Richard and Camille Sinatra Endowment Grant for Research Support of Tenure-Track Junior Faculty at St. John’s University

Richard and Camille Sinatra Endowment Grant

For almost 40 years, Richard Sinatra, Ph.D., served as an Associate Dean, Chair, Program Director, and Professor in The School of Education. He also served as the Chair of the Faculty Research Consortium (FRC) for the Vincentian Institute for Social Action (VISA) from 2008 to 2015. Dr. Sinatra has long been an advocate for systemic change. This endowment is an example of his continued commitment to education, the development of research at the University, and generous mentorship of junior (tenure-track) faculty. 

VISA is proud to partner with the Sinatra family to provide an academic platform where junior (tenure-track) faculty can explore issues of poverty and social injustice, as well as provide potential recommendations/solutions through community-based outcomes research. 

Purpose of Grant

The purpose of this grant is to support junior (tenure-track) faculty who are planning to develop or replicate interventions and test their efficacy. This research may be from any discipline, with the specific aim of directly addressing mission-related poverty and/or social justice problems. These interventions can be educational, psychological, economic, etc. Given the complexity of intervention research, this may be an opportunity to collect pilot data for a larger trial.  

The FRC particularly welcomes applications from junior faculty who have developed a community partner collaboration and who are now looking to embed/enhance an outcomes evaluation to address a clearly articulated research question(s). The FRC will place grant award priority on applications that identify a sound research question and appropriate methodology to address the question during the grant period. Lastly, the role of the FRC is to provide guidance to grant awardees, including guidance with enhancing research methodology and plans for statistical analysis.

Eligibility

Full-time junior (tenure-track) faculty at St. John’s University are eligible to apply for this grant. Applicants can be individual or collaborative, but the principal investigator must be tenure-track faculty. 

Grant Award Amount (Grant period: June 1, 2024–May 31, 2025) 

$2,500

Application Deadline

The application deadline is February 23, 2024. All applications and supporting materials should be submitted online through the application portal. Click here to submit an application.

Questions

For any questions on this grant opportunity, please contact Kara A. James, Senior Secretary, at [email protected] or 718-990-5947.

Award Notification Date

The Richard and Camille Sinatra Endowment Grant is a competitive, application-based award. Awardees will be notified of the decision on their application/proposal by April 1, 2024.

Criteria for Grant Proposals

• Empirical question being asked is related to intervention outcomes

• Proposal must clearly outline the specific aims and hypotheses, research design, participants, measures, intervention, and statistical methods including power analysis/sample size, timeline, and budget

• Show feasibility (e.g., by including a letter of commitment from community partners) 

• Include description of current internal/external funding for the project (if applicable) 

For additional information, please contact:

Kara A. James, Senior Secretary 
Vincentian Institute for Social Action 
Lourdes Hall  
718-990-5947
[email protected]