Center for Regional Excellence Cultural Discovery and Learning

Proposal Scoring Criteria

Principles Guiding Initiatives for the Center for Regional Excellecne

A major goal of the Center for Regional Excellence is to promote a culture of creativity through support for research and other projects that sustain the Center as an IU Northwest Area of Excellence. IU Northwest's two designated Areas of Excellence defining its Unique Identity are Cultural Discovery and Learning and Sustainable Regional Vitality, both broadly conceived and overlapping concepts. Proposals submitted to the Curatoriate, or Advisory Board for Cultural Discovery and Learning will be approved in concept, and funding will be sought, if proposals meet three Center principles. The Curatoriate 's review of proposals is intended to be collegial and collaborative: if proposals show promise but do not fully meet the following principles, the Curatoriate and the Executive Director will work with the proposer to more fully align the proposal with the Center's principles:   

1. Initiatives for Cultural Discovery and Learning serve the Center's mission as “a university and community partnership that explores our regional cultures and history through diverse perspectives and forms of expression. Using traditional and new media, this collaboration for cultural discovery and learning, with Indiana University Northwest as the base, initiates and sustains cultural projects, programming and events that serve and tell the story of the seven-county region of northwest Indiana.”
2. Initiatives for Cultural Discovery and Learning foster partnerships and collaborations among academic disciplines, students, and units within Indiana University Northwest and with the community.
3. Initiatives for Cultural Discovery and Learning identify outcomes that sustain excellence in Cultural Discovery and Learning and explain the benefits that these outcomes will generate both for IU Northwest, its students, and for the Northwest Indiana community.

In addition to these three principles that guide work in Cultural Discovery and Learning, the Center offers specific Guidelines for proposing Initiatives:

1. Proposals for Cultural Discovery and Learning clearly explain how the initiative will directly or indirectly benefit students, by enhancing their learning, their environment, or their lives;
2. Proposals clearly define their scope and activities and the initiative's sustainability into the future;  
3. Proposals explain how initiatives involving studies, findings, and other outcomes of the initiatives would be disseminated to relevant audiences;
4. Proposals explain how the initiative will contribute to the achievement of Indiana University Northwest's mission and the development of community in Northwest Indiana;
5. Proposals detail plans for assessing in a timely way the effectiveness of the initiative.