Faculty Research Consortium

The Office of University Mission is proud to partner with the Sinatra family to strengthen its mission of providing an academic platform where faculty and students can explore issues of poverty and social injustice, as well as provide potential recommendations through research. The goal of the endowment is to promote outcomes-based research in the community. For almost 40 years, Dr. Richard Sinatra served as an associate dean, chair, faculty member, and program director in the School of Education.  He also served as the Chair of the Faculty Research Consortium for The Institute for Vincentian Impact from 2008 - 2015. Dr. Sinatra has long been an advocate for systemic change. This endowment is an example of his continued commitment to education and the development of research at the University.

The Richard and Camille Sinatra Endowment Grant ($2,500)

This grant supports community-based outcomes research for full-time junior (tenure-track) faculty at St. John’s University. Through outcomes research, quantitative methods are used to evaluate community-based interventions. These interventions may be from any discipline, with the specific aim of improving the areas of poverty and social justice.  

The Faculty Research Consortium (FRC) is comprised of a select group of interdisciplinary St. John’s University faculty who have demonstrated teaching, research, and scholarly expertise in areas related to community service, civic engagement, and social responsibility. As part of the Office of University Mission, the FRC is responsible for community-based outcomes research conducted across all elements of the Mission sector, with a particular emphasis on those programs within The Institute for Vincentian Impact. The Institute for Vincentian Impact was established in 2008 to increase the visibility of the St. John’s Catholic and Vincentian mission, including opportunities where faculty and students can explore issues of poverty and social justice. The FRC promotes research by supporting the recruitment of qualified University professors who serve as research mentors for students, offering internal faculty research grant opportunities and formally recognizing faculty excellence in mission-aligned research. The FRC also develops research initiatives through programs and community partnerships within the Mission sector. 

Guided by the FRC, the FRC Grant supports community-based outcomes research for full-time tenured faculty at St. John’s University. This research may be from any discipline, with the specific aim of improving the areas of poverty and social justice.

Faculty Research Consortium (FRC) Grant ($5,000)

The Faculty Excellence Awardin Community-Based Outcomes and Poverty Research has been developed by the Faculty Research Consortium (FRC) in an effort to annually identify an exemplar from the full-time faculty at St. John’s who best exhibits excellence in community-based outcomes and poverty research. Nominations are solicited from the deans and chairs of various schools/colleges of the University. The FRC reviews all nominations from the University community and selects one award.  The recipient is recognized at the annual Office of University Mission's Reception and Research Forum.  The award recipient also receives a plaque commemorating this award.

The Faculty Excellence Award in Vincentian Social Justice was newly developed in 2024 by the Faculty Research Consortium (FRC) to annually identify an exemplar from the full-time faculty at St. John’s University who best exhibits excellence in social justice and qualitative research and creative domains. The FRC will review all nominations from the University community and select one award recipient, who will be recognized at the annual FRC Faculty Research Luncheon, which is scheduled for September 30, 2024. Nominations are solicited from the deans and chairs of the schools/colleges of the University and self-nominations are also welcomed. The award recipient will receive a $1,000 monetary prize and a commemorative plaque.

This award recognizes faculty members who demonstrate a profound commitment to social justice issues, particularly within the realm of qualitative research and creative domains. It celebrates scholarly interventions that challenge oppressive structures, promote human dignity, and empower marginalized communities. Key characteristics include:

1. Creative Solutions: Celebrates innovative approaches and creative solutions to social justice challenges, fostering new theories or frameworks for addressing systemic injustices.

2. Qualitative Research Emphasis: Emphasizes contributions from qualitative research methodologies and the creative disciplines, recognizing the unique role of arts, literature, and cultural studies in promoting social change and justice.

3. Community Empowerment: Prioritizes empowering marginalized communities to actively participate in project design, implementation, and evaluation processes, amplifying their voices and agency.

4. Interdisciplinary Collaboration: Encourages collaboration across disciplines and sectors to address complex social justice issues, fostering partnerships that leverage diverse perspectives and expertise.

5. Vincentian Ethos: Upholds the Vincentian commitment to systemic change to address issues of social justice, with a particular focus on the economically impoverished. 

The Faculty Research Consortium (FRC) is proud to announce a new 24-month Fellowship program for full-time tenured or tenure-track St. John’s University faculty for Outcomes-based Community Research conducted through a Vincentian lens, starting in the Fall of 2024.

The program will involve a combination of in-person, asynchronous and synchronous training sessions that will focus on research design and idea development. Year 1 of the FRC Fellowship will focus on training and mentoring support to facilitate the Fellow’s development of a mission-aligned community research project, while Year 2 of the FRC Fellowship will be dedicated to the execution of the research project and planning for presentation of the research and associated scholarship.  A centralized Canvas course resource page will provide content for the program, along with a discussion board to be used by all Fellows. Fellows will receive a $1,000 stipend upon completion of the program and up to $1,500 for their research project needs/implementation (not including travel). 

The FRC and this new Fellowship program support research embodied in the St John’s University Mission, emphasizing research which explores and attempts to identify new methods and strategies to help the economically impoverished and those with limited financial resources.

If accepted into the program, Fellows will be asked to commit to meeting 1-2 times per month in Academic Year 2024-2025, with research execution and presentation/scholarship plans identified in Academic Year 2025-2026 at a SJU research event.

Training topics will include:

• Orientation to the Catholic and Vincentian mission of St. John’s University and its application to community-engaged research.
• Research transition from social justice to community outcomes-based research: How to identify an outcomes evaluation question?
• Intervention research methods and project timelines
• Identifying and working with a community partner (e.g., conducting a partner’s needs assessment)
• Institutional Review Board (IRB) application and submission process, including human subjects training and informed consent
• Power analyses to determine participant numbers and statistical analyses for outcomes-based research
• Selecting reliable and valid measures of improvement directly related to the chosen intervention under study
• Grant writing and potential areas of funding support
• Social entrepreneurship
• Presentation and scholarship opportunities (e.g. the Journal of Vincentian Social Action)