

Applicants may request funding for release from the teaching of one to two courses to allow time to concentrate their efforts on research or creative activities. The course relief rate to be applied in AY 2025-2026 is ~$9,500 per course (for a maximum of $19,000* for two courses). This is the rate established by the Executive Vice Chancellor-Academic Affairs.

Applicants in the Health Sciences may request release time from clinical duties, and the amount of funding will be comparable to that for course relief on the General Campus, up to a maximum of $19,000*. The program may also provide support for supplies and equipment, salary for an assistant, summer research, travel expenses related to a project, etc. The awards are subject to the availability of funds.

*Note that the actual amount of the award will depend on the number of applications, the number of awards granted, and the merit of the proposal.  Applicants should expect that most awards will be equivalent to a one-course relief.

The Academic Senate Committee on Diversity and Equity, will carefully evaluate proposals for their significance regarding one or more of the following:

1. The merit of the proposal.
2. The applicant's efforts to promote equity, diversity and inclusion, including public service contributions that promote diversity and equal opportunity, student mentoring, curriculum development, research in areas relating to diversity (race, ethnicity, gender, multiculturalism, etc.), or other efforts the applicant may enumerate. (The Academic Personnel Manual, Section 210, item 1.d, states that faculty contributions that promote diversity and equal opportunity should be encouraged and given recognition.
3. The expected impact of an award on the applicant's research program or creative activities and its potential to enhance his or her chances for advancement to the Associate level.
4. The obstacles that have hindered research or creative activities, including but are not limited to lack of or inadequacy of available external funding, etc.
5. The receipt of any previous FCDP award (preference is given to first-time awardees).

Recommendations will then be submitted to the EVCAA for final review and approval.

All applicants will be notified if awarded or not before the new award year.

An FCDP award that provides teaching relief does not relieve the awardee of other department responsibilities and university service. The FCDP is an in-residence program, and the award of an FCDP grant does not confer a leave of absence. Applicants are advised to obtain approval from their department chairs and deans for absences due to FCDP-related research conducted away from campus.

The awardee:

1. is responsible for the administration of the award;
2. is personally responsible for any overdrafts; and
3. must return funds not spent by the end of the award use period.

All awardees are required to provide a detailed report on how funds were expended and how the award assisted the recipient in achieving the goals outlined in the proposal (such as obtaining grant funding, completing research, and/or publication of research). The report can be submitted by using the link above.

Any equipment purchased with a Faculty Career Development Program award becomes the property of the University upon acquisition and reverts to the University upon completion of the project for which the funds were awarded.

All expenditures are subject to applicable University regulations.

Awards must be used during the assigned academic year.