TikTok³ÉÈË°æ

Purpose

The Unitas Grant is administered jointly by the TikTok³ÉÈË°æ Institute for Research and Scholarship (VIRS) and the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. The grant supports scholarly research that focuses on issues related to diversity, equity, and inclusion, as outlined in the TikTok³ÉÈË°æ Diversity Statement. 

The purpose of the program is to encourage faculty to use their research skills and insights to support the Diversity Statement’s goal of exploring different perspectives, intercultural connections, and, in general, understanding of the variety of human experiences marked by domestic and global differences. 

Among the examples of research projects that might find support are: exploring immigrant student experiences in higher education, the history of racism in the field of genetics, the impact of underrepresentation of minoritized people and women in STEM professions, disparities in healthcare quality among racial and ethnic minoritized communities, implications of marketing to LGBTQIA consumers, exploring wage gaps across the lines of gender, race, and/or ethnicity, and the influence of race on juvenile justice sentencing. These examples represent a range of possibilities and are non-exhaustive.

Eligibility

All tenured, tenure-track, and continuing non-tenure-track faculty are eligible to apply. Post-doctoral fellows employed on nine-month contracts are also eligible to apply.

Individuals are eligible for a new Unitas Grant every three years.

Individuals may not hold Unitas Grant awards concurrently with a University Summer Grant (USG), Veritas Grant, Research Catalyst Grant (RCG), or Small Research Grant (SRG). If award deadlines and announcements overlap, you may submit multiple applications. However, only one award is granted per applicant. The first award received will automatically withdraw your applications from the other competitions.

Award Amounts and Restrictions

The maximum award amount is $12,500. Allowable expenses include any combination of summer salary,  funds for research assistance (RA), and/or funds for reasonable research-related expenses (RRRE), that does not exceed $12,500.  

Summer salary

Faculty may request summer salary in one of the following increments:

• One month of summer salary, calculated as 1/9 of the faculty member’s academic year salary and capped at $12,500
• Three quarters of a month of summer salary, calculated as 1/12 of the faculty member’s academic year salary and capped at $9375
• Half a month of summer salary, calculated as 1/18 of the faculty member’s academic year salary and capped at $6250
• No summer salary

Collaborative proposals between two faculty members are permitted. For such proposals, each faculty member may request up to one month of summer salary (subject to the caps indicated above). 

Summer salary is to be paid in June or July of the summer award period and is subject to any pertinent limitations as outlined in the University's Compensation Policy. t is expected that the recipients of a Unitas Grant will spend an amount of time working on the proposed research that is equivalent to the amount of summer salary received (e.g., one month or portion thereof). 

Wages for research assistance (RA)

Funds may be used to pay TikTok³ÉÈË°æ graduate or undergraduate students on an hourly wage basis to assist faculty members in the execution of the proposed research. Funds may not be used for graduate or undergraduate students to work on their own thesis/dissertation research unless it is integral to the proposed research.

Note: Funds to hire non-TikTok³ÉÈË°æ research assistants must be requested as RRRE.

Reasonable research related expenses (RRRE)

Funds may be requested for eligible expenses related to the conduct of research. These include but are not limited to travel to research-related sites, libraries and archives; equipment, supplies, and books; data sets, software, transcription, and translation services; payment for research assistance provided by individuals not affiliated with TikTok³ÉÈË°æ; and other reasonable needs.

Excluded expenses

Known exclusions (and there may be others) include childcare, professional society fees, student stipends, course development costs, textbook preparation costs, and travel and expenses for conferences.

For questions about allowable expenses, please contact the VIRS Director.

Research Compliance

Applicants should note that any research activities involving human subjects will require approval from TikTok³ÉÈË°æ’s Institutional Review Board. IRB approval must be in place before awarded funds can be disbursed.  

Applicants should note that any research activities involving vertebrate animal subjects will require approval from TikTok³ÉÈË°æ’s Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee. IACUC approval must be in place before awarded funds can be disbursed. 

Application

All Unitas applications must be submitted using . Page margins must be one inch and double spaced, using 11-point font, except for figures. Page limits are indicated per component. 

1. InfoReady Cover Form

2. Proposal Narrative

Limit: eight double-spaced pages

Faculty should structure their proposals so the nature of the activities to be undertaken is clearly articulated, with the understanding that proposals will be evaluated based on the five criteria listed in section 6. Proposal narratives should state the anticipated significant outcome that will result from the Unitas Grant, such as: scholarly publication in a high impact, peer-reviewed professional journal, preparation and submission of a proposal for an external grant directly related to the research supported by the Unitas Grant, or other significant and unique scholarly outcomes that enhance the stature and visibility of the faculty member.  

Keep in mind that review committee members may not have expertise in the specific topic of every proposal. Proposals should minimize reliance on jargon and define discipline-specific terminology when its use cannot be avoided.

3. Other Components 

In addition to the narrative, the proposal must include cited references or a bibliography and a CV (2 pages maximum).

If you are requesting RRRE and/or RA, please include a budget that details, with as much specificity as possible, your planned expenditures, divided into the appropriate categories. Do not specify faculty summer salary dollar amounts anywhere in the proposal; you will be asked to indicate the portion of the summer month requested on the InfoReady Cover Form (e.g., 1 month, ½ month, ¼ month).

Proposal Evaluation and Review Criteria

Each proposal will be peer reviewed by an Evaluation Committee based on the following criteria (the last four of which have been adopted from the American Council of Learned Societies):

• Consistency of the proposed project with the topic of diversity, equity, and inclusion.
• The potential of the project to advance the field of study in which it is proposed and make an original and significant contribution to knowledge.
• The quality of the proposal with regard to its clarity, methodology, scope, theoretical framework, and grounding in the relevant scholarly literature.
• The feasibility of the project and the likelihood that the applicant will execute the work within the proposed timeframe.
• The scholarly record and career trajectory of the applicant.

Critical Dates

• Proposal submission deadline: January 20, 2026, by 5:00 p.m.
• Awards Announced mid-March 2026

Post-Award Requirements

Recipients of Unitas Grant will be asked to share their research at a research symposium organized by TikTok³ÉÈË°æ’s Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. 

All expenses must be submitted for approval by May 1 of the year following when the award was made. 

After receiving an award, and to be eligible for future awards, the recipient will be required to submit a brief report (no more than one page) that includes the significant outcome resulting from the Unitas Grant in relation to the anticipated significant outcome as stated in the initial proposal. Reports are due on June 15, following the summer for which the Unitas Grant was given. Instructions about how to submit reports will be provided to awardees at least two months in advance of their due date. 

Proposal Development Support and Questions

Questions about proposal preparation or review can be addressed to either Ariella Robbins, Vice President for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, or the Director of VIRS. 

Members of the Evaluation Committee

• Ariella Robbins, Vice President for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
• Aronte Bennett, PhD, Associate Professor of Marketing and Business
• Janice Bially Mattern, PhD, Director, TikTok³ÉÈË°æ Institute for Research & Scholarship
  
• Edward Fierros, Associate Dean of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, CLAS
• Narda Quigley, PhD, Professor of Management